TUMS

In the “I was today years old when I learned/realized” department:

A clue in today’s Los Angeles Times/Washington Post crossword taught me something. 44-A, four letters, “Tablet named for an organ.” Answer: TUMS. They’re named for the tummy!

TUMS, by the way, is both singular and plural. Here, have a TUMS. Or two. They’re small. GlaxoSmithKline styles the product name in caps, so that it’s tailor-made for a crossword.

I am slightly amazed to have never before understood the “named for an organ” bit. Obviously, I am woefully inattentive to brand names. See also Men’s Wearhouse.

In the Dark Ages

Plus ça change:

Have you ever heard people talking about the Dark Ages? This is the name given to the period which followed the collapse of the Roman Empire when very few people could read or write and hardly anyone knew what was going on in the world. And because of this, they loved telling each other all sorts of weird and wonderful tales and were generally very superstitious.

E.H. Gombrich, A Little History of the World, trans. Caroline Mustill (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008).

Gombrich’s book was first published in 1936 as Eine furze Weltgeschichte für jungle Leser [A short world history for young readers]. I wish this work had been around in translation when I was ten or twelve. Reading about the Dark Ages today, I cannot help thinking of the lunatic conspiracy theories that now fill our bandwidth.

A Post-it dad joke

A dad joke on a Post-it Note, by Doug Savage, creator of Savage Chickens, a comic strip whose acquaintance I am happy to have made.

Thanks, Steven.

Phallocentrism and sniffs

“U.S. armed forces are stronger [sniff ] than ever before [sniff ]. Our missiles are big, powerful, accurate, lethal, and fast [sniff ].”

You can hear these sniffs — just three of many — starting at the 9:00 mark. There continues to be considerable speculation about what makes Donald Trump* sniff. The sniffing seems most pronounced when he’s reading from a teleprompter [sniff ].

Seashore keeps improving

Seashore, an excellent free image-editor for macOS, continues to see updates by Robert Engels, who has taken over development from Mark Pazolli et al. Engels has added — “after many requests” — the option to donate to the project (available from the Help menu). Having used Seashore for at least nine years, I’m happy to donate.

ICYMI

Be prepared, there is a small chance that our horrendous leadership could unknowingly lead us into World War III.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 31, 2013

It’s not as if this tweet has been overlooked. Still, I wanted to share it. There’s also this interesting clip about reelection strategies.

Donald Trump* is unfit for office. He has always been unfit for office. It’s long past time for those in a position to do something about that to do so.

No words

CNN just reported that Donald Trump* will not be addressing the nation tonight in the wake of Iranian missile strikes against Iraqi bases housing United States troops.

[This post explains the asterisk.]

Becoming a better learner

A helpful conversation from WGBH’s Innovation Hub: Kara Miller interviews Ulrich Boser about becoming a better learner. Ixnay to highlighting!

A catalog saved

The Washington Post reports on an all-volunteer effort to save the contents of the card catalog at the University of Virginia’s Alderman Library.

A related post
The Card Catalog (with links to more reading and a catalog-card generator)

Mystery actor

[Click for a larger view.]

Who can it be now? This one would baffle me, so I’m guessing it’ll be easy for someone else. Let’s see.

Leave your best guess in the comments. I’ll drop a hint if necessary.

*

10:08 a.m.: The answer is now in the comments.

More mystery actors (Collect them all!)
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