My Virtual Reading Room

(reposting from 2015)

"...Однажды один московский критический журнал попросил нескольких литераторов написать о том, для чего мы пишем и почему мы пишем. Так как я не умею писать статьи и не очень люблю анализировать себя самого, я отказался. Остальные написали очень серьезные исследования собственного творчества. А я написал стихотворение и послал в журнал. Его тогда не напечатали, но зато потом получилась песня..."

( Read more... )

Health and Medicine:

These 'Zebra' Cases Were Cracked by People Other Than Doctors, from Medscape

— Popular Reddit thread captures rare diagnoses made by patients, lab techs, first responders

This 70-year-old retiree just graduated med school. He has this advice for others, from CNN

Women who are blind play a critical role in identifying possible breast cancers, from NPR


Reading, Writing, and Life:


Sometimes I don't know why I bother!, by Charlie Stross

"The trouble with writing fiction is that, as a famous novelist once said, reality is under no compulsion to make sense or be plausible. Those of us who make stuff up are constantly under threat of having our best fictional creations one-upped by the implausibility of real events. I'm pretty much resigned to this happening, especially with the Laundry Files stories: at least space opera and fantasy aren't as prone to being derailed as fiction set in the near-present.

But there's a subtle corollary to the impossibility of story-telling keeping up with reality, and that's the point that it is also pretty much impossible to invent protagonists who can keep up with reality. [...]"


And two from John Scalzi:

Please Don’t Idolize Me (or Anyone, Really)

Reader Request Week 2014 #6: Enjoying Problematic Things

One of the few things I know about writing is this: Spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time.

Don’t hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now.
The very impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now.
Something more will arise for later, something better.
These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water.
Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful; it is destructive.
Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.

~Annie Dillard

The Most Ambitious Diary in History:

Claude Fredericks, a Bennington classics professor, knew Anaïs Nin and James Merrill, and taught Donna Tartt. He kept a journal for eight decades, and persuaded many in his orbit that he was writing a titanic masterpiece. Did he?, from The New Yorker

The Man Who Brought the Swastika to Germany, and How the Nazis Stole It, from The Smithsonian

In Alaska Native villages and across communities of color, the enduring silence of grief, from The Washington Post

"...The coronavirus has created a new generation exposed to unimaginable loss. One out of every 500 children has lost a parent to the pandemic, a figure that varies widely when broken down by race and ethnicity:

One out of every 168 American Indian and Alaska Native children has lost a parent to covid-19. One out of every 310 Black children. One out of every 412 Hispanic children. One out of every 612 Asian children. One out of every 753 White children..."

As pandemic pounds Ukraine, desperate officials try to scare people into getting the jab (...not that it's having much effect...), also from The Washington Post

Inside Russia's ‘fourth wave’: Record deaths, deep frustration and plenty of blame

"...MOSCOW — A routine medical checkup in mid-September nearly cost Alexander Ivanov his life. The clinic was packed with people, almost no one wearing masks.

“Or distancing,” he said — a common sight in Russian public spaces and on transport. “I even told some of the people that they should be wearing masks, but people didn’t care.”..."

From Medscape:

Country by Country, Scientists Eye Beginning of an End to the COVID-19 Pandemic (we can only hope...)

"...COVID-19 is still expected to remain a major contributor to illness and death for years to come, much like other endemic illnesses such as malaria.

"Endemic does not mean benign," Van Kerkhove said...."

A Little Halloween Treat for NICU Families, Nurses Dress Up Babies

International Mail Service Suspensions--you can't send mail from the US to a number of countries at present, due to either postal service suspension in these countries, or the unavailability of transportation in these countries.

(good thing I happened to check, was going to send a card to someone in the Philippines)

And mail to some countries went there by sea, so it'll be a while getting to its destination...

See here and here for details

From The Heart is a public FB page, which provides names and mailing addresses of elderly people who could use some birthday cheer, "thinking of you" cards, people in nursing homes, etc.

If you like sending cards, take a look; the page is public, so you should be able to view it without having a FB account; let me know if that's not the case and I can repost some of the info to my LJ.
~~

This FB page provides free printable stationery designs, take a look:

Free Penpal Stationery

There are some very cute designs, holiday and otherwise; I'd saved some to my files. Again, you should be able to view it without having a FB account.

"She smiled at him very graciously when he was introduced to her."

From the chapter, "Princess Orchid's Party"

From the book "Fairies I Have Met" by Mrs. Rodolph Stawell, so beautifully illustrated by Edmund Dulac (French-born, British naturalised magazine illustrator, book illustrator and stamp designer, 1882-1953)

And here's the link to the entire book!

https://archive.org/details/fairiesihavemet00staw
~~
Somewhat related:

Mermaid Folktales: A 19th Century History

An idle inquiry:

Why are Kinder Surprise Eggs Banned in the United States, from "Today I found out"

...which led me to an interesting but very grim bit of history of medicine I'd not heard of before:

(caveat lector):

Sulfanilamide Disaster
Taste of Raspberries, Taste of Death
The 1937 Elixir Sulfanilamide Incident, FDA Consumer magazine, June 1981

Modern psychopharmacology:

Why combination nootropics (aka "genius pills") are not a good idea
(thanks to supergee for the link!)

Upcoming solar eclipse:

Eye Safety During Solar Eclipses, from NASA

Cats and Humans:

Saved, by a Whisker--a very nice cat story and more from Gene Weingarten, in this weekend's Washington Post Magazine

...and, of course, Sherlock Holmes:

A Guide to Writing Sherlockian Biscuit Habits, from the enigmaticpenguinofdeath's Tumblr

Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS) is appealing for anyone going on a summer holiday to send a postcard to Robin House to help the terminally ill children make memories.

Postcards are welcome from any destination.

They should be addressed to Robin House, 2 Boturich Road, Balloch, West Dunbartonshire, G83 8LX.

(more details in the article)
~~

Note: I recommend putting your postcard inside an envelope; there seems to be a persistent problem with postcard delivery within the UK (anything in an envelope gets delivered just fine, though).

(and yes, I'll be sending one this week)

( Lyrics and English translation: )

Sherlock Holmes:

Holmes and Watson's reading material, in BOSC

"Les Huguenots", as mentioned in the canon, and further info

Writing:

A variety of advice on how to write different characters

Regarding the ever-popular claim of "I'm only one person, there is no way I could possibly make a difference":

This lawyer spearheaded the world’s biggest beach clean-up at Versova

Amazing animals:

Kangaroo rats

For your amusement:

10+ Embarrassing Moments People Didn’t Realize Who They’re Talking To And Made A Fool Out Of Themselves

(many thanks to supergee for this one)

Little girl takes hamster who hasn't moved in days to vet - who makes a very odd discovery

Life would be a lot easier - and interesting - if our pets could talk.
As it is, we have to try and guess what's ailing our furry friends when we sense something is amiss.

No one, however - not even an rodent expert - could have guessed what was wrong with one worried little girl's hamster when she took it in to see the vet.

Science:

Scientists found 2 new primates, and they look like the best 'Star Wars' character.

This Awesome Periodic Table Tells You How to Actually Use All Those Elements

(you can download a printable version, too)

Medicine:

A Critical Look at "Dr." Robert Young's Theories and Credentials, which also explains in lay terms why all those "excess acidity in your blood is the cause for 99% of all illnesses" claims are utter nonsense.

A bit of retro-futurism:

How Soviet Artists Imagined Communist Life in Space

Vocabulary, reading, and writing:

The Grandiloquent Word of the Day 2018 Wall Calendar--take a look at some sample pages, and perhaps even make a pledge? ;)

Medieval Women Writers

A Guide to Writing Sherlockian Tea Habits

British Idioms, from Agatha Christie's Works
( here they are: )
Applied psychology:

5 things I didn't want to hear when I was grieving and 1 thing that helped.

(nothing earth-shattering, but well-written)

Maryland attractions:

North Beach: Exploring a Local Gem

PUN-LEAVENED ‘BRED’: HOT ‘LIKS’ FROM WEEK 1219

In Week 1219 we introduced to the Invite “lik the bred” poems, based on the faux-Chaucerian verses posted in various comment threads on Reddit by postdoctoral student Sam Garland, a.k.a. Poem for Your Sprog. While insisting on the Sproggian 32 syllables in iambic meter, the Empress allowed real modern English along with the fake Middle, and for four longer lines as well as eight little ones. And the poems had to refer to someone in the news.

~~
I especially liked the ones below; you can read the rest of them in The Washington Post's Style Invitational section:

My name is Paul.
My planne was thicke:
It said, “Tough lucke!”
if you get sick.
My planne has met
An Epick Faile.
I slinke away.
I tucke my taille.
(Nan Reiner, Boca Raton, Fla.)

( Two more: )

"The Illness and Insight of Robert Lowell", from The New Yorker

Two excerpts:

"Jamison’s book is the first to bring clinical expertise to Lowell’s case; before it, the poet’s cycles of illness and recovery have been judged in scolding moral terms, or, worse, viewed as a kind of lifelong-mishap GIF, with Lowell stuck in a permanent loop.

When he was manic, Lowell smashed wineglasses and schemed to marry near-strangers. In recovery, his depressions were severe, his remorse profound, the work of repairing the relationships he’d damaged unrelenting.

But the metaphors that came so quickly to hand could again be tamed and put to use. “Gracelessly,” he wrote, “like a standing child trying to sit down, like a cat or a coon coming down a tree, I’m getting down my ladder to the moon. I am part of my family again.”

...

"But mood disorders occur with staggering frequency in creative people, and writers seem to suffer the most. A 1987 study at the University of Iowa found that eighty per cent of the writers studied exhibited the diagnostic signs of mood disorders, with fifty per cent fitting the criteria for bipolar disorder.

A 2011 study of three hundred thousand individuals showed that 'individuals with bipolar disorder were overrepresented in creative professions.'

Poets might be the most susceptible of all. They count on a certain amount of basic disorientation to do their work, which many report involves the temporary unshackling of the mind from ordinary semantic logic.

There are various names for this willed receptivity to associations: flow, inspiration, the muse. These are not the names we assign to symptoms of mental illness."

Originally posted by lindahoyland at Reuben's Writing Challenge( Two 6-word challenges, and banner: )
~~

And, here's my response to the Easter one; to borrow the phrase from methylviolet10b, there's "a metric ton of rust on the part of the author." Concrit welcome, as always!

( SH writes a letter: )

#WhanThatAprilleDay17--to be held on April 20th this year; do take a look at the article, it is very amusing!

And some recent tweets from the same author:

Roses are redde
Pegasus unicorns have winges
May everye part of the universe protect
Al those who nerdily love obscure thinges
~~

Look at the worlde from but one view
How deadened - al thinges are -
But chaunge thy thought - and questioun new:
Yt sparkleth - lyke a star
~~

Lat us go to a beautiful place at eve
And talke, and singe, and daunce;
Even thogh the dayes be darke
We yet retayne romaunce.

Originally posted by thnidu at Amazon "best-sellers" aren't--many thanks!

How a cat co-authored a physics paper in 1975, from lindahoyland

Several links from supergee


Can we think critically any more?

Myth #21: People can tell you what they want

Dunning Kruger nation and the disparagement of expertise

Sometimes I don't know why I bother