pickWhen ISIS took over Mosul, a small zoo was left abandoned. This book chronicles one man's heroic effort to save the animals who were left behind. It also describes in vivid detail what it's like to have your city occupied by a bunch of jack-booted thugs, (the type of jack-booted thugs that college kids are now such big fans of when they cheer for Hamas).
#2025Book30
July 29
denary (n.) a group of ten
You've probably heard of the fight or flight response, but a few others Fs are often cited as common responses to threat: freeze, a la deer-in-the-headlights; fright, a.k.a. “playing possum“; and friend (also sometimes flirt or fawn), as in trying your darndest to engage and de-escalate the threat. Taken together, the Fs are sometimes referred to as the defense cascade model (although friend is often dropped).
Another benefit of adrenaline is better eyesight, thanks to your pupils dilating to let in more light.
It's important to note that adrenaline gives you a boost; it doesn't give you superpowers. Despite the stories you hear of mothers getting adrenaline rushes that let them lift cars off their trapped children and demonstrate Incredible Hulk-like superstrength, this isn't something we have empirical evidence for. What's more likely is that something in the cocktail of hormones surging through your body is causing an analgesic effect...
It is worth monitoring the chain of animal reactions when moving across remote areas. Some animals are notoriously fast at reacting and the slightly slower animals use them as a cue--mammals such as deer and rabbits will take flight shortly after birds have taken to the air.
July 26
Sardoodledom (n.) well-made but contrived or trivial works for theater.
July 25
siderodromophobia (n.) the fear of rail travel.
pickReaders who enjoyed this might also enjoy “Rockaway: Surfing Headlong into a New Life“ by Diane Cardwell.
#2025Book28
I hate to lose. And even worse than losing, I hate being stupid.
July 21
pelmatogram (n.) a footprint
The seven days of the week are even named after the seven original planets. Sunday Mo(o)nday, and Satur(n)day are the most obvious, while Tuesday through Friday are more than a bit obscure. Tiw was an ancient Germanic god of war, as Mars was to the Romans, so Tuesday is actually Mars's day. Wednesday is Woden's day. Woden was the carrier of the dead--a Germanic grim reaper--fulfilling one of Mercury's less well-known jobs. (Continued in comments)
And it is no wonder that all of our basic units of time are based on the sky: A year traced the time it took for the sun to go all the way around the sky to reappear at the same location again, while a month (“moon-th“) is about the time it takes for the moon to circle the earth.
Not long ago, I'd often felt that the happy warriors I knew were in denial. How wrong I'd been. To love life in a world full of tragedy doesn't make you complicit. It makes you complete.
But my doubts were aristocrats from before the revolution. They still existed; their authority did not.
I'd long ago realized that regardless of the arena--politics, culture, or anything else--outsiders study insiders with anthropological intensity, then are surprised to discover that the insiders don't think about them at all.
There was the TV weatherman in Iowa bullied into early retirement because he talked about climate change; the Stanford disinformation researcher forced to move her family into hiding; the law enforcement personnel in a Cincinnati FBI office shot at after Trump was indicted; the nurses at a Boston hospital sent into lockdown by a bomb threat because their workplace treated transgender youth.
But the outrage machine doesn't worry about accuracy. What matters is that it's fed.
While these aren't necessarily bad things, they all mean that Jersey waves break quickly. Their California counterparts are typically slower and more gently sloped, and thus more forgiving. A Santa Monica peak breaks like a door being slowly closed by the hosts of a dinner party as they wave goodbye to their guests. A New Jersey peak breaks like a door being slammed in an argument.
July 17
steganogram (n.) a coded text or message
July 16
basiate (v.) to kiss
Derived from a Latin word for a kiss on the hand, to basiate is to kiss. To suaviate is also to kiss, a term derived from suavis, a Latin word meaning 'sweet,' and to osculate or to deosculate is also to kiss, both of which come from a Latin word for 'kiss,' osculum, that literally means 'little mouth.'
Even so, the minute I slipped an ankle into my wetsuit, all glimmers of body positivity vanished into rubbery shame. Perhaps you've seen one of those viral videos where a snake, through sheer perseverance, swallows something far too big for it, like a goat. I was that goat. 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂
Learning to surf is like learning a language that wants to kill you.
pickThere's nothing about this book that is particularly captivating, but you can read it in less than an hour, and it did what it was meant to do--which is to make the reader thirsty. #2025Book26
July 10
lawrence (n.) A shimmering heat haze.
As well as being a boy's name, a lawrence is also a heat haze--the shimmering, undulating appearance of the air above a hot surface.
Also, it can be awkward to ask someone you're sleeping with for the first time to put your dick in a death grip.
In the days of King Charles II, the last Spanish Hapsburg ruler and one of the most regal premature ejaculators on record, sexual dysfunctions were the product of witchcraft. Innovative treatments included exorcisms and urinating through the keyhole of the church where you were married.
That is the process of all human development and knowledge building. Some brave souls make a leap of faith, and if they succeed they are heroes; if they fail, the next in line step over their bodies and try a different approach.
July 5
paw-paw (adj.)-- Immoral, obscene
July 4
Monadnock (n.) An isolated hill or mountain
July 3
Cosmognosis (n.)-- The natural instinct that tells a creature when to migrate.
July 2
Meditullium (n.) The absolute middle or core of something.
June 30
Transpontine (adj.) Located on the opposite side of a bridge.
June 29
Scathefire (n.) A vast, destructive conflagration
June 27
Mavortian (adj.) Warlike, martial.
bailedWhat happened to the Nersesian who used to write novels like “The Fuck-up,“ 'Suicide Cassanova,“ and “Dogrun“? I want him back.
In the news business, being first with clearly written copy is better than being garbled and last.
June 25
Decapulate (v.) To pour a liquid from one vessel into another.
A full moon will rise in the part of the sky that is opposite sunset for that day. A full moon rises well south of east in midsummer and north of east in midwinter. It will set approximately opposite sunrise direction for that day also.
Meteors have a relationship with time and direction. You are likely to see more shooting stars after midnight than before, because this is when your part of Earth is facing “forward“ as it moves in its orbit around the sun.
June 18
Noctilucy (n.) The shining of the moon.
Yet for all its cultural luminescence, Polaris is only the forty-eighth brightest star in the sky. It stands out because it is the brightest star in its patch of the sky. If you see two stars of similar brightness close to each other you cannot be looking at the North Star, which always appears to be the only one of comparable brightness in its immediate vicinity.
The southern side of painted objects fade faster than the northern side. I have seen this in varied locations, from footpath signs in France that had paled on one side, to bleached oil drums in the desert. Some things will show this solar effect more quickly than others. Over the course of a single day, moist dung will dry more quickly on its southern side.
Growing numbers of solar panels on roofs will be ignored by most, but they offer help to observant navigators: There is not much point in a solar panel that faces north in the northern hemisphere, so, wherever possible, they face south.
June 17
Gaping-stock (n.) Someone or something being stared at by a crowd.
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