RIP Alex Trebek. RIP Sean Connery. They live on together in SNL's Celebrity Jeopardy. Fittingly, though it often has hazardous connotations, jeopardy comes to us, through French, from the Latin jocus (joke, game).
And thanks to Jamie Thingelstad for the kind words in his great Weekly Thing newsletter, a variety pack of writing, photography, technology, productivity and much more. Tastily eclectic, just the way many of us like it.
"There's always a story," she said. "It's all stories, really. The sun coming up every day is a story. Everything's got a story in it. Change the story, change the world."
---Terry Pratchett
---found in A Hat Full of Sky (2004)
halation · /hə-LAY-shən/ · /həˈleɪʃən/. noun. A glow, blur or halo around bright objects in photos, films or television. From English halo, ultimately from the Greek halo (disc of the sun, moon, or a shield).
'Halation,' Rader says. 'A halo-shaped exposure-pattern around light sources seen on chemical film at low speed.' ¶ 'That most angelic of distortions.' (David Foster Wallace)
The blue, white, silver, and gold beams that comprised the sheath were transparent, blinding, and jewel-like, and a halation that appeared substantial enough to walk upon followed and echoed the main structure in a diffuse, spangling, silvery road. (Mark Helprin)
Lila Mae sees the strange red halation that forms around Chancre's Irish face when all the blood rushes into it, when the incumbent Guild Chair is set for one of his eruptions. (Colson Whitehead)
"I went to the gym and sat in coffee shops and browsed in bookstores and in drugstores and in stores selling 'home goods,' and so much of what read to me as fun was in fact commercial leisure, which I'd depended on for formal permission not to work." → What was fun?
Commonplace books! Obviously I agree, or Notabilia wouldn't be nearing 1000 issues! → Dwight Garner Shares From His Stash of Other Writers' Words
Chilling find shows how Henry VIII planned every detail of Boleyn beheading
This is fascinating and takes less than five minutes to look at five photos. I did a a smidge better than average. → This is an experiment about how we view history
"Depression is not something that just disrupts our lives --- it can change how we see ourselves as people." → Depression Is the Ultimate Identity Thief
I Watched My Friend Dying on Facebook. But It Was All a GoFundMe Scam. ※ Also on the table: Redditors Made Calling Out Chronic Illness 'Fakers' a Pastime. Their Targets Call it Harassment ※ But worth considering this too: Reddit's r/Illnessfakers Community and the Politics of Disbelief
I lived around ravens for almost all of my life Brainiacs, not birdbrains: Crows possess higher intelligence long thought a primarily human attribute
I Don't Know How To Explain To You That You Should Care About Other People ※ Pairs (un)well with: I've Been Volunteering For World Central Kitchen For Months, and It Shouldn't Be a Nonprofit's Job to Solve Food Insecurity and (sorrynotsorry if this is too on the political nose): Trumpism is a lifestyle disease, chronic in America
If you don't fold, this is interesting to play with. If you do, it's fascinating (and amazing to think that people can visualize and fold from the "crease patterns." → Origami Simulator [Thanks, Reader S!]
Today in 1973, John Paul Getty III's ear is delivered---after being delayed for more than two weeks thanks to a postal strike---to an Italian newspaper along with a second ransom demand. Getty had disappeared on July 10, but the first demand for $17 million dollars, received just two days later, had been rebuffed by Getty's grandfather John Paul Getty, one of the world's richest men, who said, "I have 14 other grandchildren. If I pay one penny, I'll have 14 kidnapped grandchildren." However, the grisly reminder---and more importantly the accompanying press---forced Getty to reconsider, and he eventually paid a ransom of $3 million...reportedly the most he could pay and have the payment be tax-deductible. While the kidnapping inspired many books, and at least one movie and television series, Getty III never really recovered from the trauma, and was rendered mute, partially blind and a paraplegic following an overdose in 1981.
▸ Tracy Chapman: Talkin' 'Bout A Revolution
"A short film written by Artificial Intelligence. When you see the green dot appear on the screen - the A.I. has taken over writing the film." → ▸ Solicitors | A.I. Written Short Film
The obvious orange (because just because) ☡ Dead voters (because there are none) ☡ Oregon's legal shrooms (because it's just a short trip away) ☡ Uber/Lyft lobbying (because where are the protests?) ☡ Covid 19 victim voted into Congress (because it's too 2020) ☡ QAnon voted into Congress (because same and sick)
Reader A.: "That garden is gross! ¶ I have never Seen a ghost, but Have heard them, creepy. After my brother died he was trying to send me a message using the boiler damper. It was clanking. I dont know Morse code, if that's what it was. Went on for a few days. I wished I knew what it was 'saying'."
Reader B.: "Thank you for all your work on these newsletters. As I read the link about the marvelous new Word Museum, I thought, Chris had been providing us all with the richness of a word museum over the years. Thank you."
Reader M.: "How could I not celebrate the longevity of Moomins and their inability to become dated! I was lucky enough to live for a year in Finland when I was six, and Moomins and their friends were like the equivalent of Winnie the Pooh there. In addition to the original books and Moominpappa piggy banks we bought during that year, I now have Moomin keychains, a music CD, a plate/mug/bowl set, a small stemless wine glass and old postage stamps."
I welcome comments, suggestions, thoughts, feedback and all manner of what-have-you. Just press 'Reply' or email to: clippings@katexic.com.
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