WORK
Old Mother Hubbard went to her cupboard but there was nothing in it. She kept looking, in all the corners, but nothing. Her dog looked at her balefully. He was used to this. She didn’t mind so much for herself but she felt bad for the dog. The dog was depending on her. She knew she had to leave the house to get food, but she didn’t want to. She stood in the doorway with her coat on for a long time.
—Jessy Randall
—from There Was an Old Woman
WORD(S)
battledore /BA-təl-door/. noun. A wooden paddle for beating clothes or inserting objects into an oven. A hornbook; an ABC book; a children’s primer. A light bat used with a shuttlecock in “battledore and shuttlecock,” a forerunner to badminton. Possibly from Provençal batedor (beating instrument), from batre (to beat), from Latin batter (to beat).
“Materialism and spiritualism are a fine pair of battledores with which charlatans in long gowns keep a shuttlecock a-going.” (Honoré de Balzac)
“Battledore and shuttlecock’s a wery good game, vhen you ain’t the shuttlecock and two lawyers the battledores, in which case it gets too excitin’ to be pleasant.” (Charles Dickens)
“An alternative form of the horn-book was the ‘criss-cross row’ which was shaped more or less like a crucifix. This strand of teaching reading developed into the battledore.” (Michael Rosen)
“I had my battledore in my hand, and fell a-beating the coffin, and calling Papa…” (William Makepeace Thackeray)
WEB
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“A visualization of global weather conditions forecast by supercomputers” that is super fun to play with → EarthWindMap
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I’m looking forward to having this technology available on my computer (and phone, tablet, etc.) → Man Combines Random People’s Photos Using Neural Networks And The Results Are Amazing
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Origin Unknown: Anatoly Liberman’s quest for the history of lost words
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The Academy of Book Cover Designers ABCD16 Award Short Lists and Winners
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Today in 1950, a team of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, announce they’ve discovered/created Californium, then the world’s heaviest element. Besides being bombarded with Calcium ions to create the excellently (and temporarily) named Ununoctium, the only heavier element, Californium is used to start nuclear reactors, prospect for gold and silver, search for flaws in weapons and even to treat some kinds of brain and cervical cancers. But not cheaply: in addition to the usual dangers of radioactive materials, it costs at least thirty-million dollars to create 1g of Californium.
WATCH/WITNESS
Guy Laramee creates incredible, intricate landscape sculptures using old books.
REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES
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Reader K.: “Love it [Cid Corman on Leonardo]. Muscular description of a muscular mind.”
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An interesting link from Reader B.: "The Slate Money podcast had an interesting linguistic turn just now. They wanted to know where the word ‘transmogrify’ came from, and what ‘mogrify’ means. ¶ Very end of: Slate Money on citizenship, women on boards, and workaholics. — I should email the answer…though it’s not particularly interesting!
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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