Things I learned while looking up other things, 2025.10.11
Dear friends,
As some of you may know, I live in Portland, Oregon, which, right now, is like living in the middle of a Gell-Mann amnesia effect episode, with frogs. Anyway, if you want to make your own inflatable costume with which to prank the autocrats, this charming cosplay creation video is a good start.
This might not be interesting to anyone else but me, but Desmond Morris (the zoologist and painter) lived in the same house where James Murray edited the OED. Now I want one of those “view all of history through a single lens” books just about the residents of a single house (or block). I guess Sherill Tippins has written a couple of similar books? Recommendations welcome!
I was hoping to keep this an AI-free newsletter but upon reviewing some old notes I came across a link to sloyd, and if anything is the opposite of AI, it’s sloyd. I also noticed an AI-related retronym for the first time this past week: brain coding.
A very long list of types of synaesthesias, including hearing types of food and visualizing dates.
Stay well,
Your friend,
Erin