Every squirm, kick, and wriggle
hello
Here we go again. It seems too soon doesn’t it?
Five things:
Amy McNichol runs this magnificent thing called I Thought About That A Lot - 24 essays by 24 contributors released in the run-up to Christmas. Anne’s written one this year and it’s amazing, she’s very good at being funny about sadness. It’s called In 2025, I thought a lot about constipation
Rod recommended the excellent Constellation of Genius by Kevin Jackson, it’s about 1922. Apparently the first edition of Reader’s Digest Magazine came out on Feb 5th 1922, edited by DeWitt and Lila Wallace:
“The idea of a magazine which would gather together articles from other sources and reprint them in condensed or simplified versions had come to DeWitt Wallace while he was in hospital recovering from shrapnel injuries he had received during his army service in France. He spent some six months working alone in the Minneapolis Public Library, training himself to gut and boil down more elaborate prose into an undemanding, easily readable version. When he showed a mock-up of an issue to Lila, then a friend of a friend, her response was so positive that he proposed marriage to her in the fall of 1921.“
I like this thought from How to Make Your Brain Your Best Friend by Dr. Rachel Barr.
“Consider your fingerprint, the definitive mark of your individuality. Its basic pattern of whorls, loops, and arches is primarily determined by genetic factors, but its exact details tell the story of your time in the womb. Every squirm, kick, and wriggle you performed, every placenta-delivered midnight snack, all made their way into the unique constellation of your fingerprints. You’re essentially carrying a handheld map of your prenatal adventures.”
When Hampstead Heath had its own ski jump
SELF PROMOTIONAL NEWS
It’s time to get serious about selling tickets for Interesting. As part of the promotional efforts I’m doing some interviews with previous speakers. Alex has been kind enough to be the guinea pig.
Presentation Club 3 happens on January 7th. Join us!
Only 158 sleeps until the World Cup.
russell
(There are 1014 of you. Swein Forkbeard was King of England for five weeks from December 1013 until his death on 3 February 1014.)