Thanks, Reader B. for alerting me to the WORK that gave me the WORD this week!
“What is the strongest memory you have of the incident?” Leahy asked. “Something you cannot forget?”
“Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter, the uproarious laughter between the two,” Ford replied, her voice breaking.
—Patrick Leahy & Christine Blasey Ford
—from Senate Testimony, Sep. 27, 2018
—cited in “Walters: Leahy Elicits Striking Answer From Kavanaugh Accuser Christine Blasey Ford”
hippocampus /HIP-oh-CAMP-əs/. noun. A mythological sea creature with the forelegs of a horse and a fish or dolphin tail. A fish of the genus Hippocampus, AKA a seahorse. An area of the cerebral cortex that forms a ridge on the floor of the lateral ventricle of the brain (so named because its shape, in cross section, looks like a sea horse. This part of the brain plays an important part of consolidating short-term memory to long-term memory and in spatial memory. From Latin hippocampus, from Greek hippokampus, from hippos (horse) + kampus (sea monster).
“In Alzheimer’s disease the hippocampus is among the areas affected first, that little coil in the central core of the brain that shares a Latin name with sea horses.” (Rebecca Solnit)
“Above the banquet, in the triangle, instead of lions or leopards, we have the hippocampus, a favourite animal of the Etruscan imagination. It is a horse that ends in a long, flowing fish-tail.” (D. H. Lawrence)
“A murky, fleeting, nighttime vision, a trickle of water on glass, a momentary spasm in some deep dead end of the brain; some worthless, useless capillary burst, a hormone gurgled, something skipped a beat in the cerebellum or the hippocampus…” (Tatyana Tolstaya)
A great story that includes instant noodle currency in prison (and “prison burritos”), (three) instant noodle museums, the instant noodle “history cube,” ad the critic who has reviewed more than 6200 kinds of instant noodles in search of the elusive 5-star example. Among other things. → The Eternal Life of the Instant Noodle
Octopodes on Ecstacy. For real. And, yes, octopodes!
October is Inktober, where artists around the world post a new drawing every day. Watch drawing as they are posted by following #inktober on Twitter and on Instagram. If you’re an artist, participation is easy, with a few simple rules and prompts.
You want “new” words? Here you go. → An overview of how adding words to dictionaries happens && Merriam-Webster’s September 2018 additions && the Oxford English Dictionary additions, updated in June && While I’m at it, there are 300 new words in the Scrabble dictionary too.
Tara Murtha’s article, “What She Hasn’t Got: An Apology For Sinéad O’Connor” is well written and full of truth.
“In essence, the photocopier was not merely a vehicle for copying. It became a mechanism for sub-rosa publishing—a way of seizing the means of production, circulating ideas that would previously have been difficult to get past censors and editors.” → How the Photocopier Changed the Way We Worked—and Played
Coming to Vancouver in November: (the world’s first?) “sex doll brothel.” But it’s about more than novelty…
For the eyes: the evolution of Hokusai’s “Great Wave” && Rogan Brown’s astonishingly intricate, bacteria inspired paper sculptures
Today is International Podcast Day, celebrating the power of this powerful, still under-appreciated media art form. For some solid recommendations, check out these lists: Bryan Alexander: Listening to in 2018 && WIRED: 27 of the best podcasts for curious minds in 2018 && Esquire: The 15 Best Podcasts of 2018 (So Far) && Vulture: Best Podcasts of 2018 (So Far). I’d love to hear what you are listening to.
“A social experiment goes awry when a couple ► adopts a baby chimpanzee and raises her as their daughter.” An amazing story with multiple acts. Directed and animated by Elisa Chee.
I haven’t seen the other parts, but ► Scooter Saga: City Council, in which Chad and J.T. defend bird scooters, gave me a much needed laugh.
Reader M.: “The ‘fake towns’ for those with dementia or Alzheimer’s are both amazing and a seemingly obvious idea. In the absence of one nearby, rather than talk to our family members with these diseases about current events in the newspaper, bringing in old photos and objects or watching old movies would make a lot more sense.”
Reader B. “I haven’t experienced Mariko Aoki myself, but have been to some pretty crappy bookstores.” – Groan!
Reader G.: "Exonym can also refer to generic terms for groups closer to home, like how our European refugee ancestors called the Inuit, inupiac and Yupik ‘Eskimo’, a derogatory Athabaskan term meaning ‘eater of raw meat.’ ¶ Not to mention almost all other native groups referred to as Indians, regardless of which tribal groups they came from.
Reader M.: “Re: #4 (Is it the Irish Goodbye, the French Exit, or to Leave the "English Way"?) ¶ In this house we call it ‘The Michael Scott Goodbye’ connoting an exit that, although a surprise to everyone but the person doing the leaving, is just as awkward and painful as the public goodbye would have been. Around the office we call it ‘The Chris Lott Move’ and it’s a known quantity wherein we just allow you your space and privately wish you the best.”
Reader J.: “Just want to say how great you are, how welcome your eclectic links and pursuits. ¶ Thanks, as always…”
Reader A.: “I very much enjoy these posts, unusual information and new words!”
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