word of the day

hogmanay: a gift given on new years eve

hog.mun.NEY

 hogmanay  is the name for scottish new year's eve. it probably  

comes from the old french aguillanneuf , "last day of the year."

photo by justin waldron

america in color 1939-1943

photographs taken by the farm security administration/office of war 

information of the effects of the depression on small rural towns.

new mexico, september 1940. photo by russell lee

cincinnati, ohio 1943. photo by john vachon

belzoni, mississippi 1939. photo by marion post

south water street freight depot of the illinois central railroad chicago, illinois 1943. photo by jack delano

clinton, iowa 1943. photo by jack delano

san augustine county, texas 1943. photo by john vachon

delta county, colorado 1940. photo by russell lee

washington, d.c., between 1941 and 1942. photo by louise rosskam.

word of the day

dithyrambic: wildly enthusiastic

dith.uh.RAM.bik

 

i didn't know anyone could ever become dithyrambic about algebra," said dick.

-joseph a. altsheler, the tree of appomattox

word of the day

lagniappe: an unexpected or indirect benefit

LAN.yap

 the lady at the bakery gave myrtle a free petit-four, either as a lagniappe or to shut her up.

- michael griffith, bibliophilia: a novella and stories

those who can do, and those who can't duchamp.

those damn parisians.

word of the day

eleemonsynary: of or for charity; charitable; as "an eleemosynary institution."

el.uh.MOS.uh.ner.ee.

we also need to revive the great eleemosynary institutions through which compassionate people serve those in need with both greater flexibility and discipline than government agencies are capable.

- clifford f. thies, bring back the bridewell

word of the day

zenith: a highest point or state; culmination

ZEE.nith.

 this performance, this zenith of consummate operatic staging, dramatic force, 

and perfected vocal artistry, had been frozen for all time.

- philip k. dick, the world jones made

paintings by francoise nielly

oil on canvas with palette knife

the colors and marks are so violently expressive

"optimism is the opium of the people."

-milan kundera 

phrase of the week

"a nattering nabob of negativity"

phrase coined by bill safire, former nixon speechwriter and new york times columnist

"your father has been a nattering nabob of negativity recently"

- my mother

word of the day

caliginous: misty, dim, dark.

kah.LIJ.uh.nus.

has its source in the latin caligo, "mist"

i could continue my observation of solar obfuscation, 

and prove that caliginous vapor arises from the planet. 

-victor hugo, the man who laughs  

vignette by igor zimmerman

entitled kungfai visual

from the back room of a natural history museum

I can't seem to get over how morbidly beautiful this photo is.

word of the day

horripilate: to produce a bristling of the hair on the skin from cold, fear, etc.

 

haw.RIP.uh.leyt

 

beautiful video

cuban tree frog

someone was feeling festive...

parisian women with cats

from french photographer Baudouin's essay “Les Parisiennes”

fantastic flat

meeeeeeeoooowwwww

the original pennsylvania station

1962, two years before demolition

mind over matter

portraits of the mind by carl schoonover

photomicrograph of the microscopic blood vessels that carry nutrients to neurons in the brain, obtained
by creating a cast of the blood vessels. by Alfonso Rodríguez-Baeza and Marisa Ortega-Sánchez

drawing of a dog’s olfactory bulb by Camillo Golgi.

anatomy of dendrites in a mouses retina by In-Jung Kim and Joshua Sanes

word of the day

prosopography: a description of a person's appearance, career, personality, etc.

pros.uh.POG.ruh.fee

planet

photographs by terry evans
photoshopped by rachael

punk phaze

photos from nastygal. terrible name, great site.

obsessed

tunes: the misfits - attitude

1900's russia in color

photographs by sergei mikhailovich prokudin-gorskii

from a photographic survey of the russian empire with the support of tsar nicholas II

set in stone

sculptures by franz xaver messerschmidt

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