“The 100 Most Important Cat Pictures Of All Time”
OK, this is it, Jack Shepherd of BuzzFeed says. This is the one. We can all finally shut down and go home after this. The Internet has served its purpose.
Via izismile.com
The Magician’s Apprentice
Why It Matters: This one is important because cats almost never use their magical powers in public.
Via funnyanimalpictures.funnypicturesutopia.com
Disaffected Kitten
Why It Matters: Because the world is a sad and troubling and often extremely disappointing place and we may as well learn that as early as possible in life.
98 more cats
~~~~~
A History in 100 objects, publishing’s new favorite gimmick
The history of this trend can be traced, Forrest Wickman says in Slate, back to one cultural object.
In 2010, the BBC and the British Museum rolled out their radio series and book, A History of the World in 100 Objects. Soon everything was getting its own HIAHO (History In A Hundred Objects). The concept has been used for countries, cities, small towns, sports…well, you name it.
Maybe I’ll try it:
Alma Alexander in 100 Objects
First, of course, will be a coffee cup.
A history of the history of 100 objects
~~~~~
Phineas Gage, Neuroscience’s Most Famous Patient
Each generation revises the story of the man who survived an iron rod being blown through his head. Sam Kean tells us the latest “true story” in a long fascinating article in Slate.
Phyllis Gage Hartley/Creative Commons
On Sept. 13, 1848, at around 4:30 p.m., the time of day when the mind might start wandering, a railroad foreman named Phineas Gage filled a drill hole with gunpowder and turned his head to check on his men. It was the last normal moment of his life.
The story of Phineas Gage
~~~~~
Are you ever too old for YA novels?
Why do we devour young-adult fiction well past our YA years? John Green, the best-selling author of The Fault in Our Stars, explains at Cosmopolitan.
I’ve been a passionate adult reader of YA fiction for a decade, and what I find so compelling about the best YA fiction is its unironic emotional honesty. When you’re a teenager, you’re often doing so many important things for the first time — everything from falling in love to grappling with heartache and loss. You also begin to ask the big questions of humanness: What, if anything, is the meaning to all this? What are my responsibilities to myself and to others?
Adults and YA
~~~~~
Everybody in Almost Every Language Says “Huh”?
Huh?! What makes this utterance the “universal word”?, Arika Okrent asks in Smithsonian Magazine.
Mark Dingemanse and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics have uncovered a surprisingly important role for the humble huh?, a sort of voiced question mark slipped in when you don’t understand something. In fact, they’ve found, huh? is a “universal word,” the first studied by modern linguists.
Everybody says ‘huh?’
~~~~~
Quote of the Day
“I have a long string of past loves, but they’re all bookstores.” ~ Janet Potter
~~~~~
Alma Alexander
Check out my books
Email me
Comments welcome. What do you think?
Recent Comments