The zibaldone

The mid-fourteenth-century word zibaldone, a bit of Florentine slang, came to signify a personal notebook of miscellaneous contents. From Roland Allen’s The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper (New York: Biblioasis, 2024):

The basic principle was simple: when you found a piece of writing that you liked, or found useful, you copied it out into your personal notebook. You could copy out as much or as little as you wanted, neatly or not, and refer to it a little, or as much, as you wanted. The collection could be poetry or prose, fictional or factual, thematic or random, religious or profane, in Latin or Tuscan, or any mixture of any of these components; you could even draw pictures in it. The notebook itself could be large or small, luxurious or utilitarian....

Zibaldoni, although always idiosyncratic and personal to their owner, were not necessarily private, or intimate: you would share the highlights of your own with your friends, and if you saw something that you liked in theirs, you’d copy it over.

Sounds a lot like blogging to me.

I am seventy-one pages into this book, and it’s a joy.

Also from the book
Moleskine: seventy-five words

Rocks, unnoticed

An Atlantic crossword clue baffles

In today’s Atlantic mini-crossword, 5-A, three letters, “11-character fig. on a form.” The answer, of course, is SSN. But a Social Security number has nine digits.¹ And why does the clue read characters ? Am I missing something?

*

Elaine, who does not do crosswords, just explained it to me: nine digits and two hyphens: eleven characters. Sneaky, sneaky clue. Good thing I'm married.

            
¹ Nine digits, unless you’re Ralph Kramden, whose number has only seven.

Parataxis (with cats and ducks)

[Drudge Report, September 12, 2024. Click for a larger view.]

I can’t imagine that the placement of the Adderall-psychosis-mania headline is accidental.

[Parataxis : juxtaposition without explicit connection. An organizing principle in modernist literature. There’s nothing certain but death and parataxis.]

Mystery actor

[Click for a larger view.]

Leave your guesses in the comments. I’ll be on and off the computer this morning and will drop a hint when I can if one is needed.

*

A hint, dropped: This actor is best known for a television role, reprised in film, playing a character with no known first name.

*

I think this one is going to remain a mystery. I’ve put the answer in the comments.

More mystery actors (Collect them all)
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The Last Republican

The story behind The Last Republican, a documentary about Adam Kinzinger: “‘Do you have contempt for my views?’ How a leftwing film-maker and a Republican came together” (The Guardian ).

Irony alert

J.D. Vance:

“We admire Taylor Swift's music, but I don't think most Americans, whether they like her music, are fans of hers or not, are gonna be influenced by a billionaire celebrity who I think is fundamentally disconnected from the interests and the problems of most Americans.”

See also a previous J.D. Vance irony alert.

Some field

[Photograph by Elaine Fine.]

Just some field. Whatever you do, do not click for a larger view. Move along, folks. Nothing to see here.

About last night

In the lastest installment of Letters from an American, Heather Cox Richardson offers an astute analysis of last night’s debate:

The question for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in tonight’s presidential debate was not how to answer policy questions, but how to counter Trump’s dominance displays while also appealing to the American people.

She and her team figured it out, and today they played the former president brilliantly. He took the bait, and tonight he self-destructed. In a live debate, on national television.

Swift FTW

As just reported on MSNBC: Taylor Swift has endorsed Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

Here it is, on Instagram.