Early in January Cyril Grey received a letter from Lord Antony Bowling. ‘My good Grey,’ it began, ‘may the New Year bring you courage to break your resolutions early! My own plan is to swear off every kind of virtue, so that I triumph even when I fall!’
—Alesteir Crowley
—from Moonchild
catafalque /KAT-ə-fahlk/. noun. A temporary platform or tomb on which a body is laid in state for a funeral and/or procession. In Roman Catholic funerals, a coffin-shaped object draped with a pall, representing the corpse. From Italian catafalco (same meaning), from Greek kata (down or beside) + fala (scaffolding, or a wooden tower). The Medieval Latin use led to the French chafaud and échafaud (scaffold).
“On the bedcover a gold-embroidered pomegranate pattern shimmered in the dim light of two pendant lamps which, like at a catafalque, shone either side of the bed—Mortimer’s bed. He could easily imagine the outstretched form of the murdered man in the shadow of the baldachin.” (Alexander Lernet-Holenia)
“Because of the frost, rigor mortis stiffened his body so quickly that he ended up lying on his catafalque with his dead fingers gripping his watch, which ticked loudly, to the embarrassment of those attending the funeral.” (Magdalena Tulli)
“Poor Snow White. She wasn’t very comfortable anywhere else; not in her stepmother’s castle, not in her glass catafalque, not in whatever place her awakening prince lugged her off to.” (Jane Urquhart)
“For the next forty-eight years Mrs T. (or ‘Big Bertha,’ as the hospital staff too now called her) continued to lie in Parkinsonian state, rigid, mute, motionless, and glaring, upon her specially reinforced catafalque of a bed, attended by relays of diminutive nurses.” (Oliver Sacks)
“Let the orchestras rehearsing for the feast be made up of strange instruments, whose mere sound prompts tears. Let the servants be clad in sober liveries of unknown colours; let them be lavish yet simple, like the catafalques of heroes.” [alternate version in notebooks, ‘catafalques of suicides.’]" (Fernando Pessoa)
The Wellcome Image Awards “recognise the creators of informative, striking and technically excellent images that communicate significant aspects of healthcare and biomedical science.” In other words, some amazing art! → Wellcome Image Awards 2017 | Winners’ gallery
Fascinating to see the variety (and clusters of similarity) of scores of examples of 1984 In Covers.
Some interesting answers to the question, “What is the most disturbing book you’ve ever read and why?” What say you, Clamorites?
Futuracha is an amazing typeface, but because it is only available as EPS figures, it’s not been easily usable. So, the forthcoming Futuracha Pro font project is welcome…creating an even better face with amazing ligatures and a variety of alternates for common pairs of letters.
The Oxford comma: Decried, defended, and debated: An infographic
“Each etymology is like a magic portal into a tiny truth about history, culture, language, or the mind—a miniature eureka, a quiet a-ha, a satisfying huh, or a little story that I believe only a good word origin can tell.” → mashed radish – everyday etymology Via Reader A.
Spreadable coffee is now a thing. I’ve planted the seed in the mind of a colleague who is in Japan that he should bring some home for me.
How to become a super memorizer – and what it does to your brain + Ancient technique can dramatically improve memory, research suggests
The right explanation…and an interesting response. → Why words die.
Today at sunrise was the Aztec New Year (in Nahuatl, the Yancuic Xīhuitl, or in Spanish Año Nuevo Azteca), the first day of the year according to the Aztec Calendar, which has 360 named—and five unlucky nameless—days. Celebrations generally take place the night before and involve:
- ceremonial dancing with colorful costumes and headdresses featuring quetzal feathers
- offerings of seeds and the lighting of “ocote” or pitch-pine candles
- the burning of a flag representing the year that has passed and the perfuming of a flag for the new year
- much celebratory noise-making with seashells, fireworks and pulque, a drink made from the magüey cactus
Aimee Mann’s video, starring Bradley Whitford and Matthew Weiner, for “Patient Zero,” a song from her new album. The video is fine, but really just an excuse to emphasize that Aimee Mann has a new album out!
Meet the Rubber Man — British Pathé, 1947.
Reader W. asks, “why are you hating on the Walden game. Have you even played it?” — My apologies! My ‘finally,’ was based on their description of how long the game took to create, not a comment on any quality of the game itself, which I haven’t played.
A reader who wants complete anonymity notes, regarding Dr. Seuss’s old, racist cartoons, that many people today have forgotten the significant psychological effects that Pearl Harbor and stories of subsequent atrocities had on Americans at the time, observing that Navy ships would detour to see the Pearl Harbor ruins as a reminder. — I agree, and my point wasn’t to indict Seuss, whose views obviously changed over time, but because the dehumanizing effects of conflict shouldn’t be minimized or dismissed if we are to learn from these lessons.
Reader B.: “Katexic is such a delight. Each edition refreshes, stimulates, pleases. Must take a great deal of work to turn it out. Thanks for that.” — Thanks for reading! Email to you coming soon.
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