Sunday, February 22, 2009

Saturday, February 21, 2009

When he was 8 years old

I'm terribly sorry to be That Picky Grammarian, but here is a sentence from today's Gothamist:
Zolezzi's father committed suicide when he was 8-years-old by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge.
This is a textbook case - no, it is almost precisely the sentence my ninth-grade English teacher used to show us the meaning of a subject of a sentence.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Some of the branches of this tree produce lemons, others oranges

Image via Old Roads.

Tayeb Salih, author of Season of Migration to the North, has passed away. His prose is elegantly translated into English by Denys Johnson-Davies, and is an absolute treat. You can read Season of Migration in just an hour or two - I highly recommend it. More on Salih is available at Laila Lalami.
It's a long story, but I won't tell you everything. Some details won't be of great interest to you, but others...

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Bringing complete sentences back to the White House


Obama's sentence is declared "grammatically sound." I think it's worth pointing out grammar when it's admirable, and not just incorrect. It's just so hard to resist the latter. (On a side note, I heard someone yesterday say her husband was going to "talk his arm off." Isn't that lovely?)

'Tis the season


Anna Wintour is losing two of her three assistants. Think you're up to the job?

In other news, 20-somethings need health insurance


Image via Lawsome.
We're all very nervous about being hit by cabs right now. Especially because our entry-level jobs have been cut since the economy crashed. And we don't have savings to fall back upon.
“There was no way that I could pay my rent, buy insurance and eat.”

Blogs are nice sometimes

Image via Art Review.
and how did all those books start? in the kitchen of the murray house, and then somehow charles wallace and meg always goes for a walk to the star-watching rock. thats how they start. one foot in front of the other. and you know, like 3 immortal beings and a unicorn or a seraphim thrown in there. (and someone in the murray family is always making someone else hot cocoa. swear to god). they become about love and time travel and getting back to something like trust and grace with things that are familiar, and so readily problematic to the larger society. like dirty gay bathroom sex, for example. that the relativity of connection has no underlying foundation, there's no ethics to breathing so why can't that be so for love.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Library arranged by color, plus a pug


This is the stuff dreams are made of. Of which dreams are made.

1234567890


As for the image: My apologies to Laughing Squid, but no Youtube clip or Google image search could beat XKCD on this occasion.

Laughing Squid has alerted me that Friday the 13th is upon us, and you know what that means? It's time to celebrate 1234567890 Day, the anniversary of Unix Time (which has been going up every second since 1970).

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Dentist Fear Girl


Picture via Families.com.

Dentist fear girl
starved to death

Check out the headline from Language Hat, and the story in Sky News. (Thanks, Hilary.)

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Subway knitting


A particularly nice post by Every Person In New York.

Plimpton Prize and latex leggings


Factory photo via Bouncing Red Ball.

Peter Matthiesson loves you, Alistair Morgan.

It's cute that you can write a whole article about letter-writing making a comeback without any evidence to support it. (via The Elegant Variation)

In old news, everyone seems mystified by The Way We'll All Make Billions On the Internet.

MIA might be an apologist for the Tamil Tigers, but she is indubitably pregnant.

Two great links from BoingBoing: photographs of factories in Japan, and of a broken-down hospital in Maryland.

Oh! And one more! I've been meaning to post recipes for making your own toothpaste, laundry detergent, etc., but BoingBoing links to How To Make Your Own Latex Leggings, which seem to be a New York essential these days. You're welcome.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

RIP Joe Ades

The greatest peeler in all of Union Square.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Please don't close, Terrace Bagels!


Photo via Yelp.

Word on the street is Terrace Bagels is closed "for a while."

This is the most important restaurant in all of Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Rocks coffee is delicious, and there's nothing like a fresh (boiled!) bagel just out of the oven. Send them happy thoughts, please.

Thursday, February 5, 2009


Via this.

(Thanks, Elaine!)

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Monday, February 2, 2009

Get well soon, publishing world


Image via UCL Institute of Child Health.

How did Houghton get in this mess? Not, it seems, because of bad publishing.