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From Dead Language Society, an explanation for why the English language doesn’t use diacritics even though French does. It’s ironically because of the French.
Libromancy
books + food + books about food.
Latest posts
Transferring an image onto lino using alcohol
There is tons of advice out there for how to transfer an image onto lino for carving and most of it doesn’t work when you need it to. There are unaccounted for variables that make one process work for person A but fail for person B. Maybe humidity? Slight differences in the printer? Who knows. [ ]
Recent Links
Call Me Comrade Miriam Dobson London Review of Books During the Cold War, there were groups that encouraged letter writing between American housewives and Soviet women. Interesting look into the ways this changed the letter writers. Fergus Macintosh, lead fact checker at the New Yorker, interviewed by Merve Emre Fascinating. I [ ]
Recent Links
But books actually are my entire personality — S. Elizabeth from Unquiet Things discusses the changes in the way reading is perceived now versus in the 80s and 90s, and what it means for reading to be more than a hobby. What do you expect? Gavin Francis Covers two recent books about placebos. [ ]
My “to read next” pile
Recent Links
Remember that brief period in 2020 when we knew enough germ theory to realize that Covid was airborne and we needed face coverings, but not enough to realize that germs were extremely small so we needed surgical-level face coverings? This Reddit thread compiles some of the improvised masks that people used for grocery shopping in [ ]
What I’ve been reading
(Despite the photo, I have NOT been reading Sad Tiger. I picked up my pre-order and saw it described as “devastating” and was not ready for it.) First Love by Ivan Turgenev, translated by Isaiah Berlin The Mookse and Gripes podcast has started a novella book club, and this is the first selection. It’s an [ ]
5 Things Regular Drivers Might Not Know About Cyclists
At stop lights, we flirt with our fellow cyclists. We compliment each other’s bikes. Or sometimes we just say “hello” or let them know their shirt is on backwards. Personally, I engage in many passive aggressive undeclared races with cyclists who are rude. The point is that we are sometimes interacting directly with other cyclists, as part of a community. We are not isolated from one another, or…
Recent Links
Bluesky thread on why the Carlisle 52 is the best drinkware in America. I know the Carlisle as “the cups they have at Mr. Gatti’s.” Students studying at the library… but studying the graffiti they find from previous students. I had just finished reading A Ghost of Caribou by Alice Henderson when I found this [ ]
How to do something
I have been feeling so helpless lately, and that’s not usual for me. Being locked into my very effective local DSA chapter, I usually feel like there’s a way I can contribute. Everything now is so overwhelming that nothing feels like it’s enough. Maybe you feel the same way. Maybe you live in a rural [ ]