Monthly Archives: April 2023

The supply of strange ideas is not endless.

Posted on April 30, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

“The Flight of Pigeons from the Palace” by Donald Barthelme In the abandoned palazzo, weeds and old blankets filled the rooms. The palazzo was in bad shape. We cleaned the abandoned palazzo for ten years. We scoured the stones. The … Continue reading →

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Very Short Stories

Posted on April 29, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

I’m hooked on the ultra short sci-fi  stories on Twitter, @smllwrlds is publishing a new tiny illustrated sci-fi story every day of 2023. Try it and you will be hooked too.  

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How it’s built in a timelapse

Posted on April 28, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

I am not much of a cruise ship kind of guy, but I was fascinated by this timelapse video.  MK Timelapse GmbH recorded the entire construction process of the AIDAnova, an 1105-foot-long cruise ship that carries 6600 passengers. The footage from Germany’s Meyer … Continue reading →

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Wonderground

Posted on April 27, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

This pictorial map of London was originally published in 1914 as an advertising poster for the London Underground. The design became very popular with the public and was published in several different editions. It is credited with reviving Tube travel as well as … Continue reading →

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Brave New World

Posted on April 26, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

Brave New World, 1945. Adolph Arthur Dehn. Lithograph on wove paper. “Chronic remorse, as all the moralists are agreed, is a most undesirable sentiment. If you have behaved badly, repent, make what amends you can and address yourself to the … Continue reading →

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Some Good Advice

Posted on April 25, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

In 2006, Ms. Lockwood, an English teacher at Xavier High School in New York City, gave her students an assignment to write persuasive letters inviting their favorite authors to the school. Five students chose Kurt Vonnegut. Though 84-year-old Vonnegut couldn’t … Continue reading →

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words at play

Posted on April 24, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

MIT Press Bookstore bookseller Barry Duncan stumbled onto the book “An Almanac of Words at Play” four decades ago and it changed his life. Duncan discovered that words could go backwards. The realization set him on a course he would … Continue reading →

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All night I dreamt of bonfires

Posted on April 23, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

Sharks in the Rivers Ada Limón We’ll say unbelievable things to each other in the early morning— our blue coming up from our roots, our water rising in our extraordinary limbs. All night I dreamt of bonfires and burn piles … Continue reading →

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Random Airports

Posted on April 22, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

Random Airports: I was recently reminiscing with two of my closest cousins about trips to the airport when we were children. Back in the olden days it was actually possible to enjoy a visit to an airport to pick-up or … Continue reading →

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Epic Iceland

Posted on April 21, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

One of my longest running travel obsessions has been the extraordinary island nation of Iceland. I’ve been lucky enough to have been visiting there for more than 40 years. In some ways Iceland has experienced amazing changes during the last … Continue reading →

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