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WORK

A work of art is useless as a flower is useless. A flower blossoms for its own joy. We gain a moment of joy by looking at it. That is all that is to be said about our relations to flowers. Of course man may sell the flower, and so make it useful to him, but this has nothing to do with the flower. It is not part of its essence. It is accidental. It is a misuse. All this is I fear very obscure. But the subject is a long one.

—Oscar Wilde, from a letter to Bernulf Clegg, 1891
—from The Morgan Library & Museum “Manuscripts and Letters of Oscar Wilde” collection

Bonus: see the original letter.

WORD(S)

waldeinsamkeit noun. Wilderness solitude. The feeling of being alone in the woods. German, literally, wald (wood) +‎ einsamkeit (loneliness).

“I do not count the hours I spend
In wandering by the sea;
The forest is my loyal friend,
Like God it useth me.”
(from ‘Waldeinsamkeit’ by Ralph Waldo Emerson)

“Waldeinsamkeit is a strange name for a beautiful idea.” (Ariel Goldberg)

“Within this theme is embedded a sense of Waldeinsamkeit, a suggestive, though difficult to interpret, term that describes the pseudo-magical pull of the untamed wilderness; a place of living nightmares caught between the dreamscape and Fairyland.” (Erin Schwartz)

WEB

1. An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments…all the greatest hits from “Straw Man” to “No True Scotsman” with charming illustrations.

2. A chart of things more likely to kill you than ebola. The life-size version would include pretty much everything.

3. Enjoy a very clever little collection of 10 Alternative Book Covers & Film Posters. Includes Sex and the City and Shakespeare. How can you resist that?

4. “Nostalgia and hipster concerns just aren’t the point unless you’re in a very boring room trying to make small talk: It’s what kind of tools we want to permit into our lives as we attempt to produce what we find meaningful, and how conscious we are, to quote one of the earliest typists—philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who turned to machine writing as his sight was failing—of how ”our writing tools are also shaping our thoughts." → An interesting article on “Slow Type”, aka typewriters, slowing down and digital detachment.

5. Today in 1947, the Groucho Marx game show You Bet Your Life premieres on ABC Radio. It would run on radio and television until 1960. These Top 10 Moments from the TV show including many delightful moments. There are many episodes of the radio show and the television show in the public domain. The show is still funny and fascinating to watch. Bonus: a fun story of nearly lost film of the show with supporting characters Jack Nicholson and Marcel Marceau.

REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES

• Reader D. wonders: “what happened to ‘Salmagundi Sundays’?” — I’ve been giving readers a break to catch up. You can always get the extra, but still good, links on the Facebook page or Twitter Feed

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