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WORK
XVIII
Fires
Burn in my heart.
No smoke rises.
No one knows.
—Kenneth Rexroth
—from “The Love Poems of Marichiko”
WORD(S)
catarrh /kə-TAR/. noun. An inflammation of the nose or throat; the mucus formed from such an inflammation. From Greek katarrhein (to flow down), from kata- (down) + rhein (to flow). See also catarrhal, catarrhous, and the partially derived catarrhine, used to describe the narrow space between the nostrils of some primates and humans, from kata- + rhinos (nose).
“Don’t fall into the water,” the Siren warned. “It’s a catalyst that will give you catarrh, catatonia, and catalepsy.” (Piers Anthony)
“He sort of catarrh-mumbles his ditties in a disgruntled mushmouth sorta like Robbie Robertson on Quaaludes with Dylan barfing down the back of his neck.” (Lester Bangs)
“…people resistant to balding have the same nucleic acid in their skin tissue as catarrhine monkeys, which are also immune to balding.” (Stanislaw Lem)
“…he offers his hand jabwise; i.e., thrusting it oddly forward with the thumb turned out, and introduces himself in a catarrhally confidential little bass: Dobrolyubov.” (Vladimir Nabokov)
A few hotel ghosts wander stiffly, wondering if catarrh
can ever be cathartic, and if there’s any afterlife, and if so,
whether it’s near as the next room, or the closet even…
(John Ashbery)
WEB
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A history of “tart cards.” → Dial ‘S’ for sex
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I’ve only read a few of these, but I can confidently say Terrance Hayes’ book belongs. → TS Eliot prize announces ‘intensely political’ shortlist
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I’m almost sold by this making of lemonade from the dwarf lemons that are QAnon. → The Wizard of Q
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“Our results indicate that the routinization of Twitter into news production affects news judgment” → Do journalists pay too much attention to Twitter?
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Remember that time Donny Osmond’s needs trumped the red hot Beastie Boys? → Excerpt: Beastie Boys Book by Michael Diamond, Adam Horovitz
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I’m not surprised by the top three. Are you? → Exclusive: Data Reveals … The Books We Most Often Try To Read But Secretly Give Up On
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Why do these tragic, brilliant pieces of long form journalism keep finding me? → A Generation in Japan Faces a Lonely Death
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It’s all our fault. This is why we can’t have nice things. → The world’s biggest organism is facing its end
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The winning photos in the 2018 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition include some stunning entries. See also, zooming back out a bit, Cantor Arts Center and Stanford Libraries collaborate to make Warhol photography archives publicly available.
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Today in 1915, the human voice is heard across the Atlantic for the first time when B. B. Webb, a radio engineer in Arlington, West Virginia, says “Hello” in a signal received by an American Telephone and Telegraph Company antenna mounted on Paris’ Eiffel Tower. The first two-way transatlantic telephone call wouldn’t be established until 1927. The first text message—the Spanish Influenza of the voice-calling world— wouldn’t be sent until 1992.
WATCH/WITNESS
► The Life of Death is the story of "the day Death fell in love with Life."
WHAT‽
Coming soon to an open plan office stable near you, Panasonic’s Human Blinders—I mean, “Blinkers” are apparently not an April Fool’s Day joke.
REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES
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Reader L.: “Thx for this! A word I actually didn’t know, describes me…😀”
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Reader J.: "I don’t say this enough - just brilliant. A moveable feast. ¶ Thank you, Mr. Lott. […] ¶ ps - Just before I received this katexic I had just finished reading Jane Doe Ponytail in today’s NYT. Wrenching, indeed.
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Reader B.: “xenonyms! ¶ Another awesome transmission from the other side of the nebula.”
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