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Sitting, Silent, Open-Minded
[Caption: Vicar's wife (sympathisingly): "Now that you can't get about, and are not able to read, how do you manage to occupy the time?" Old Man: "Well, Mum, sometimes I sits and thinks; and then again I just sits." For more information, see the note at the foot of this post.] From whiskey river: Meditation has nothing to [...]
Answers in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear
[Image: xkcd #936, on password strength. Click image to enlarge; see xkcd itself for the full six panels and the punchline.] From whiskey river: This accidental meeting of possibilities calls itself I. I ask: what am I doing here? And, at once, this I becomes unreal. (Dag Hammarskjöld [source]) …and: Ch’ui the draftsman Could draw more [...]
The Shape of What You Live
[Image: "Angular Momentum," from xkcd.com. The tooltip/"hover title" at the original page says: "With reasonable assumptions about latitude and body shape, how much time might she gain them? Note: whatever the answer, sunrise always comes too soon. (Also, is it worth it if she throws up?)"] From whiskey river: Remembering And you wait. You wait [...]
The Nonexistent Kavalier & Clay Film
This is almost heartbreaking to watch — because the film it’s promoting (by director and cinematographer Jamie Caliri, of Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay) hasn’t (yet) been made. (And if you haven’t read Kavalier & Clay yet, well, now you’ve got one more reason to do so.)
Rummaging
Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler’s Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry, has for the moment taken up graphic novels. (She illustrates as well as writes them.) The first installment in a planned series of them, The Night Bookmobile, was published in September. From a recent interview with Niffenegger at the Newsarama.com site (italics added): [...]
Super Powers for the Rest of Us
['Super Powers,' by Mark Stivers. Click to view the full set of six.] Given a choice, I think the caption below my portrait — in ten words or less — would say something like writes brilliant stories one hour at a time*. (My Kryptonite: the Internet.) Yours? _______________ * Edit to add: Just to make [...]
Identity Crises
[Image: 'A Little Family History,' by B. Kliban] From whiskey river: Moment A person wakes from sleep and does not know for a time who she is, who he is. This happens in a lifetime once or twice. It has happened to you, no doubt. Some in that moment panic, some sigh with pleasure. How [...]
What’s in a Song: Fever (1)
[This is another in an occasional series on popular songs with appeal across the generations. This post will be broken into two parts; Part 2 will appear in a few days is here.] As a kid, I once read a “funny” comic-book episode in which aliens landed in mid-20th-century America and reported back to their [...]
After “The End”…
No, alas — not here to report anything like the conclusion of Seems to Fit. Just sharing a tidbit from the irrepressible xkcd webcomic. The first three panels of today’s contribution to the collective wisdom are above; click the image to see the final panel.
What’s in a Song: Begin the Beguine (2)
[This is another in an occasional series on popular songs with long histories. Part 1 -- which focused on the song's composition and lyrics -- appeared on Wednesday.] How many times and by which performers has “Begin the Beguine” been covered? It is to laugh. The most comprehensive list I’ve seen was on the page [...]
