|k| clippings: 2015-10-01 — punctuation, lightning

WORK

“For more than three decades, coffee has captured my imagination because it is a beverage about individuals as well as community. A Rwandan farmer. Eighty roast masters at six Starbucks plants on two continents. Thousands of baristas in 54 countries. Like a symphony, coffee’s power rests in the hands of a few individuals who orchestrate its appeal. So much can go wrong during the journey from soil to cup that when everything goes right, it is nothing short of brilliant! After all, coffee doesn’t lie. It can’t. Every sip is proof of the artistry—technical as well as human—that went into its creation.”

—Howard Schultz
—form Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul

“Just the other day, I was in my neighborhood Starbucks, waiting for the post office to open. I was enjoying a chocolatey cafe mocha when it occurred to me that to drink a mocha is to gulp down the entire history of the New World. From the Spanish exportation of Aztec cacao, and the Dutch invention of the chemical process for making cocoa, on down to the capitalist empire of Hershey, PA, and the lifestyle marketing of Seattle’s Starbucks, the modern mocha is a bittersweet concoction of imperialism, genocide, invention, and consumerism served with whipped cream on top.”

—Sarah Vowell
—from The Partly Cloudy Patriot

WORD(S)

caruncle /kə-RUN-kəl/. noun. A fleshy outgrowth. A naked excrescence of tissue. For example: a turkey’s wattle or a person’s dewlap. From Latin caruncula (little piece of flesh), diminutive of caro (flesh).

“I was so scattered, I’m still not sure what to write: About my back aching from where I’d slept? my head still gauzed, Pharaohnically wrapped, from when I’d been woken up? about the cut on my neck? the slit from chin’s caruncle to neck like an against the grain shaving mishap, just healing?” (Joshua Cohen)

“Crooke states that the hymen is not a single membrane but is really made up of eight parts, ‘caruncles’ and membranes, and says that ‘all these particles together make the form of the cup of a little rose half blowne.’” (Hanne Blank)

“We had plenty of farmyard creatures, as, for example, rabbits, the most oval animal of all, if you know what I mean; and choleric turkeys with carbuncular caruncles…” (Vladimir Nabokov)

WEB

1. This is a Vinyl Record Being Played Under 1000x Magnification

2. From Books to Ebooks and Back: The Future of Literary Consumption Is Unwritten

3. “At the intersection of the critical effort to preserve our digital history and the more nefarious impulse to commercially exploit it are formerly private citizens coming to terms with a shifting paradigm in how we understand and control our past, present and future identities. ’Our digital shadows reflect us but aren’t us, and so we shouldn’t let them define our experience in the world…” » Alan Massey on the vast, imperfect memory of the Internet

4. At the always-interesting BibliOdyssey » 19th Century Maps of Mars

5. Today is the first consolidated, official, International Coffee Day. Every day is International Coffee Day wherever I happen to be. The Guardian has posted 10 great coffee quotes. If you’re inspired, Sweet Maria’s is my go-to place for coffee brewing and roasting paraphernalia. See more on Twitter and Instagram.

WATCH/WITNESS

An interview with—and selected best-of videos by—calligrapher Seb Lester, who I’ve featured here before.

REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES

• Reader F. shares a punctuation story to remember: “Your readers might be hooked by the title of this little gem, ‘UBC student writes 52,438 word architecture dissertation with no punctuation — not everyone loved it’ » http://ktxc.to/dissertation-sans-punctuation”

• And Reader R. shares another: “I wonder if Katexicans (?) could think of additions to this list of the Five Best Punctuation Marks in Literature?”

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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