Apples have a somewhat ominous reputation, no? not to be plucked, or Of Discord: is this quite such a cause for rejoicing? New variety of apple discovered by Wiltshire runner: Arbury said it was “a very interesting apple”. It is clearly not a planted tree, but a seedling that could be a cross between a cultivated apple and a wild Malus sylvestris, ( Read more... )

If I could ban any phrase, it would be that overused, viscerally irritating, and far-from-innocent term, the Guilty Pleasure. No one should feel guilty about what they eat, or the pleasure they get from eating; the only thing to feel guilty about (and even then I don’t recommend it) is the failure to be grateful for that pleasure.
Go, Nigella: 'it ( Read more... )

From cut-out confessions to cheese pages: browse the world's strangest books: Edward Brooke-Hitching set out to curate the ultimate collection of bizarre books down the ages. He leads us around the Madman’s Library
Speaking as someone who has worked in at least one of the collections which holds one of the items cited, several of those books are ( Read more... )

Interview with Vivien Gornick - I'd got the new book, didn't know about the reissues - one of which I've got already from that time I discovered Gornick and went wild acquiring her works.
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I keep forgetting to link to this blog post from the Harry Ransom Center on Frieda Kahlo, so I put it here at last.
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I vaguely assume everybody has ( Read more... )

Toxic masculinity is built into the fabric of our urban spaces: okay, I have walked around certain cityscapes and thought 'urgent phallic look, what' and 'mi patriarkle thrust, I show u it', but you know, I could live with a certain amount of upthrusting architecture providing there was an adequate provision of public loos, which are not mentioned ( Read more... )

I sent off for free delivery vouchers some weeks ago, but when they turned up, whoever was delivering our neck of the woods was over capacity and no longer taking any more customers. But idly checking the site last week I saw that it is now possible to set up delivery (and I also have prepay vouchers), though not whether this is with same supplier ( Read more... )

I thought I had thoughts, but by this state of the day, they have gone. So have a few links.
Clearing out some tabs, which I presumably thought were of interest at the time I saw them:
Bloody capitalism and the cash flow of the menstrual cycle.
Donna Stepan and her family rehabilitate orphaned wombats at their sanctuary in Australia.
NoFap Founder ( Read more... )

What Happened When I (Tried to) Read 30 Books in 30 Days - surely that depends a lot on what books you pick? there are books that, if I have nothing else to do or long journeys on hand, I can get through several in a day, and others that, well, take longer - I might instance that A Suitable Boy was a suitable companion for a lengthy (several-day) ( Read more... )

Dept of, Miff once more at the British Library: okay, I finally got to see the manuscript I ordered the other week (after being 'processing' it was 'returned to store', I ordered it again and lo and behold, it was in due course 'ready for collection' in the Manuscripts Reading Room.). Alas, it contained nothing of relevance to my research. However ( Read more... )

Madhumala Chattopadhyay, the woman who made the Sentinelese put their arrows down: (and did not try to evangelise them): Dr Madhumala Chattopadhyay, then a researcher (initially a fellow and subsequently research associate) with the Anthropological Survey of India... went on to spend six years researching the various primitive tribes of the Andaman ( Read more... )