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 cocoa? 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 Bullseye there, he loves a good scratch behind the ears. How have I been, you ask? Well…
I Got Ready to Say Goodbye to 2022…
…by looking forward to all the works that will enter the public domain in 2023. The Public Domain Review has issued its annual digital advent calendar, which each day showcases a different piece of media that will enter the public domain next year.
So far highlights include the movie Metropolis, Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, and the work of M. C. Escher.
I Read About Animals, Extant and Extinct
Speaking of the Public Domain Review, they’ve also posted a long list of extinct animals, which they’ve termed “A Bestiary of Loss.” Each animal is presented with their common name, scientific classification, and year of extinction, much like a gravestone.
The list goes way beyond your basic dodo and Tasmanian tiger; in fact, I hadn’t heard of most of these animals before. The Review cites 800 documented animal extinctions since 1500. Their own list is necessarily truncated, but it’s nevertheless a somewhat eerie experience scrolling through and seeing all the animals that will never walk again.
Just as I was feeling the loss of animals I’d just learned existed, however, I also ran across some surprising research about animals familiar to all of us.
While most cognitive research on animals I’ve seen demonstrates that their cognitive abilities are in some way beyond what we might have expected, those abilities are still always inferior to our own. This video, however, shows one cognitive ability chimpanzees possess in excess of ours. That ability? Working memory.
I Learned That I’ve Always Wanted to Visit the New York Public Library’s Vault and I Just Didn’t Know It
I’m linking to this video mostly because I’d heard of Charles Dickens’ cat’s paw mounted on a stick, but I didn’t quite believe it was real until I saw this video (and I never would’ve guessed it was housed at the NYPL).
And Finally…
By sheer accident, I stumbled across this German publishing house that produces tiny leather-bound books. Most of them are in German, but they’ve got a small English-language section too. I’m just too amused by all of them.
I requested that they produce an itty-bitty edition of Ulysses, but so far I haven’t heard back.
That’s All for this Week
Thanks for asking! Same time next time? I’ll keep the kettle on.
Thanks again for a nifty tour of stuff I'd never see! You have marvelous eclectic taste, and what kind of hot chocolate do you serve at your place? I used to make Dutch but lately I gone to Mexican; you know the round hard flat small cakes you have to cut into wedges. Great on a cold day.
On my Ello site, I've posted a how-to-make-it picture sequence for the way I make Mexican Chocolate. You can find it at ello.co@jbspalmer
There's even a picture of a hard cake of the chocolate. The work that goes into it makes it more enjoyable.