1. The Ringling Brothers Circus announced today that it will be phasing out elephants in its shows by 2018. Retired circus elephants will live in a conservation park in Florida. I heartily approve this news. Let’s have the big cats phased out next and then let’s work on getting sea parks to release their orcas.
1. Have you ever been reading Dickens and wondered exactly how much a shilling was worth back in 1870, for everyone to get so excited about it? Or have you wondered how much yearly income “500 pounds a year” really gave someone back in Austen or Forster’s day? Well do I have a site for you: The Historical Currency Converter.
2. Happy birthday to John Steinbeck today. Let’s all read Cannery Row and think about visiting Monterey.
Putzen means “to clean” and Fimmel is a mania or obsession. Putzfimmel is an obsession with cleaning. It is not unheard of outside of Germany, but elsewhere it is less culturally embedded and less fun to say.
2. If you watched the latest Peter Jackson Hobbit trilogy against your better judgment and then thought, “Yep, about what I expected,” you may be interested in this fan cut of the three movies into just one, of a normal length, that actually follows the plot of the book.
1. If you prefer your Valentine’s music strange, threatening, and Russian instead of soulful and groovy, here is some classic Prokofiev from his “Romeo and Juliet” ballet:
Prokofiev and Motown do share some fat brass parts, though.
2. I did not get this card for Doc. Although I think he would have understood if I had.
1. I finally watched The Grand Budapest Hotellast month and have been meaning to recommend it. The concierge character, M. Gustave, reminded me so much of my best friend trying to be gracious in his own store, giving us quotes like this:
“Rudeness is merely the expression of fear. People fear they won’t get what they want. The most dreadful and unattractive person only needs to be loved, and they will open up like a flower.
2. This article about the origins of the phrase “having it all” (title of Helen Gurley Brown’s 1982 memoir, early feminist demand, currently unpopular for being unrealistic) is fascinating. Short version: Brown never wanted that phrase to be the title in the first place.
1. I’ve started actually tidying up using the KonMari method and I think it will be as life-changing as she promises. I do recommend diving in on a weekend: I started after work Wednesday and the first category I tackled, shirts and sweaters, had hundreds (no exaggeration) of items and it got a little intense–and went late into the night. I moved on to pants and skirts last night and it was much more manageable, both psychologically and in sheer volume. But maybe that’s because I had a good helper:
(Yes, he’s up on a shelf in the closet.)
2. There is a sports event happening Sunday! I found this scathing Garfunkel & Oates video about SPORTS!
Favorite lines: Sports go sports! Athletics are number one! Participants are heroes! Go team yeah!
Watching abile-bodied millionaires play with each other Watching less agile millionaire talk about it on TV May they compile copious points so they are rewarded and meritorious So you feel temporarily, adjacently victorious
(Actually, there is nothing wrong with watching or liking sports. I just can’t get behind people acting as if IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED.)
1. I usually avoid articles about “how to be more productive” because vague, grand plans are what procrastinators love best–but I liked this article for the simple advice (“schedule everything”) and for this quote:
“Knowledge work is really just craftsmanship. It’s just that what you’re crafting is information and not carved wood. You’re crafting ideas. You’re crafting knowledge out of raw material and the more you think about it like a craftsman, the happier and more satisfied you’ll be, not to mention more successful.”
2. This is the most Pinterest-y inspirational quote I have ever posted from Pinterest, but sometimes you just need a list of happy things:
1. I’d say a good 20% of the agency I work at is out with the flu right now. I’m still healthy but the survivors are getting desperate–I made someone who thought he was coming down with it stand at the entrance to my office last night and brief me from there.
2. Related, I plan to fill the long weekend with multivitamins and sewing.
3. Here is an article about the revival of traditional Inuit face tattoos (which are quite pretty; not what one thinks when one hears “face tattoo”). One of the interviewee’s thoughts about her tattoos are what I’d like my potential one (not on my face; don’t worry, Dad) to accomplish:
It wasn’t the momentary pain or the ritual that connected her with her tattoos and her tattoos with her belief system — it was the daily routine of living with them…. “As I explain to people what my tattoos mean, almost every day, tracing over their lines reminds me of whom I respect and why.”
1. One of my New Years resolutions is to go get measured and fitted for a “real” bra, one that isn’t the same brand I’ve been wearing since college and one that costs more than $20. I hear women who have been fitted love it and it makes a huge difference, so this article from The Toast is an apt spoof on what happens when “You’ve Finally Started Wearing the Right Bra Size“:
You look down at your phone. Your voicemail, your inbox, even your Direct Messages on Twitter are all brimming with remorseful messages from everyone who has ever wronged you. They were all wrong, and now they’re so, so sorry. There are no lumps, seams, or bulges under the lines of your shirt, and your father has come back from the dead to tell you how proud he is of you.
2. I am tempted to go through this workbook, “Unraveling 2015” but I have to admit that I downloaded it last year for 2014 and was overwhelmed by all the introspection. Even though it’s dated wrong, this little image is kind of the Cliff Notes version:
1. It’s my sister-in-law’s birthday today! It’s been 11 years now and she’s still kind and happy and accommodating and delightful to be around, no matter what my family throws at her. Happy birthday, Altair!
2. Tomorrow is St. Lucy’s Day, which I’m just learning about as “one of the few saints celebrated by the overwhelmingly Lutheran Nordic people”. The celebration includes wearing a wreath on your head and lighting candles to fight the darkness of winter, so it should come as no surprise I like it.
3. And finally, I learned that someone who makes scissors is called a “putter,” which is short for “putter-togetherer.” Here is a nice little silent film about a putter: