Tag: Mental Health Break

A Few Comics

that have made me laugh while I’m trying to get a good BP after reading headlines.

Close to Home by John McPherson for January 28, 2025

Close to Home Comic Strip for January 28, 2025

https://www.gocomics.com/closetohome/2025/01/28

Cattitude — Doggonit by Anthony Smith for January 27, 2025

Cattitude — Doggonit Comic Strip for January 27, 2025

(This one was a happy accident as I thought I’d clicked on a different one.)

https://www.gocomics.com/cattitude-doggonit/2025/01/27

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for January 28, 2025

Calvin and Hobbes Comic Strip for January 28, 2025

https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2025/01/28

Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for January 28, 2025

Arlo and Janis Comic Strip for January 28, 2025

https://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2025/01/28

A Brain Cleanser from Lit Hub

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creature capable of speech; and, very naturally, a parrot, in the first instance, suggested itself, but was superseded forthwith by a Raven, as equally capable of speech, and infinitely more in keeping with the intended tone.”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 never stopped. We shall be quoting it forevermore.

MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM

In Search of the Rarest Book in American Literature: Edgar Allan Poe’s Tamerlane

A Brief and Incomplete Survey of Edgar Allan Poes in Pop Culture

The Greatest Goths in Literary History

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’s Pride 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’s The 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’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is published (February 1, 1962) • David Foster Wallace’s eerily prescient Infinite 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.

AM Nature Science

I saw this title in a couple of places first thing, and thought it’s a great way to get started! Enjoy. -A

Sunfish that got sick after aquarium closed has recovered — thanks to human cutouts

By  MARI YAMAGUCHI Updated 8:27 AM CST, January 22, 2025

TOKYO (AP) — A solitary sunfish at an aquarium in southwestern Japan lost its appetite, began banging into the side of the fishtank and appeared unwell days after the facility closed last month for renovations. As a last-ditch measure to save the popular fish, its keepers hung their uniforms and set up human cutouts outside the tank.

The next morning, the sunfish ate for the first time in about a week and has been steadily recovering, said Moe Miyazawa, an aquarist at the Kaikyokan aquarium in Shimonoseki.

The large sunfish arrived at the aquarium in February 2024 from the southern coast of Kochi in the Pacific Ocean. The sunfish, a member of the blowfish family known for its unique shape and big eyes, became one of the most popular attractions at the facility.

When the sunfish began looking unwell days after the aquarium closed on Dec. 1 for a six-month renovation, its keepers suspected digestive problems, gave it less food and visited the fish tank to comfort the sunfish when there was construction noise, but to no avail.

Then at a staff meeting, one person suggested that the sunfish might have been affected by the sudden absence of an audience.

“We were skeptical but decided to do anything we could,” Miyazawa said. They hung their uniforms and placed human-shaped cutouts with photos of smiling faces outside the tank to cheer on the fish, Miyazawa said.

“I knew (the sunfish) was looking at us when we were placing them, but I never thought it would start eating the next day,” Miyazawa said, beaming. The staff now visit more often and wave at the sunfish.

The aquarium keepers say they hope many fans will return to see the sunfish when the aquarium reopens in the summer.

“10 distractions, in case you need them for some reason”

In case you’re searching for things to take your mind off the immediate horrors of the real world for, you know, some reason, here are ten:

‌3D Workers Island is a horror story told in the form of late-nineties screenshots from forums, websites, and a mysterious screensaver.

‌Practical Betterments is a collection of very small one-off actions that improve your life continuously. Examples include putting a spoon in every container that needs a spoon or cutting your toothbrush in half. Gently unhinged.

‌Someone remixed a cover of Raffi’s Bananaphone with Ms. Rachel and it’s kind of a bop?

‌David Gilliver creates amazing light paintings — one of his latest was just shortlisted in the British Photography Awards. This article says he uses a lightsaber while dressed all in black; the pinnacle of Sith expression.

‌Witches on roller skates! Sure, Halloween’s over. But witches on roller skates!

‌That time Sir Terry Pratchett modded Oblivion is “the untold story of how Discworld author Terry Pratchett became an unexpected contributor to the world of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion,” even as his Alzheimer’s progressed. The video is based on this older article.

‌After having a stroke at 25, Eilish Briscoe created a typeface to show the process of learning to write again — and has created a series of typographic exhibitions centered around the idea that “expression is a luxury”.

‌Halfbakery is “a communal database of original, fictitious inventions, edited by its users”. For example, the beardaclava, which is “a carefully woven balaclava that hangs as a thick and luxurious seamless extension to your existing beard, perfectly matching its colour and hair quality”.

‌Godchecker is here for you if you need to check a god. “Our legendary mythology encyclopedia now includes nearly four thousand weird and wonderful Gods, Supreme Beings, Demons, Spirits and Fabulous Beasts from all over the world.” Comprehensive.

‌Wigmaker is a game about making wigs. And it’s open source!

https://werd.io/2024/10-distractions-in-case-you-need-them-for-some-reason

 · Ben Werdmuller

I’m writing about the intersection of the internet, media, and society. Sign up to my newsletter to receive every post and a weekly digest of the most important stories from around the web.