Since 1997, five Swedish-based scientists were involved in an interesting practice that went on for 17 years, the parameters of which were revealed in 2014. The goal? See who can use as many Bob Dylan songs in their research paper titles before retirement.
John Jundberg and Eddie Weitzburg started the trend. Two professors at Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute, they titled a research paper “Nitric Oxide and inflammation: The answer is blowing in the wind” (Predictably, it was about flatulence). However, in a 2014 story with Swedish outlet The Local, Weitzburg cleared up some things about the wager. (Snip-More; just click the article title)
the cat, a black fur sausage with yellow Houdini eyes, jumps up on the bed and tries to get onto my head. It’s his way of telling whether or not I’m dead. by Worriedman
I hope everybody goes and reads this terrific poem. It’s a joy to read. Every word is right. The focus of the poem shifts from a cat’s butthole to the spectre of widespread famine and the end of civilization. In like, two stanzas. That’s pretty nimble!
I can’t wait for this! Working a happy horse and a warm sunny day –
It’s not February yet. Just a few days though.
Barncat isn’t a black cat. More relentlessly gray.With pretty green eyes.
I am very fond of giant flowers that grow in the house in the dead of winter.
Starlings, in the field across the road.
Sunrise in the Greenhouse
Juice !
Juice loves late ’60s Grateful Dead.
I need to explore the Fen/Zardoz connection
That’s all I have room for – Thanks for dropping by.
Snippets from my this week’s newsletter, with links.
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” is published in The Evening Mirror.
In January 1845, the greatest goth in literary history published what would swiftly become his most famous poem: “The Raven.”
Poe first sold the poem (for $9, the equivalent of about $375 today) to the American Review, where it would appear—under the pen name “Quarles”—in the February 1845 issue. It was published concurrently in the January 29 edition of The Evening Mirror, prefaced by a note from editor Nathaniel Parker Willis, who called it “the most effective single example of ‘fugitive poetry’ ever published in this country, and unsurpassed in English poetry for subtle conception, masterly ingenuity of versification, and consistent sustaining of imaginative lift and ‘pokerishness.’” Well, sure.
“The Raven,” if for some reason you don’t know it, is a narrative poem about a young scholar who, sitting alone on a bleak December night, mourning his lost love Lenore, is visited by a raven, who torments him by speaking, over and over again, a single word. Poe later wrote that he knew he wanted this word—“nevermore”—to be repeated throughout the poem, but finding the idea of a person uttering it too implausible, he struck upon “the idea of a non-reasoning creature capable of speech; and, very naturally, a parrot, in the first instance, suggested itself, but was superseded forthwith by a Raven, as equally capable of speech, and infinitely more in keeping with the intended tone.”
Well, it worked pretty well, you might say. The poem, writes Poe biographer Arthur Hobson Quinn, “made an impression probably not surpassed by that of any single piece of American poetry. It was widely copied, parodied, and one humorist even took over a page of the Mirror to suggest five alternatives as to the relation of Lenore to the poet.”
One-hundred-eighty years later, it may be still unsurpassed, though contenders abound. Either way, as you have probably noticed, the parodies and tributes have neverstopped. We shall be quoting it forevermore.
YEP, STILL SLAPS Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore— While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. “’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door— Only this and nothing more.” –EDGAR ALLAN POE, “THE RAVEN”
In other (old)news this week Benjamin Franklin writes a letter to his daughter, pooh-poohing the bald eagle as the symbol of America, and instead championing the great and noble turkey (January 26, 1784) • John Millington Synge’s play The Playboy of the Western World premieres at The Abbey Theatre in Dublin and causes a riot (January 26, 1907) • The first part of Henry James’s novella The Turn of the Screw is published in Collier’s Weekly magazine (January 27, 1898) • Franz Kafka begins work on his novel The Castle at the mountain resort of Spindermühle (January 27, 1922) • Jane Austen’sPride and Prejudice is published anonymously in London (January 28, 1813) • Thomas Jefferson sells his library to the government after the Library of Congress burns down (January 30, 1815) • Anton Chekhov’sThe Three Sisters premieres at the Moscow Art Theater (January 31, 1901) • The first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is published (February 1, 1884) • Great American Iconoclast Ken Kesey’sOne Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is published (February 1, 1962) • David Foster Wallace’seerily prescientInfinite Jest is published (February 1, 1996). (snip-More)
I hope you enjoyed it! These newsletters are free, and are great for brain/heart health breaks.
laughter brings endorphins. She blends humor and current events the same as she’s always done, excellently! (And just look at that salad- )
Hold On, Hold On by Samantha Bee
Marathon conditioning with humor, salads, and Neko CaseRead on Substack
Me. This morning.
Happy New Year, One 👏 Week 👏 Into 👏 The 👏 Trump 👏Administration 👏 And 👏 I 👏 Am 👏 Trying 👏 So 👏 Hard 👏 Not 👏 To 👏 Lose 👏 My 👏 Cool.
Here is the Serenity Prayer, as a quick refresh.
Wait, that’s the wrong one.
Anyway, you get the picture.
Oh believe me I could easily spend every moment of every day flaming the Trump administration for every single catastrophe they lob into the public sphere like tossing a grenade into a cellar full of Bubble Guppies.
Just not sure I’m ready for it, and it’s kind of twisting me up inside a bit.
Anyway, gonna go liquidate all my assets and I guess pour it into $Melania crypto tokens? Do I have this right? We just grift in full view now and that is just what we do? Instagram and Meta are blocking people’s access to healthcare information and it is NBD. This diva fired this woman DURING THE INAUGURAL BALL and a Fox News host runs the DOD now.
I guess…pace yourself? Don’t blow all your outrage in the first week out of…hundreds of weeks?
We must find humor where we can.
I, for example, was talking to my dad the other day about his arthritic hip, and I was like “what about just an aspirin every morning and some stretching and activity?” And he was like “Don’t be ridiculous, I think I’m going to go down a more natural path?”
Meaning?
“My friend has a naturopath and he got a prescription and he is going to give some of the pills to me.” (Which is not, to my understanding, naturopathy? In any case.)
“Well, what is in the pills? Are they unregulated supplements?”
“WHY ARE YOU SUCH A SKEPTIC.”
“I just don’t think it’s advisable to take other people’s medicati–”
*sound of father struggling with reading glasses and fiddling with another man’s bottle of pills*
“Here you go smart guy. It’s something called mi-…miso—…misoprostol??”
Yes, that is correct. MISOPROSTOL.
One man gave another man some Misoprostol, which can be used for ulcers I think, but is also used to procure a medication abortion.
My dad was like “do NOT write about this” and I said “unfortunately that is not possible.”
The elders are giving each other abortion pills for their hip pain. Everything is upside down. GIVE THEM TO ME, we need to stockpile those.
Speaking of open access to abortion pills for all – and not just my Dad, I must plug my most recent Choice Words with Amanda Skinner, who is the President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southern New England. We have a fascinating conversation about the many misconceptions surrounding Planned Parenthood’s mission and the breadth of healthcare services they actually provide for a variety of patients. Please check it out wherever get your podcasts.
We must nourish our bodies. For example I made Andy Baraghani’s citrus and caramelized date salad from his amazing book, and I swear to God I think about it ten times a day. I gave myself so many high fives for this dish even though I didn’t invent it, and merely followed his highly entertaining instructions. Uncrate the sun!
And we must nourish our minds, or at least distract them a bit.
For example–I am hosting a book event for Neko Case tonight in New York City and friends, I am here to tell you that if you read ONE book in the next ten years, please make it this one. I feel blessed that she asked me to participate in this event, and tbh I pray that I can get through it without crying that she is also writing the music for the Broadway adaptation of Thelma and Louise. Nope. Already misting over like a g-d baby.
I also highly recommend the distraction of rewatching Downton Abbey, which I am embarrassed to tell you I thought was DownTOWN Abbey for three FULL ASS seasons, since I didn’t watch it and never listened to anybody talk about it ever.
Anyway now I’m watching it, and it’s great of course–and gives me that uncomfortable squirmy feeling I used to get as a child from all the awkward misapprehensions of Three’s Company.
Somehow in a time of turmoil, watching people brutally misunderstand each other and demonstrate extreme emotional constipation is just the ticket to relax and unwind my brain! Agonizing!
And something I would like to remind everybody, as we venture forth into semi-uncharted waters: cleanse yourself of social media as much as you are able.
I have put myself on a strict diet of zero brain rot social media time. Sure, I miss all the videos of cats launching themselves into Christmas trees, but this is a price I am willing to pay.
Only for business, only when I have something to say, only when necessary. Watching all of those tech bro Dobby’s on the dais boot licking Trump was brain Ozempic for me; I lost my appetite to carry their water and give them my eyeballs and personal data.
Happy to keep the lights on for the socials and post occasionally on a few platforms, but a better use of all those precious brain cells is to put them toward Neko Case’s new book and rest up for the marathon we are already running.
I want to thank Ten Bears who also had this in his post. I am not sure if I can find it again but I will put a link below to his main channel if I can find the specific post. I also had it in my list to post but as he got it done first I wanted to give him credit along with Joe My God.
When people tell / prove to you who they are believe them the first time. Republicans are totally in to gaslighting, changing reality from what is real and happened to what will help keep them in power, and they feel keeping the power of their seats in congress / their job is worth more than the people of this country or protecting the country. They are out for themselves and what they can milk from the job for their family wealth. For the republicans and some democrats it has long stopped being about leading the country to a better place, to securing the needs of the people, providing for the good of the people as the constitution requires of them. They see being elected as a golden ticket to wealth and power. So if being a Nazi is the way to that they will do it, if agreeing with the demented mentally deficient convicted felon in all his absurd whims is how they need to keep that golden ticket they will do it no matter who it hurts or the consequences. Hugs.
The Tennessee Federation of Republican Women is coming under fire for providing parents a reading list for children that cites Adolf Hitler as an example of leadership. “Hitler and all intelligent leaders throughout history have understood that the way to change a country was through the training of its youth, to get them while they are young,” the group’s reading list says.
The list is titled “Growing American Patriots Through Literacy” and posted on the group’s website. “How do we make the changes necessary?” the reading list says, just before the Hitler quote. “Proverbs 22:6 teaches us that if ‘we train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.’” The books suggested include “Camilla Can Vote” by Sen. Marsha Blackburn and “A is for Abigail: An Almanac of Amazing Americans” by Lynne Cheney.
Read the full article. The group’s president, Sharon Boreing [photo above], is not returning calls from reporters.
The Tennessee Federation of Republican Women is coming under fire for providing parents a reading list for children that cites Adolf Hitler as an example of leadership. https://t.co/QsRL8NCZ0k
Though I’ve spent a large part of my early adulthood overthinking and despairing about the state of the world, a part of me continues to remain stubbornly hopeful. Over and over, I’ve looked for evidence that people are inherently good, that we have solved problems in the past and that we will keep doing so (just as we keep creating those problems in the first place). And I believe this because I believe in people; to not do so would be to give in to helplessness, to surrender my life to the whims of the universe, which I simply refuse to do. Part of this capacity for optimism and hope comes from reading the kind of SFF stories that are essentially thought experiments in how things could turn out well. Consider the following examples…
Scottie's Playtime 