August Links
Hello again! So glad you could join me in my newsletter. Please, pull up a chair next to the fire. Yes, that's it. Would you like some hot chocolate? There, now you can get all warmed up––you're dripping wet! How's the work been going this week? I see, well that's certainly something. And the family? Mm-hm, just like them isn't it? Oh don't mind old Banga there, he loves a good scratch behind the ears. How have I been, you ask? Well…
I Thought About Words
Can you guess what language people are speaking, even if you don’t speak the language yourself? This man makes the attempt, and his only assistance is his great taste in music.
If you’re anything like me, you might have picked up the factoid somewhere that Muhammad is the most common name in the world. But would you have ever guessed it’s actually a name hardly anyone knows?
Words create worlds. And one woman spent ten years writing hundreds of fictional articles to establish her own version of Russian history on Chinese Wikipedia.
As a young lass, I was corrected from writing “jeez” to writing “geez.” Now I find out that, etymologically speaking at least, I was (marginally) right all along!
I Watched Some Long Videos
What Is Actually In The Ginormous American Climate Bill You Keep Hearing About (22 mins)
A Mind-Blowing Video on Imaginary Numbers (stick with it ‘til the end — the payoff is worth it) (22 mins)
Special Ponds in Utah. Potash. It’s More Fascinating Than It Sounds. (19 mins)
And Finally…
I was distraught to discover that Howard Carter, discoverer of King Tut’s tomb, probably stole and sold pieces of the treasure before he revealed his findings to the public.
That’s All for this Week
Thanks for asking! Same time next time? I’ll keep the kettle on.