|k| clippings: 2015-12-08 — I wonder, I say I wonder

Is thinking of doing sometimes enough?

WORK

“Salute”

Past is past, and if one
remembers what one meant
to do and never did, is
not to have thought to do
enough? Like that gather-
ing of one of each I
planned, to gather one
of each kind of clover,
daisy, paintbrush that
grew in that field
the cabin stood in and
study them one afternoon
before they wilted. Past
is past. I salute
that various field.

—James Schuyler
—from Freely Espousing

WORD(S)

battology /ba-TAH-lə-gee/. noun. Needless, tiresome repetition. Babbling. From Ancient Greek battologia (stammering speech), possibly named after Battos who, in Herodotus’s Histories, asked the Oracle at Delphi about his speech defect—he was prone to “long hymns consisting of many lines, full of tautologies”—and was given in answer a prophecy that he would become king.

“I cannot see how he will escape that heathenish battology of multiplying words, which Christ himself, that has the putting up of our prayers, told us would not be acceptable in heaven.” (John Milton)

“But see the battology here: ‘God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God.’ Why this repetition—which adds neither to the emphasis nor to the expressiveness of the document?” (Benjamin B. Warfield)

WEB

1. A great MeFi thread on a practice everyone should be, ummm, practicing. » Commonplace Books: Notebooks for Magpies

2. Death By Coconut: A Story Of Food Obsession Gone Too Far

3. Drink me! “DNA molecules can be the basis for an archival storage system potentially capable of storing all of the world’s digital information in roughly nine liters of solution, about the amount of liquid in a case of wine. […] The new storage technology would also be capable of keeping immense amounts of information safely for a millennium or longer” » “Data Storage on DNA Can Keep It Safe for Centuries”

4. What should we call ‘Grammar Nazis’?

5. Today in 1980, John Lennon, singer, songwriter and founding member of the Beatles, is shot to death in front of the entrance to his New York City apartment building. I remember exactly where I was when the news came over the one radio station we could get in our tiny, freezing cabin in bush Alaska, and I have no more commentary now than I did as a bewildered 10-year-old. Instead, some links: Lennon’s final interview, Dec. 8, ► Lennon’s Poster, ► “Jealous Guy”, ► "Working Class Hero and—because I love it despite the overplay—► “Imagine”.

WATCH/WITNESS

► “Lost Property”…a charming animated short film by Åsa Lucander.

REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES

• Reader C. is a trickster: “I can’t get enough of alternative and extra punctuation like the irony mark¡”

• Reader F. asks: “Thanks for bringing Limetown Stories to my attention. What other podcasts do you listen to?” — Because I’m old and enfeebled and can’t multi-task well enough to do anything else while listening to podcasts, I don’t listen to many…and I’m often way behind. That said: Mystery Show, A Way With Words, WTF (just skip the self-indulgent intros), Memory Palace and The Allusionist continue to make the cut.

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