Tuesday, January 2, 2024
Things were real to Alexander. He had his social and political ideas and his gods. He undoubtedly looked upon them as important enough to be permanent. To us these things are little more than names.
— Mark G. McElhinney, "The Broader View," via Mark Twain, Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 3
Monday, January 1, 2024
Rem once told me "gold leaf is a surprisingly economical cladding material."
— @phillipdenny
Sunday, December 31, 2023
Linnaeus himself was fooled into naming non-existent species at least twice. In 1702, a peculiar yellow butterfly collected by William Charlton ended up in the British Museum of Natural History. Charlton's butterfly resembled the common English brimstone butterfly, but had a series of black spots and blue crescents upon its wings. Linnaeus thus gave it the new scientific name "Papilio ecclipsis". Thirty years passed before it was recognized as a forgery.
— "Counterfeit Sepcies" wall text in Monsters and Mermaids: Unraveling Natural History’s Greatest Hoaxes at The Bruce Museum
Saturday, December 30, 2023
It's like a really good screensaver but real life.
— Lily on works in Aki Sasamoto's Point Reflection at the Queens Museum
Friday, December 29, 2023
God doesn't give refunds.
— Lily
Thursday, December 28, 2023
In a century we have produced two hundred and twenty thousand books; not a bathtub-full of them are still alive and marketable.
— Mark Twain, Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 2
Wednesday, December 27, 2023
The suit does not include an exact monetary demand. But it says the defendants should be held responsible for “billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages” related to the “unlawful copying and use of The Times’s uniquely valuable works.” It also calls for the companies to destroy any chatbot models and training data that use copyrighted material from The Times.
— Michael M. Grynbaum and Ryan Mac, "The Times Sues OpenAI and Microsoft Over A.I. Use of Copyrighted Work," The New York Times
Tuesday, December 26, 2023
In the future everyone will be famous to 15 people.
— @jerrysaltz
Monday, December 25, 2023
I am careful, I am economical of my time and labor. For my family's sake I've got to be. So I never write 'metropolis' for seven cents, because I can get the same money for 'city.' I never write 'policeman,' because I can get the same price for 'cop.'
— Mark Twain, Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 2
Sunday, December 24, 2023
The board, the smaller and more powerful of two governing boards at Harvard, dates back to 1650, making it the oldest corporation in the Western Hemisphere, according to the university.
— Colbi Edmonds, "Who Are the Members of the Harvard Corporation?," The New York Times
Saturday, December 23, 2023
In competition with Henry Ford's Blacksmith Shop which had 4 sides and 4 corners, David Boothe designed this Blacksmith Shop with 44 sides and 44 corners. He offered $5.00 to anyone who found something missing and he never had to pay up. It houses blacksmithing tools.
— Plaque, "BLACKSMITH SHOP circa 1935"
Friday, December 22, 2023
Dr. Gay appeared to borrow exact phrases from the acknowledgments section of another author’s book to thank her mentor and family in the acknowledgments section of her own dissertation.
— Sarah Mervosh, Dana Goldstein, Jennifer Schuessler and Anemona Hartocollis," Debate Over Plagiarism Allegations Against Claudine Gay Adds to Pressures at Harvard," The New York Times
Thursday, December 21, 2023
The joy of the find. Does it ever cease?
— Label in Rutgers Geology Museum
Wednesday, December 20, 2023
I have a defect of a sort which I think is not common; certainly I hope it isn't: it is rare that I can call before my mind's eye the form and face of either friend or enemy.
— Mark Twain, Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 2
Tuesday, December 19, 2023
You can use them only one at a time and you don't know which one to choose out of the twenty—still you must choose; there is no help for it; and you choose with the understanding that the nineteen left over are probably left over for good and lost, since they may never suggest themselves again.
— Mark Twain, Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 2
Monday, December 18, 2023
I only miss school because it's the only place you get to make whatever pops into your head and ppl have to respond to it
when u leave that safety bubble and go out into the #realworld art gets ruined for u bc now it's not fun anymore (in public that is)
— @qualeasha
Sunday, December 17, 2023
And so the clock, in a way, it’s an art project, it’s a symbol. And if it ever has any power to influence people to think longer term, that won’t happen for hundreds of years, but we are going to build it now and let it accrue the patina of age.
— Jeff Bezos on the 10,000-Year Clock, "Jeff Bezos: Amazon and Blue Origin | Lex Fridman Podcast #405"
Saturday, December 16, 2023
That is weird man. You are weird! You are weird! I'm posting your photo online.
— Scarily agressive man (on sardine packed CTA Holiday Train as we pulled into the O'Hare stop) who was stairing angrily at me and then took my photo becuase he thought I was looking at my neighboor's phone screen.
Friday, December 15, 2023
Here's how the "Ship of Theseus" page looked in July 2003 when it was created! Since then, the article has been edited 1792 times. 0% of its original phrases remain
— @depthsofwikipedia
Thursday, December 14, 2023
They can be machines for narrative.
— Presenter notes
