As Peter Allen said in his song, “everything old is new again.” And so it is with the return of Katexic Clippings in 2017 and today’s WORK, apropos for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday and our energetic political times.
“One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change. Every society has its protectors of status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions. Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.”
—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
—from The Radical King
chine /CHIYN/. noun or verb. The spine or backbone. The rim of a cask formed by the ends of the staves. In cooking, a cut or joing that includes the spine and connected flesh. In geography, the crest of a ridge though also, historically (and oddly), a fissure or crack in the earth. In shipbuilding, the change in angle of the cross-section of a hull, where the bottom and sides meet (such as a sharp chine). As a verb, to cut through the spine when butchering. From Middle English chyne, from Middle French eschine, then things get hairy but it appears to be a blend of the Germanic source of shin and Latin spina (spine).
“A prodigious chine of roasted bear’s meat.” (J. F. Cooper)
“We then struck the roughest of descents, down broken outcrops and chines of granite.” (Sir Richard Burton)
“It has been but a month from putting in the eight-by-threes, treated with creosote and laid a foot and a half apart in the long northernish rectangle of our cabin’s base, construction fir let into grey marl on the chine of an island, to the last sheet of shingling on the roof.” (Guy Davenport)
“In a very few minutes a hard chine launch came swiftly to them from the carrier…” (Nevil Shute)
“Its iron-rimmed chine struck the nape of his neck, dislocated vertebrae and crushed the spinal column.” (Annie Proulx)
“…the head is so obtuse as to go absolutely crazy over a pair of hunkers, which is no more than a chine of beef.” (William O’Rourke)
You should definitely read this magical Twitter story about typewriters and travel
I’m unreasonably excited about Jim Jarmusch’s new film ► Paterson because it uses prose poems by the great Ron Padgett and stars Adam Driver, who I find intriguing. The New York Times has a solid, positive review. For more on Padgett and Jarmusch’s film, see interviews in Town & Country and Bleecker Street. And Padgett’s own site links to a solid, short profile of Padgett for readers.
The headline is a bit click-baity, but the whole thing is still really cool (be sure to read the comments) → The mind-blowing AI announcement from Google that you probably missed.
’Tis the season… → ►DIY Science: How far does a sneeze travel? and the accompanying research articles: Snot Science: A snotty setup + Snot Science: Results are nothing to sneeze at + Snot Science: Taking mucus to the next level.
Hey grrrl, let’s go on vacay. → 25 Words Turning 25 Years Old in 2017
I was sure I’d shared this before, but Reader C.’s suggestion prompted me to look and apparently I’d kept it to myself. Word buffs using a Mac, enjoy! → You’re probably using the wrong dictionary
This is actually good advice for anyone who makes things, whether a Trump supporter or not. → John Scalzi’s 10-point plan for getting creative work done in the age of Trump
The title makes clear what it’s aboot → Why Do Canadians Say ‘Eh’?
Today in 1919, 2.3 million gallons of molasses erupt from a broken holding tank in Boston, Massachusetts, creating the Great Molasses Flood, AKA the Boston Molasses Disaster. The 25-foot (at least) tall wave—moving at 35 miles per hour—engulfed the city’s North End, tearing buildings from their foundations and crushing them, killing 21 people and wounding more than 150 others in the process. Ultimately attributed to faulty tank construction and lack of testing before filling them, nearly 100 years later a group of scientists and students discovered why the winter conditions made the spill significantly more deadly. And more research. The Atlantic published some amazing pictures of the aftermath. See also: a story of the day from 2014, the London Beer Flood.
Those of us in northern climes have all tossed (sometimes boiling) water in the air to watch ►the frosty display. But, it turns out, the Mpemba Effect—the idea that boiling water actually freezes faster than cold water in this context—is weird and controversial.
The strange, sad story of Jimmy Ellis, aka Orion, the Man Who Would Be Elvis and how many thought he was Elvis when all he wanted to do was take off the glittering mask.
My thanks to those who inquired about Katexic Clippings during the unannounced holiday hiatus; my apologies to those I neglected to answer.
Reader J.: “Enjoying reading what you clip. Enjoying thinking about other things, again. Motherhood is a blast, but it sucks the life out of everything for at least a little while.”
I welcome comments, suggestions, thoughts, feedback and all manner of what-have-you. Just press ‘Reply’ or email to: clippings@katexic.com.
Enjoy the WORK section? Check out my other little project: concīs » http://concis.io/
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