WORK
The anthropologists are busy, indeed, and ready to transport us back into the savage forest where all human things, the Greek things, too, had their beginnings; but the seed never explains the flower.
—Edith Hamilton
—from The Greek Way (1930)
WORD(S)
spoliate. verb. To plunder, rob or deprive. Legally, altering a document and making it invalid. In wartime, the authorized seizure of neutral vessels. A less common form of despoil. From Latin spolium (spoil).
“…give me back my spoliated rights – restore me to my violated franchises – give me back my liberty, or – I pause upon the brink of the alternative to which I had hurried, and, receding from it, leave it to you to complete the sentence.” (Richard Lalor Sheil)
“…the wood seemed to Alan to have a tender bruised beauty, spring renewing it only for further spoliation, and he knew the authors were right when they wrote of what love does, of how it transforms and glorifies and takes the scales from the eye of the beholder.” (Ruth Rendell)
“In trickery, evasion, procrastination, spoliation, botheration, under false pretences of all sorts, there are influences that can never come to good.” (Charles Dickens)
WEB
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The New York Public Library debuts InstaNovels, beginning with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The NYPL says the new form is “a reimagining of Instagram Stories to provide a new platform for iconic stories.”
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A fascinating history of the index, from the scroll to the codex and from stichometric to alphabetic. → INDEX: A Brief History
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Extraordinary…what are the odds of this kind of discovery? → Mum’s a Neanderthal, Dad’s a Denisovan: First discovery of an ancient-human hybrid
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Can You Rewire Your Brain? Maybe. (It’s Tricky. Be Careful.)
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Of course the art isn’t the point, but it’s still pretty amazing. → Re-creating the “Mona Lisa” using light-stimulation and bacteria
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The racist language of space exploration
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Ministry of Cinema says their mission is to “spread our love of cinema however we can.” And they do a fine job of it with their chock-full video channel.
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Apparently, Being a Victorian Librarian Was Oh-So-Dangerous. Not least because Melvil Dewey was a serial sexual harasser.
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Good Show Sir features only “the worst Sci-fi/Fantasy book covers.” Jump right into the gallery.
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Today, and every Sunday nearest August 26, is International Go Topless Day. Founded in 2007 by Claude Vorilhon (AKA Rael, founder of the UFO religion Raelanism), Go Topless Day fights for a specific equality, that “women should have the same constitutional right or men should also be forced to wear something that hides their chests,” and encourages women to go topless and men to wear brassieres or bikinis. This year, Go Topless Day serendipitously falls exactly on Women’s Equality Day.
WATCH/WITNESS
It’s Okay That It’s Not Okay is Christina Tran’s powerful, ongoing “comic memoir about making the decision to take a sabbatical – and why it’s so hard to make time to slow down and feel the things we need to feel.” Updated weekly.
WHAT!?
► A puffer fish will eat all your nightmares
REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES
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