Things I learned while looking up other things, 2020.11.11
Dear friends,
Because there are fine distinctions in everything, the technical term for holding your breath underwater (without necessarily swimming or moving) is static apnea. I think "static apnea" is also a great way to describe how very, very many people have felt for the past four years. But it's just time to exhale and take another deep breath—not to hold, this time, but as preparation for action.
I wish we had age-progression technology for ideas as well as faces. How might Søren Kierkegaard's ideas have changed if he'd lived to be older than 42 (he died on this day in 1855)? Linking to Kim Kierkegaardashian here, just because. (Of course, age-progression 'technology', like all technologies, isn't free of cultural bias. It's interesting to look at pictures that purport to represent some future version of a person ... who just happens to have a current hairstyle.)
"According to the philosopher Epictetus, they [coins of Nero's reign] were avoided wherever possible; in fact, if someone noticed Nero’s head among coins offered in payment he would shout out: ‘Take it away! It’s decayed and rotten! It’s not acceptable!’"
I can't stop thinking about how Glastonbury Abbey counted, as part of its collection of holy relics, bits of manna from the wilderness, two pieces of the manger where Christ was born, a thorn from the crown of thorns, and 'part of the hole where the Holy Cross was placed on the hill of Calvary'.
This thread on how the police and vagrancy laws were used to force Black people into forced labor is eye-opening.
"The curser takes up one of the stones and places it in the empty basin—and so on, one after another, till all have been gone over. During the movement he is cursing his enemy, and if he removes all the stones without letting any one of them slip (no easy operation, on account of their form), his curses will have effect, but not otherwise. If he lets one slip, the curses will return on his own head." Irish cursing stone practices are fascinating.
The lost art of braid-in rag rugs (by another Erin). Very lo-fi, but followable. I've been braiding a rug while watching TV and it's extremely relaxing (plus it helps me reduce my stash of perfectly-serviceable-yet-ugly fabric).
"This shape is technically known as an augmented rhombicuboctahedron."
"Eyebombing is a street art in which small plastic eyes are glued to an inanimate object." [via Laughing Squid]
Thanks for reading, friends. Stay well!
Yours,
Erin
Because there are fine distinctions in everything, the technical term for holding your breath underwater (without necessarily swimming or moving) is static apnea. I think "static apnea" is also a great way to describe how very, very many people have felt for the past four years. But it's just time to exhale and take another deep breath—not to hold, this time, but as preparation for action.
I wish we had age-progression technology for ideas as well as faces. How might Søren Kierkegaard's ideas have changed if he'd lived to be older than 42 (he died on this day in 1855)? Linking to Kim Kierkegaardashian here, just because. (Of course, age-progression 'technology', like all technologies, isn't free of cultural bias. It's interesting to look at pictures that purport to represent some future version of a person ... who just happens to have a current hairstyle.)
"According to the philosopher Epictetus, they [coins of Nero's reign] were avoided wherever possible; in fact, if someone noticed Nero’s head among coins offered in payment he would shout out: ‘Take it away! It’s decayed and rotten! It’s not acceptable!’"
I can't stop thinking about how Glastonbury Abbey counted, as part of its collection of holy relics, bits of manna from the wilderness, two pieces of the manger where Christ was born, a thorn from the crown of thorns, and 'part of the hole where the Holy Cross was placed on the hill of Calvary'.
This thread on how the police and vagrancy laws were used to force Black people into forced labor is eye-opening.
"The curser takes up one of the stones and places it in the empty basin—and so on, one after another, till all have been gone over. During the movement he is cursing his enemy, and if he removes all the stones without letting any one of them slip (no easy operation, on account of their form), his curses will have effect, but not otherwise. If he lets one slip, the curses will return on his own head." Irish cursing stone practices are fascinating.
The lost art of braid-in rag rugs (by another Erin). Very lo-fi, but followable. I've been braiding a rug while watching TV and it's extremely relaxing (plus it helps me reduce my stash of perfectly-serviceable-yet-ugly fabric).
"This shape is technically known as an augmented rhombicuboctahedron."
"Eyebombing is a street art in which small plastic eyes are glued to an inanimate object." [via Laughing Squid]
Thanks for reading, friends. Stay well!
Yours,
Erin
Don't miss what's next. Subscribe to Things Learned While Looking Up Other Things: