Whittle It a Little, It’ll Fit

Odds and sods I look at regularly, just because they amuse me. I hope they do the same for you. Incidentally, I found this page’s title on Greg Ross’s Futility Closet (it’s somewhere on this page) in a mini-article which also includes the delightful sentence in Icelandic: Barbara Ara bar Ara araba bara rabbabara. Ross points out that this, “besides being fun to say, is spelled with only three letters. It means “Barbara, daughter of Ari, brought only rhubarb to Ari the Arab.”

Futility Closet » Foremost

Friday 15 March 19:11:58 UTC 2024

“If a man will be sensible and one fine morning, while he is lying in bed, count at the tips of his fingers how many things in this life truly give him enjoyment, invariably he will find food is the first one.” — Lin Yutang [Link]

Weird Universe » 1963 Prediction of Mobile Phones

Friday 15 March 11:14:00 UTC 2024

In 1963 the Mansfield News-Journal predicted that, "Some day, Mansfielders will carry their telephones in their pockets."

So when did the first phone debut that could be carried in a pocket? Depends on the size of the pocket, I guess. But I think it was arguably the Motorola StarTAC, that came out in 1996 — 33 years after the News-Journal … [Link]

Weird Universe » Weird Easter Hats

Friday 15 March 9:13:00 UTC 2024

The strange hats appear about halfway thru.

[Link]

Futility Closet » Viewpoint

Friday 15 March 7:13:16 UTC 2024

Why do people in bygone days wear such gloomy expressions? In the 16th and 17th centuries, smiling wasn’t encouraged in part because of poor dental hygiene. Louis XIV had no teeth, and the Mona Lisa may have been trying to hide gaps or stains in her smile. Beyond the dental challenge, broad smiles and open laughter were often actively criticized, … [Link]

John Gordon Ross

A Man for All Reasons