“The Fall”
by
Russell Edson
There was a man who found two leaves and came indoors holding them out saying to his parents that he was a tree.
To which they said then go into the yard and do not grow in the living-room as your roots may ruin the carpet.
He said I was fooling I am not a tree and he dropped his leaves.
But his parents said look it is fall.
I recently stumbled upon this excellent infographic from TheBookDesigner.com. As a collector and bookseller, it can be problematic at times describing the contents of a book. This is particularly the case when it comes to antiquarian titles. It’s essential to be on the same page—excuse the pun—when providing details about a book’s contents.
Maps.fm is a clever project that lets you use a world map to select podcast episodes that are about or related to a specific location on the map. Want to instantly be able to access every single podcast ever recorded about Manhattan or Iceland ? Maps.fm will suck you into the podcast universe with its goldmine of choices. It’s a great resource if you’re planning a trip or just want to while away a hour or two. I like the idea that you can quickly and easily access individual podcast episodes without a deepdive into the entire catalog.
Before my recent trip to the Portuguese island of São Miguel, I checked out what typres of road signs I could expect to encounter. Still, I was surprised and confused by some of the traffic signs along the islands windy, mountain roads. Many were related to agricultural vehicles and farm equipment, but some were just baffling. To create his short film SIGNS, filmmaker Daniel McKee spent months collecting images of thousands of road signs from around the world, then arranged and animated them in a logical sequence. The music by Resonate complements the videos’ driving pace.
Cursed cat peed on my book
A few months back, I signed up for a trial membership to the online “co-op bookstore” Tertulia and then promptly forgot about it when its emails went straight to my junk mailbox. However, this week I saw two references to the project and decided to take another look.
It’s an intriguing concept : “Inspired by the informal salons (“tertulias”) of Spanish cafes and bars, Tertulia is a new way to discover books through all the lively and enriching conversations they inspire. Tertulia serves up book recommendations and book talk from across social media, podcasts, and the web — all in one app which incorporates seamless book purchasing. If a book has moved someone enough to get them talking, you can find it, buy it, and share it on Tertulia.”
There’s an interesting co-ownership element to the project, in which members who pay a fee to get access to books at a discount, free shipping, etc, also have a putative stake in the co-op ownership which allows for a say in governance decisions and an eventual share of any profits it might one day make. A quick read of the fine print reveals that any profit sharing is far from likely as it doesn’t kick-in until $100 million in sales. Still, it’s a possible Amazon alternative, although in the U.S. and the UK, Bookshop.org at least benefits indie booksellers.
I have visited hundreds of museums in dozens of countries, but I don’t recall ever being required to wear special footwear. However, I recently stumbled on this old New York Times story about the practice. From the New York Times: “Some museums don’t want you clomping around in your street shoes, damaging their famous floors. So they offer specialized footwear.” Have you ever worn museum slippers ?
Sweden Launches Campaign to Stop Tourists Confusing It With Switzerland – A funny video from Sweden’s tourist board to help people distinguish between the two countries. Yes, it’s hard to believe that people confuse the two European countries, but it’s true. The same goes for Austria and Australia. This is what happens when schools stop teaching geography.
These days folks in North America go overboard with Halloween decorations, costumes, parties, candy, and spending, but in the early 20th century they celebrated in a less ostentatious way. As the autumn festival began to emerge in its modern form picture postcards entered their so-called “golden era”, ca. 1905–1915. Rarely seen or used in the US before 1893, an estimated 900 million postcards had been mailed two decades later. And quite a few of these were Halloween themed. Thousands of unique designs for Halloween cards were created, cards which helped popularize the celebration and standardize its imagery.
Even today much of the iconography is familiar — black cats, jack-o’-lanterns, witches’ brooms — but many of the games and rituals have fallen out of favor: scrying, ducking or bobbing for apples, pranks involving farm animals.
In recent years, I’ve noticed more Halloween themed greeting cards in the stores, but I don’t know anyone who actually sends them. And even with my advanced age, I’ve never received a Halloween themed postcard.
I have to admit that I geeked-out on this fascinating website devoted entirely to global writing systems. During my life I’ve actually learned four writing systems, but in my old age I’m only fluent in one of them. World Writing Systems is an elegant site that allows users to sort by time (proto-cuneiform to Toto), region, name (Adlam to Zou), and whether the scripts are living or historical. Take it for a spin.
Travel Between The Pages 