Question: do you prefer the newer, fatter newsletters (lots o' links) or the former, slender version? I'm selective in any case, but would like to know which you'd rather see.
Note: as you may have noticed, I'm relaxing my stance against sharing articles behind paywalls. If you run into anything you can't access because you're over the limit, relax and let me drive (I'll send you the article).
A written word is the choicest of relics. It is something at once more intimate with us and more universal than any other work of art. It is the work of art nearest to life itself. It may be translated into every language, and not only be read but actually breathed from all human lips;---not be represented on canvas or in marble only, but be carved out of the breath of life itself.
---Henry David Thoreau
---found in Walden; or, Life in the Woods (1854)
satrap · /ˈsatrap/ · /SA-trap/. noun. A ruler, particularly one who rules tyrannically or in ostentatious splendor. From Old Persian kšatra-pāvan (protector of the country), from kšatra (realm, country) + pāvā (protector). Ultimately from PIE root pa- (to feed; to guard, protect). See also: satrapal, satrapic.
"Just make him seem like any other grasping satrap, Onkel. You know, creating difficulties, whining about resources. The bloom'll soon go off him." (Martin Amis)
"Trimming history to fit present needs is an iron rule of all satraps." (Wisława Szymborska)
"His satraps in the 'alternative fact' industry took their cues from him to rest easy in a warm bubble bath of denialism." (David Remnick)
"Then came the morning walk, slaloming among the strollers. They appeared in clusters, as if by prior accord: fat white babies lounging like satraps in conveyances of aluminum, canvas, and elastic." (Garth Hallberg)
I still think it's a good book, but nothing written in this area is without its flaws → White Fragility Is Everywhere. But Does Antiracism Training Work? ※ What's Missing From White Fragility ◊ Even When Records Fall Short, Black History Must Be Told ◊ TikTok and the Evolution of Digital Blackface
Wakaresase-ya! → The saboteurs you can hire to end your relationship ※ See also: Calling in the Split Man ※ Japanese murder exposes world of hired marriage wreckers
This article doesn't even get the half of it when it comes to how widespread these boomtown bars were and how wild they could get. I'm just old enough to remember my dad's exploits in almost all of the places mentioned...and many others besides. → Inside the Rowdy, Reckless Boomtown Bars of Alaska in the 1970s ※ For current times, I can vouch---in some cases rather, um, intensely---for many of these 15 Dive Bars In Alaska With Irresistible Rustic Charm.
I never would have expected Reddit to be the most positive social network web thing in my life (and the only one I still frequent) → When the Government Failed Us, Reddit Became America's Food Bank ※ There are a surprising number of healthy communities on Reddit for quite a range of interests. And then there are quirky ones, such as: a curated selection from AITA, Roast Me and Toast Me, TIFU (check out this classic), Instant Regret, Perfect Timing and Hold My Beer. ※ On the other hand: MIT fed an AI data from Reddit, and now it only thinks about murder ※ Related enough: How cell phones and Facebook are changing remote Nunatsiavut
Maybe I am an AI? → Are Humans Intelligent? An AI Op-Ed
Surprisingly mesmerizing → Drive & Listen
Consumables for the curious → Who Is the Sex Doll Revolution Really Hurting? ◊ Inside the Hidden World of Competitive Lockpicking ◊ Demand for Ginseng is Creating a 'Wild West' in Appalachia ◊ An Oral History of Big Mouth Billy Bass ◊ How a Cheese Goes Extinct
A feast for your eyes → Iringó Demeter's beautiful photography (check out the "Skin" series first) ◊ Shitty Watercolour's uplifting comics ◊ A Finite View of Infinity: Stargazing in Getty's Rare Book Collections ◊ Coming soon: the VOMA ◊ Photos Revealing The True Size Of Animals ◊ Terrible Maps
Mélange → North Korean Traffic Directors ◊ Cannabis that kills cancer cells ◊ Ordering KFC in Gaza ◊ Finding the New Age, for Your Age ◊ Cove ◊ Tesla's chocolate chip
Today in 1854, Henry David Thoreau publishes Walden; or, Life in the Woods, a classic, confounding, occasionally wickedly funny, precisely written book of reflection on himself and the world, encompassing nothing less than a declaration of independence and documentation of a spiritual journey. In addition to being an abolitionist and Transcendentalist, Thoreau wrote brilliantly on civil disobedience. Some other things to love: Thoreau invented a better formula of plumbago that extended his family's pencil fortune, and in addition to thousands of pages of essays (Thoreau published only two books in his lifetime), journals, poems, letters and stories, Thoreau was a devoted keeper of commonplace books...a practice that I not only enthusiastically endorse, but was practically tailor made for the living, participatory web. ※ For a thoughtful takedown of the shallow haters who complain, "but his [laundry/mom/lunches/sister]," see Rebecca Solnit's essay "On the Dirtiness of Laundry and the Strength of Sisters: Or, Mysteries of Henry David Thoreau, Unsolved". ※ Full text of Thoreau's works at Project Gutenberg.
► The Sand Storm (沙尘暴) starring Ai Weiwei.
"A burnt-out American globetrotter stumbles upon a psychedelic adventure in Kathmandu." → ► Kathmandude.
The Trolls Dolls' "misplaced button" (because mistakes were made) ☡ The NRA (because crossing-fingers-don't-wanna-jinx-it) ☡ The Cheetos mac and cheese line (because guilty of impure thoughts already) ☡ Stella Immanuel (because enough terrible doctors in my life)
Reader A. on James Baldwin: "When I look in the mirror I exclaim 'Grandma! Your're Back!'"
Reader H.: "You shared some fantastic links abot voting rights. Now some good news in Iowa."
Reader J.: "Everyone needs Evan Lorenzen's tiny books."
Reader T.: "FutureMe is neat, but writing letters to your future self is as easy as stuffing some envelopes or using this paper time capsule."
I welcome comments, suggestions, thoughts, feedback and all manner of what-have-you. Just press 'Reply' or email to: clippings@katexic.com.
And while you're still here, why not forward this to a friend?