malison /mal-i-zən/. noun. A curse. A malediction. The opposite of a benison. From Old French maleiçon (curse, to speak ill).
[Read more…]
Links: September 11, 2016
-
The harrowing, moving story of the not-so-forgotten “Falling Man” of 9/11.
-
An amazing 35-minute “paraphrase” of Blade Runner composed of 12,597 aquarelle (water colored) frames.
-
Some of Rolling Stone’s 20 Great Hip-Hop One-Liners really are rather clever.
-
From Reader C. comes news (and a review) of a “choose your adventure” app that riffs on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. » A Midsummer Night’s Choice. Side note: I own paper copies of the two Ryan North “choose your adventure” versions of Shakespeare mentioned at the head of the review: Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. I haven’t used the versions yet, but I highly recommend the books.
-
This makes me a little queasy. → Beer to be made from yeast swabbed from Roald Dahl’s writing chair
-
“…a documentary portrait of artists, writers, and collectors who remain steadfastly loyal to the typewriter as a tool and muse […] movingly documents the struggles of California Typewriter, one of the last standing repair shops in America dedicated to keeping the aging machines clicking […] a thought-provoking meditation on the changing dynamic between humans and machines, and encourages us to consider our own relationship with technology, old and new, as the digital age’s emphasis on speed and convenience redefines who’s serving whom, human or machine?” → California Typewriter
-
How to Keep a Zibaldone, the 14th Century’s Answer to Tumblr
-
Choose your tagline: “I’ll take one with extra cheese and norovirus” or “Burrito Drone is the name of my new band.” → Alphabet and Chipotle Are Bringing Burrito Delivery Drones to Campus
-
Today in 1792, in the early days of the French Revolution, the 45.5 carat Hope Diamond—one of the most famous jewels in the world—is stolen while King Louis XVI and his family are in prison. The Hope Diamond, which was cut from a much larger stone called The French Blue that was among those worn by Marie Antoinette, would reappear in the early 1800s; King Louis XVI didn’t fare as well…he was brought to the guillotine just a few months after the diamond disappeared. The blue/violet color of the diamond is due to trace amounts of boron. Though supposedly cursed—and there have been quite a number of brutal murders, suicides and other deep misfortunes among the various owners of the gem—Harry Winston, the diamond’s final owner, mailed it to the Smithsonian in a brown paper bag for $2.44 in postage and later died peacefully of old age.
Annie Vought’s Hand Cut Paper Art & Typography
Detail from Annie Vought’s hand-cut paper art and typography piece “I am Crossing an Ocean, With 2 Others On a Piece Of Paper.” Browse more in Annie’s Cut Paper gallery.
Ballet Zoom’s Cats
from Black Boy (Richard Wright)
“Our too-young and too-new America, lusty because it is lonely, aggressive because it is afraid, insists upon seeing the world in terms of good and bad, the holy and the evil, the high and the low, the white and the black; our America is frightened of fact, of history, of processes, of necessity. It hugs the easy way of damning those whom it cannot understand, of excluding those who look different, and it salves its conscience with a self-draped cloak of righteousness.”
—Richard Wright
—from Black Boy
dakhma (dokhma)
dakhma (dokhma) /DOK-ma/. noun. A raised circular structure, or tower, upon which Zoroastrians place the bodies of their dead to be consumed by vultures. AKA a “Tower of Silence.” From Persian dakhmak (funeral place).
[Read more…]
Links: September 4, 2016
-
The Oatmeal (with an assist from Augusten Burroughs) nails it again. → How to be Perfectly Unhappy.
-
A barely literate prisoner with a dictionary and a Mario Puzo novel teaches himself to read then finds (many!) errors in—and becomes friends with the editor of—Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Another great episode of the Criminal podcast.
-
Some fascinating Lincoln links [must resist bad puns]: The Blood Relics From the Lincoln Assassination and the amazing story of the 1901 exhumation of Lincoln’s body.
-
You abso-effing-lutely should read The Dexterous Tongue’s explanation of English Expletive Infixation!
-
Before the computer, there was something almost as complex: the Chinese typewriter.
-
Kurt Vonnegut’s only play—Happy Birthday, Wanda June—is underrated. It’s funny and full of outrage. And despite not being much of an opera listener, I’m intrigued by the idea of the Indianapolis Opera adaptation. Among other videos at the link, this ►workshop performance clip. [Thanks, Reader J.]
-
Is Listening to an Audio Book “Cheating?”. Cognitively, the short answer: mostly not.
-
Apparently, a company has successfully trademarked the contraction “should’ve.”. I’ll let that one speak for itself.
-
The Nod Travel Pillow makes a ton of sense…but could I bring myself to actually use it?
-
Meet the parents who won’t let their children study literature
-
Hindsight is…well, you know. → The Good Old Days? 12 Crazy Vintage Ads That Prove We’ve Come A Long Way
-
Get Lost in the Stacks of These 10 Beautiful University Libraries
-
Starved, tortured, forgotten: Genie, the feral child who left a mark on researchers. See also, the Nova documentary ►Genie: Secret of the Wild Child (transcript here).
-
Today in 1957, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus deploys the National Guard to intimidate the “Little Rock Nine”—nine black students scheduled to enter the all-white Little Rock Central High School—and support the protesting segregationists. I wish this sounded more outlandish. The action, and the polarizing photos, would lead to fiery national debate in what became a seminal moment in the history of the civil rights movement. Coincidentally, on this same day in 1908, novelist, essayist and poet Richard Wright was born just outside Natchez, Mississippi. Wright’s work, including the powerful novels Native Son and The Outsider, would be a significant force in race relations and civil rights in the United States and, after his permanent move to France, around the world.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 108
- 109
- 110
- 111
- 112
- …
- 132
- Next Page »