WORK

"He had no settled plan of life, nor looked forward at all, but merely lived from day to day. Yet he read a great deal in a desultory manner, without any scheme of study, as chance threw books in his way, and inclination directed him through them.

[…]

Every thing about his character and manners was forcible and violent; there never was any moderation; many a day did he fast, many a year did he refrain from wine; but when he did eat, it was voraciously; when he did drink wine, it was copiously. He could practise abstinence, but not temperance."

—James Boswell
—from The Life of Samuel Johnson

WORD(S)

nychthemeron (nycthemeron, nuchthemeron). noun. A 24-hour period including a night and a day. Similar to circadian except that it is defined from without rather than from within the body. From Greek nykt (night) + hēmeron (day).

“You too will run and forget, Santuna my dear, but two Earth nychthemerons from now you will remember just enough to come back here…” (Cordwainer Smith)

“It is homologous with the midnight of the solar day, the winter solstice of the earth’s year, the midnight of the nycthemeron of the fathers.” (Journal of Asian Studies)

“Hence they denominated each day of the week from the planet whose turn it was to preside the first hour of the nychthemeron…” (Thomas Wood)

WEB

1. Liz Obert’s “Dualities” photo series puts side-by-side the visible and invisible worlds of people living with mental illness. Fantastic.

2. What Book Should You Read Next? Putting Librarians and Algorithms to the Test.

3. Hari & Deepti’s phenomenally intricate and beautiful paper-cutting and LED dioramas.

4. Meet the 24 Writers Selected for the Amtrak Residency Program.

5. Today in 1740, James Boswell is born. Best remembered as Dr. Samuel Johnson’s biographer, Boswell was well-known in his time for forsaking his ancestral estate and fleeing to London to become a mid–1700s party boy who was able to both have an affair with Rosseau’s mistress, contract venereal diseases at least 17 times and befriend the pope. Boswell’s famous work, The Life of Samuel Johnson, was composed from his own copious journals (more than 20 years worth) and memory…he didn’t start it until after Johnson’s death.

REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES

• Reader C. wants an alternative to the More Love Letters project: “I would die if I received the love letters but it’s a perfect gesture for those who can handle kindness, love and emotions. Can you come up with a dark/morbid letter version to make people who are too happy a little less happy?”

• Reader W. catches me out: “You knew the last line of the ‘WORK’ and the ‘WORD’ [in yesterday’s edition] were connected, didn’t you?”

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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