I haven’t managed to get together a post in quite a while, so I have a big pileup of stuff. I’ve tried to keep each piece short, but occasionally failed. First, a few of recent albums that I’m excited about: Bolted, by Forest Swords One of my favorite artists of recent years, with his first …
Today’s theme: Necessity and Invention Article: “The Most Precious Cargo for Lighthouses Across America was a Traveling Library” by Natalie Zarelli I’ve never given much thought to the day-to-day reality of operating a lighthouse. That might not seem surprising, but it occurred to me as I read this piece that I actually talk about lighthouses …
In 2015 I read 77 books. That’s a fairly big increase from the previous year, when I read 57, and it happened without my making any conscious effort to read more. It also happened, I should acknowledge, without my apparently wasting any less time doing stupid things on my phone and whatnot. I did actually …
I’ve given up any pretense of doing these on anything like a weekly basis. One thing that means is that several of the articles here are a little older, but in general most of them aren’t particularly prone to expiration, and I think they’re all worth going back to. Article: “Uncharted” by Lisa M. Hamilton …
I imagine everyone has had a morning or a day “get away” from them; looked up at the clock to realize that much more time has passed than they thought, with little if anything to show for it. Is is possible to have an entire year get away from you? Because that’s how I feel …
I am quite late with these this week, but hey. The weekend got away from me. It’s a pretty long list this time, though, with three good reads, some crazy pictures of bugs, and then some new music. Article: “Crimes Against Humanities” by Leon Wielseltier I have to admit, when I saw the title of …
A day late again, but oh well. Some really good stuff this week. Photos: The National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest from The Atlantic’s In Focus blog. No surprise here, but there are some really astonishing photos in this competition. My personal favorite is below, but it was a tough call, and I am glad …
A couple of good, and very different, things to read this week, and then some new music. Book Excerpt: Octopus: The Footed Void by Caspar Henderson It turns out octopuses are really fascinating. (And no, the plural is not “octopi”— the root is Greek, not Latin. Henderson uses “octopods,” which may be the more correct …
We’ll start this week off with some music, and then some stuff to read, and finally some pictures to look at. Album/Mix: “0181” by Four Tet This is a collection of early Four Tet tracks, either unreleased or unavailable for a long time. If you go to the Soundcloud page for the set, you …