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The Oatmeal (with an assist from Augusten Burroughs) nails it again. → How to be Perfectly Unhappy.
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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.
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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.
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You abso-effing-lutely should read The Dexterous Tongue’s explanation of English Expletive Infixation!
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Before the computer, there was something almost as complex: the Chinese typewriter.
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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.]
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Is Listening to an Audio Book “Cheating?”. Cognitively, the short answer: mostly not.
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Apparently, a company has successfully trademarked the contraction “should’ve.”. I’ll let that one speak for itself.
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The Nod Travel Pillow makes a ton of sense…but could I bring myself to actually use it?
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Meet the parents who won’t let their children study literature
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Hindsight is…well, you know. → The Good Old Days? 12 Crazy Vintage Ads That Prove We’ve Come A Long Way
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Get Lost in the Stacks of These 10 Beautiful University Libraries
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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).
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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.