I feel bad about just popping up here with a few little links once a week, but I don't see time for much more until the big deadline is vanquished. Considering an Actual Hiatus, but, in the meantime, some things I've magpied during breaks lately:
- Some interesting thoughts on Amanda Palmer's TED talk from Chuck Wendig and Justine Musk (I still have to watch it, but am enjoying all the discussions here, there, and everywhere).
- Children's literature veterans share stories from back in the day at PW. Great stuff, and as proof a snippet from George Nicholson at Sterling Lord: "Together with other young editors and friends, we moved about the city in packs, reveling in 25-cent shots of rye from the many Irish bars then along Sixth Avenue in the 40s, all called we thought The Shamrock. When the work day was done we often gathered in hotel lobbies, checked the listing for professional organization cocktail parties upstairs and found that we could easily, with our fine wardrobes, pass for members of the Westchester Medical Association or the Plumbers Union or whoever was serving free drink and food. When discovered and politely asked to leave, we thanked our hosts and said we must have gotten the wrong ballroom."
- I really want to see this documentary about famous conjoined twins The Hilton Sisters.
- Virginia Morell on the latest research on what animals are thinking and feeling: "Through experiments and close observations, researchers have discovered that at least one species of ant engages in a form of teaching; parrots likely give names to their chicks (a finding which opens the door to the possibility that they are having some form of conversations); moths remember that they were caterpillars; whales and cows have regional accents; rats dream and laugh; cheetahs may die from being heartbroken; and cats can get their owners to jump to their feet and feed them by crying like a human infant."
- Also at Slate, an enticement to read Shirley Jackson, should you need one.
- The magical properties of mercury, an article filled with wonders like this: "The vapours given off by this extraordinary element are highly toxic. In the 19th century, a process called "carroting" was used in the making of felt hats. Animal skins were dipped in a solution of mercuric nitrate which turned the fur into a matted felt. The fumes given off by this process poisoned the brains of anyone in the vicinity, causing an epidemic of psychiatric problems among workers in the hat industry, hence the phrase "as mad as a hatter." " Bonus: alchemy talk.
- Carrie Frye and Maud Newton on Thelma and Louise. I love this SO much. Favorite thing.