February 2012
Fully literate persons can only with great... →
pieto:
Fully literate persons can only with great difficulty imagine what a primary oral culture is like, that is, a culture with no knowledge whatsoever of writing or even of the possibility of writing. Try to imagine a culture where no one has ever ‘looked up’ anything. In a primary oral culture, the expression ‘to look up something’ is an empty phrase: it would have no conceivable meaning....
“And this is the forbidden truth, the unspeakable taboo - that evil is not always...”
– Joyce Carol Oates (via 0versite)
Eavesdropping on the squid world →
Marine biologists are starting to get a good idea now of how squid hear and how they react to sounds in the ocean.
It is only recently that scientists have come to accept that cephalopods have any auditory capability at all.
But new experiments show noises of varying loudness and frequency will elicit a range of behaviours in the animals - such as jetting or inking, and even a change of...
“The joy of bourbon drinking is not the pharmacological effect of the C2H5OH on...”
– Walker Percy, from “Bourbon, Neat” (via 0versite)
“Here is a handful
of shadow I have brought back to you:
this decay, this hope,...”
– Margaret Atwood, from “Mushrooms” in Selected Poems: Volume 2 (via proustitute)
One Is the Quirkiest Number: The Freedom, and... →
The Public Domain Review →
The Public Domain Review aspires to become a bounteous gateway into this whopping plenitude that is the public domain, helping our readers to explore this rich terrain by surfacing unusual and obscure works, and offering fresh reflections and unfamiliar angles on material which is more well known.
FBI turns off 3,000 GPS trackers after Supreme... →
In the case of Antoine Jones, law enforcement agents obtained a warrant to place a GPS tracker on a car registered to Jones based on evidence suggesting he was involved in drug trafficking. However, the warrant expired before agents actually installed the device, and the GPS tracker was eventually installed in a different jurisdiction from the one the warrant had even authorized. The Justice...
“As we awaken from sleep, our consciousness undergoes a radical transformation...”
– The science of waking up, from Antonio Damasio’s excellent Self Comes to Mind – an exploration of what makes us human. (via)
Teller Reveals His Secrets →
The smaller, quieter half of the magician duo Penn & Teller writes about how magicians manipulate the human mind.
The Most Common Cooking Mistakes →
Deeply useful summary of what good cooks know instinctively (or so it seems), and the rest of us struggle a lifetime to learn.
“Enlightenment is always there. Small enlightenment will bring great...”
– Thich Nhat Hanh
(via lifebalance)
blueheron:
It is stark madness
To feel claustrophobia
In this universe.
“Imagine the Earth devoid of human life, inhabited only by plants and animals....”
– Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (via mysticsoul)
