|k| clippings: 2015-05-04 — Who's the fairest? You're the fairest.

WORK

“A library in the middle of a community is a cross between an emergency exit, a life raft and a festival. They are cathedrals of the mind; hospitals of the soul; theme parks of the imagination. On a cold, rainy island, they are the only sheltered public spaces where you are not a consumer, but a citizen, instead. A human with a brain and a heart and a desire to be uplifted, rather than a customer with a credit card and an inchoate ‘need’ for ‘stuff.’ A mall—the shops—are places where your money makes the wealthy wealthier. But a library is where the wealthy’s taxes pay for you to become a little more extraordinary, instead.”

—Caitlin Moran
—from Moranthology

WORD(S)

epistrophe /ə-PI-strə-fee/. noun. Repetition at the end of successive clauses, verses or sentences for rhetorical effect. From Greek epistrophē (a turning about), from strophē (a turning).

Some example of epistrophe:

“The grove of Angita lamented you,
The glassy watered Fuccinus lamented you,
All limpid lakes lamented you.”
(Virgil)

“…government of the people, by the people, for the people…” (Abraham Lincoln)

“There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There is no Northern problem. There is only an American problem.” (Lyndon B. Johnson)

“Why I should fear I know not,
Since guiltiness I know not.”
(William Shakespeare)

Bonus: listen to Thelonious Monk’s “Epistrophy” (sic) with this in mind and the title becomes obvious.

WEB

1. Each May since 1981 (more or less), unknown parties have been placing a series of cryptic ads—in service of an unknown cause/conspiracy—in an Arizona Newspaper. It’s the May Day Mystery. Thanks, Reader K.!

2. An interactive visualization of Miles Davis’s complete(ish) catalog → Scaled in Miles

3. Since 2002, retired engineer Đức thắng Nguyễn has been creating an “amazing animated 3D catalog of mechanical contraptions”, including animations available on Nguyễn’s YouTube channel. Thanks, Reader C.!

4. Feelers: a typeface based on limbs and intestines

5. Today is Star Wars Day. As yet an unofficial, secular observance, Star Wars Day remains a day characterized by near-religious fervor by some. You might enjoy the listicle “37 Star Wars Facts for Star Wars Day”. Meantime, true believers already know how to celebrate. If you’re not one of them, watch an episode of Chad Vader: Night Shift Manager. May the Fourth be with you.

WATCH/WITNESS

Just one image from
a gallery of wonderful shots of the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City.

REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES

• Reader N. shares a triply-relevant satire: “…something I read recently—a satire called Merrie Englande in the Olden Time by one George Daniel. […] Daniel was a popular social satirist and also a lover of Shakespeare. Mr. Bosky is the hero of the satire. I enclose a snippet of his style.”

THE UP-TO-SNUFF FRENCH SCARAMOUCH.

Monsieur Scaramouch, sharp-set enough,
At a Paris dépôt for tobacco and snuff,
Accosted the customers every day
With “Pardonnez moi, du Tabac, s’il vous plâit!”

He look’d such a gentleman every inch,
The Parisians all condescended a pinch;
Which, taken from Bobadils, barbers, and beaux,
Went into his pocket — instead of his nose!

Scaramouch sold, with a merry ha I ha!
Ev’ry pinch to his friend, le marchand de tabac:
Then buyer and seller the price of a franc
To the noses of all their contributors drank!

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