kipple /KIP-əl/. noun. Useless, multiplying junk, dross, rubbish. A word that seems particularly useful in our age of endless digital detritus and debris. Commonly attributed to speculative fiction author Philip K. Dick as a coinage in his 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, this is probably incorrect. It is likely Dick took it from the title of 60s sci-fi fanzine Kipple, a title one less charitable reader had mockingly re-defined as “useless junk.” And that magazine’s editor had himself appropriated the word from an old joke: “Do you like Kipling? I don’t know, I’ve never kippled.” A joke Dick would re-tell in a later novel (Galactic Pot-Healer).
[Read more…]Links: March 17, 2019
- Birding bop. Should I bird or should I go? You get the idea… → Welcome to Birdpunk
- I think I meant to share this a few years ago but forgot… → Why forgetting is really important for memory: U of T research ※ Also: How the Brain Creates a Timeline of the Past. ※ But, and, because I’m feeling sprawly this morning, “You will not own what you think you will own. You will borrow it. That is raw and beautiful, right now. It’s not sad and hollow.”
- Check out Raija Jokinen’s wonderful art, created using a technique that fuses “painting, drawing, papermaking, embroidery and textiles [to] explore the borderlines of physical and immaterial feelings.” → Raija Jokinen Works.
- Thich Nhat Hanh’s final mindfulness lesson: how to die peacefully
- It seems like it should go without saying that ending an addiction (or addictive behavior) is the first part of a process, not a meaningful activity in itself? → Why beating your phone addiction may come at a cost
- “According to Elgammal, ordinary observers can’t tell the difference between an AI-generated image and a ‘normal’ one in the context of a gallery or an art fair.” → The AI-Art Gold Rush Is Here ※ Pairs directly with A philosopher argues that an AI can’t be an artist and tastily with The Human Brain Is a Time Traveler.
- De-platforming was a thing long before social media… → Auden on No-Platforming Pound
- “Why so many men online love to use ‘logic’ to win an argument, and then disappear before they can find out they’re wrong.” → The magical thinking of guys who love logic
- Paper(y)(ish) art links, in no particular order: Vox Poplar (a generative, collaborative project), Chie Hitotsuyama’s stunning art made of rolled and twisted ropes of wet newspaper, Tiffany Miller Russell’s molded, layered paper scenes and portraits, and Calvin Nicholls paper sculptures.
- Today in 1958, The Champs’ song “Tequila” hits #1 on the US Billboard pop chart. It would be The Champs’—in reality the Danny Flores Trio, who only concocted a name for themselves, inspired by Gene Autry’s horse Champion, after the recording session—only hit. Written by “Chuck Rio” (actually Danny Flores, who used a pseudonym because he was under contract to a different record label at the time), who also shouted the song’s one-word lyric, tequila!, and recorded the memorable saxophone solo, the song was a B-side of an album that had little success and only saw the light of day thanks to a Cleveland DJ.
The Future is Handmade
“A Dutch archaeologist finds artisans and thought leaders who are redefining craft, skill and, ultimately, the real meaning of a knowledge economy.” → ► The Future Is Handmade ※ See also, from the same series: ► The Tale of a Women’s Coup, ► The Pen Shaper, ► Mike Snowden builds and plays a cigar box guitar, ► Anthony Bourdain visits Arion Press, and much more.
[Found via The Craftsmanship Initiative, which aims to “shine a light on those reclaiming craftsmanship’s principles of excellence and durability as a pathway to a better world” by highlighting masters at work, facilitating workshops, and producing a quarterly multimedia magazine. A treasure trove!]
Casting a Fire Ant Colony
bampot
bampot /BAM-pot/. noun. An idiot; a fool; an obnoxious person. Scottish slang of unknown origin, probably related to Northern English barmpot (a container for storing yeast) and barm (the froth on fermenting malt liquor; the head of a beer) both also used as slang with the same meaning and from which we also get barmy, slang for being mentally unsound.
[Read more…]Links: March 10, 2019
- Ranging in size from a few millimeters (really) to a few inches, New York City’s Grolier Club is holding an exhibition of more than 950 miniature books. → Behold, the Tiniest of Books
- Have fun playing with this computeiful inventorface of portmanteaus and rhymes! → Portmanteau & Rhyme Generator
- This thread about a strangely browsable, occasionally accidentally beautiful compendium. → Helen Rosner: There’s this incredible book…. ※ You can dip into it yourself on Project Gutenberg: Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases by Grenville Kleiser
- As Reader B. puts it, “The concept here is amazing, but I also love the phrases: transient anus, warty comb jelly.” → Animal with an anus that comes and goes could reveal how ours evolved
- Recently discovered: a book of “literary confessions” with amusing, witty, occasionally cutting handwritten contributions from Virginia Woolf, Virginia West, Hilaire Belloc and others. → Really and Truly: A Book of Literary Confessions (Thanks, Reader C.)
- This link is everywhere, but for good reason. I find it mesmerizing. → This Person Does Not Exist ※ Pairs with, because…tasty, ironic, weirdness: Man angry his photo was used to prove all hipsters look alike — then learns it wasn’t him, which is based on this research: The hipster effect: Why anti-conformists always end up looking the same
- A revealing con that didn’t take nearly long enough! → I Made My Shed the Top-Rated Restaurant on TripAdvisor
- Loving the pictures of Cal Cullen’s typewriter art installation in Cincinnati’s Contemporary Arts Center in this article… → Typewriter repair at the museum. ※ While I’m talking typewriters: if you are in or near enough to Rockford, Illinois on March 29-30, consider checking out the Paper Fingers: Mechanical Typewriting in the Digital Age event.
- “Don’t worry, the colleague you’ve never met isn’t trying to kiss you over email.” → ‘XX’? But I Hardly Know Her! ※ Related: How “XOXO” Came to Mean “Hugs and Kisses”
- Today is Mario Day (celebrated on MAR 10 because, written that way, the date resembles MARIO), celebrating the iconic mustachioed Nintendo video game franchise character who debuted as the jumping man in the 1981 Donkey Kong game. Mario Mario (yes, his last name is also Mario, at least according to the IMDB; he was named after Mario Segale, Nintendo America’s landlord, who burst into a development meeting demanding overdue rent) is a busy guy, appearing in more than 200 games, multiple film and TV shows, the 2016 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, and soon amusement parks in Japan and the United States. And that signature hat-and-mustache look? Turns out they were pragmatic choices: the artist found hair difficult to draw and the mustache was easier to see than a mouth, particularly on the low-resolution screens at the time. If all this is too newfangled for you, today is also International Bagpipe Day.
Becoming, a film by Jan van IJken
► Witness a single cell grow into a salamander, from fertilization to hatching, in this short time-lapse film by Jan van IJken
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