Eco and dim echoes

Turns out Umberto Eco is still a step ahead of the rest of us. The Rule of Four has been touted as belonging to the genre of writing represented by Eco. The Rule revolves around a book titled Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. Well, turns out that even that obscure work was mentioned first (actually, I'm not sure which came first) by Eco. This, from his latest novel, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana (published in Italian in 2004):

"By the way, Paola, what did I major in?"
"In letters, with a thesis on Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.
Unreadable, at least to me."

Meanwhile, the high ethical standards of the Jewish blogosphere are exposed. A credit to us all.

By the way, Totchanim (artillery batteries) were used today in Gaza. If you're looking for parallels to Lebanon, that should be a good one.