- I suspect many Clamorites are already fond of Found magazine, which collects “FOUND stuff: love letter, birthday cards, kids’ homework, to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, receipts, doodles – anything that gives a glimpse into someone else’s life.” Now, behold the FOUND podcast, which is super enjoyable. The first episode centers around a found letter by a man who wants to become the “Asian Oprah…”
- Miniature milestone as Russian claims new record for world’s tiniest book
- Many people talk about music as if it has universal traits. Not so much. “Dissonance” is in the mind’s ear of the beholder. Pair with the podcast episode “The Ballad of Tin Ears”, a fascinating look at tone-deafness (genetic and imagined), and one man’s quest to sing even a little bit better.
- Welcome to the positive lexicography, an evolving index of ‘untranslatable’ words related to wellbeing from across the world’s languages.
- 17 Maps That Will Change The Way You Look At The World Forever
- Datagasm, on “micro-targeted digital porn … pushing human sexuality into some seriously weird places. Pair with the not-porn-but video Orgasm Faces in Slow Motion.
- Chuck Lorre’s list of words that confuse the CBS censor.
- “The Strand Bookstore has included a literary matching quiz in its job application form since the 1970s. Here are some quizzes from years past. Can you match the authors and titles? Beware of trick questions.” → Test Your Book Smarts [[Via Reader C. and Reader K.]]
- Ebook sales drop by nearly 10%; downloaded audio up over 40%!
- Today in 1911, Hiram Bingham “discovers” Machu Picchu, often (mistakenly) called “The Lost City of the Incas.” Bingham was led to the ruins by Melchor Arteaga, a local farmer, and his 11-year-old son Pablito, who actually guided Bingham along the main ridge. I’m deathly afraid of heights, so mostly content with fabulous books like Mark Adams’ Turn Right at Machu Picchu, in which Adams attempts to re-create Bingham’s original expedition. You, intrepid Clamorite, might want to visit before it collapses…or not. Or just sit back, relax and check out Machu Picchu in 16 Gigapixels.
WEB
Links, links, links…from a certain, uncertain mind.
Shakespeare’s will: a new interpretation
Shakespeare’s will: a new interpretation
I’ve come to two new conclusions, which are important for our knowledge of Shakespeare and his family:
- I have redated parts of the 1616 will to three years earlier, with implications for how we understand Shakespeare’s last years.
- I have placed in context those parts of his will which are cited as evidence that he was unkind towards his family, and offer a new interpretation of Shakespeare’s intentions.
Vanishing Words
A RadioLab episode on Alzheimer’s, vocabulary, Agatha Christie, idea density……what else could you ask for?
BBC4: FutureProofing – Language
An uneven but interesting episode on Language from BBC4 Radio’s FutureProofing series. I’m not only including this because my intellectual crushhero Erin McKean makes an appearance. Also includes poet Elisa Gabbert and some linguists, scientists and AI-language researchers.
The New Science of Cute
“Kumamon, a cartoon bear created to promote tourism in an overlooked part of Japan, has become a billion-dollar phenomenon. Now, a new academic field is trying to pinpoint what makes things cute — and why we can’t resist them”
The Magic of “Untranslatable” Words
“What we can learn about the world and ourselves from foreign words that have no equivalent in English”
The Emily Dickinson Lexicon
The Emily Dickinson Lexicon is a dictionary of alphabetized headword entries for all of the words in Emily Dickinson’s collected poems (Johnson 1955 and Franklin 1998 editions).