Dear friends,

It seems that most of the US has decided to call the recent 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence a ‘semiquincentennial’, instead of the even more tongue-twistery bicenquinquagenary. Yet another poor decision by our current government, I guess. (Yes, I’ve been holding on to that link since 2016.) And here’s a link to my favorite signer, Thomas McKean.

“Such fragile fibres could only be worked in humid air by the supple fingers of young women who worked surrounded by bowls of water or on moored boats, giving rise to the legend that Dhaka muslin was made by mermaids singing in the mist.”

“All Europe knows that the French courtiers, sometime before the revolution, invented a colour, yellow and green mixt, then very fashionable for gentlemen and ladies' dresses, which they called CACA DAUPHIN, in honour of the excrements of the Dauphin, or first son of Louis XVI.”

From 2015, but probably more relevant now: echoborgs are people who don’t speak for themselves, but merely serve as human conduits for the words of a chatbot.

An amusing pastime on a dull afternoon is to look up all the diseases you’re unlikely to ever suffer from (a kind of anti-hypochondria — hyperchondria?). I’m pretty sure I can avoid seal finger (especially now that I no longer live near the Pacific Ocean) and I’m neither the right age nor do I have the habits associated with Panner disease. Quite reassuring!

The only good drones are graffiti drones.

“Potawatomi (an Algonquian Language) is notable for having two degrees of obviation, "obviation" and "further obviation." "Further obviation" is rare, but when it occurs, a "further obviative" referent, deemed to be even less salient than the obviative referent, can be marked by an additional obviative suffix.”

I don’t recommend any of these coffee “recipes” but they are entertaining to read.

One of the original suggestions for naming the moons of Jupiter was “naming the outermost satellite ‘the Saturn’ of Jupiter, the next one ‘the Jupiter’ of Jupiter, the third one ‘the Venus’ of Jupiter, and the innermost ‘the Mercury’ of Jupiter.”

Stay well!

Your friend,

Erin