I consider your attention---especially now that newsletters have become de rigueur---a gift. But if you insist on getting me something, here's my Venmo---just kidding. What I would really love would be for you to share Katexic Clippings with a friend, post a link on social media, put it in your blog...wherever you share.
People never explain to you exactly what they think and feel and how their thoughts and feelings work, do they? They don't have time. Or the right words. But that's what books do. It's as though your daily life is a film in the cinema. It can be fun, looking at those pictures. But if you want to know what lies behind the flat screen you have to read a book. That explains it all.
---Sebastian Faulks
---found in A Week in December (2009)
brumous · /ˈbru:məs/ · /BROO-məs/. adjective. Foggy, misty, wintry. From Latin brūma (winter, wintry weather). See also: brume, brumal.
The days were short, hardly days at all, more like drawn-out, brumous twilights. (John Banville)
Removed from his brumous environment, the English human being becomes in time accessible to light and heat... (Ambrose Bierce)
But tonight, in the brumous winter and the charcoal streets, it was not the tiny bowls and tea dishes for which she silently blessed her yellow wag. (Jeanette Winterson)
...the first, premature snow melted as it touched ground; then after a few brumous weeks winter set in, hard and white, with cruel winds from the mountains. (Evelyn Waugh)
Love this picture, 10 years in the making, showing 48 colors of the moon → Colors of the Moon
Lonely Lingerie, a chiropractor, Black Lives Matter, QAnon. I'm weary of QAnon stories but this one is fascinating → The Lonely descent into QAnon ※ Pairs well with (the more fun, and more film, than you might expect) → CONSTANTLY WRONG: The Case Against Conspiracy Theories
I have to admit, this simple virtual guitar is a lot of fun to play (and zone out) with → The Bluesman
I'm here for any organism that looks like office supplies → Squid-like creature that looked like a giant paperclip lived 200 years
If you're looking for some, umm, different cards for this holidays, or any time, I've got you covered → Unusual Cards
A slightly tricky quiz, especially if you tend toward pessimism (who doesn't in 2020?) → Common Misconceptions about UN Goals ※ When you're done, see if you do better than actual monkeys because, as it turns out, most people don't.
An unexpected combination → Japan's Kei-tora 'Mini Truck' Gardening Contest
For my money, innumeracy is among the most significant problems facing...humanity. Misunderstanding the scale of the incredibly large and small is a key part of it → The Big and the Small
An awesome interactive feature → AI Faces ※ Or you can consider your own face, as we have been for a loooong time → The Original Selfie Craze Was the Mirror
Today in 1865, the required 27 of 36 states ratify the 13 Amendment to the United States Constitution which states, in part, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." Among many unintended consequences, the exception allowing labor as a punishment prompted many Southern states to enact a suite of interlocking laws know as the Black Codes that created a de facto slave class, the ripple effects of which we see in the massive, largely unjust system of incarceration in the United States.
▸ George Méliés -- After The Ball, an 1897 film considered by some to be the first pornographic film.
A trippy, but understandably effective, "3-D" crosswalk.
Thanksgiving/Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa (because I am grinch) ☡ monoliths (because Pittsburgh = jumped the shark) ☡ The Austrian town of Fugging (because better than the previous name) ☡ Adolf Hitler Uunona's election win (because some variation of Godwin's law) ☡ Work Wonnies (because who needs bottoms on Zoom?) ☡ QAmom (because there are portmanteaus even I can't take)
Reader B.: "There has to be a word for that feeling so many of us share when confronted with the vast depths of a large library, maybe a punny portmanteau featuring Borges."
Reader R.: "Powell's Books scent should go perfectly with my Scent of Old Books candle."
Reader W.: "I keep reading that final letter over and over. I can't get it out of my mind. I can't sit with it."
I welcome comments, suggestions, thoughts, feedback and all manner of what-have-you. Just press 'Reply' or email to: clippings@katexic.com.