May 2012
9 posts
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And now flutes with many stops breathed forth in sweet accord a Lydian air. But...
– Apuleius, Metamorphoses
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Page 1: Great Expectations →
The first page of Great Expectations, as rendered by 70 different designers.
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On the whole, I had rather judge men’s minds by comparing their thoughts...
– Oliver Wendell Holmes, Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table
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April 2012
23 posts
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He swoops all-conquering, borne on airy wing,
With fire and sword he makes his...
– Apuleius, Metamorphoses
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Earthereal, assembled from high-resolution images taken from the ISS
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Some things are rushing into existence, others hastening to dissolution; and of...
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
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The first among elegances is idleness.
– Les Miserables
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Fata morgana →
Fata Morgana is a type of mirage that occurs when a layer of cold air bends light downwards, creating a superior-image effect and making it look as though what is below one’s line of sight is actually above it. The name is derived from the superstition that Morgan Le Fey created illusionary castles at sea with which to seduce sailors. More information here and here. (The images above are...
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Leaving TechCrunch
(this is a personal announcement, please ignore if we are unacquainted)
In 2007, I was talking with a friend of mine who had recently been hired to write about gadgets and such part-time. It was for a site I hadn’t heard of, CrunchGear, and as there were many such sites at the time, I didn’t think much about it. But I had been doing music reviews on my old blog, Robosexual, for about...
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If it is the grandeur of the revolution to gaze steadily upon the dazzling...
– Les Miserables
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March 2012
24 posts
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Letter from Kurt Vonnegut to one who would burn... →
November 16, 1973
Dear Mr. McCarthy:
I am writing to you in your capacity as chairman of the Drake School Board. I am among those American writers whose books have been destroyed in the now famous furnace of your school.
Certain members of your community have suggested that my work is evil. This is extraordinarily insulting to me. The news from Drake indicates to me that books and writers...
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He was twice witty, first with his own wit, then with the wit which was...
– Victor Hugo, Les Miserables
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Old books? The devil take them!” Goby said.
“Fresh every day must...
– Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary
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Why Finish Books? →
Tim Parks in the NYRB suggests that finishing a book may not be necessary to the aesthetic experience. I don’t agree with this line of thinking, that the concept of the art in question lies entirely with the reader or viewer. If a piece of art (i.e. a book or painting) is conceived as a whole and executed as a whole, then finishing it is necessary to understanding and appreciating that piece...
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For what matter is it for us to know how high the Pleiades are, how far distant...
– Anatomy of Melancholy
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Encyclopedia Britannica Consigns Print Edition To... →
It is difficult for us to conceive of, having grown up with reference works, and more difficult still for a new generation raised with the Internet and its promise of instant access to virtually any work or knowledge. So it is likewise strange to attempt to put in context the fact that 2010′s Encyclopaedia Britannica will be the last one printed. Some will stroke their chins, some will wail and...
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The Victor Of Waterloo (assembled from Les...
A passage from Les Misérables, with some minor aesthetic changes to form it into a shorter, more cohesive essay. Napoleon’s army has just been scattered.
A few squares of the guard, immovable in the flow of the rout as rocks in running water, held out until night. Night approaching, and death also, they awaited this double shadow, and yielded unfaltering to its embrace. Each regiment,...
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We are unlearning certain things, and we do well, providing that while...
– Les Miserables
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