The Decrees of Bartholomew Sprout

Be curious

In the time of coronavirus you must gird your face for battle

It's all a matter of diplomacy

Technology is a mystery to us all

Your life is more valuable to you than it is to a rabbit, but the rabbit’s life is more valuable to the rabbit than it is to you

Everything is more at night

Be not immune to motivated reasoning

Please do not out of stock water

Today I found an injured snake and a dead squirrel in my yard

Find and delete the letter p from the code

First I need to start breathing again

Who wouldn't want to be part of a club named the Ostentation of Others and Outsiders?

Seek empathy, intrigue, and companionship

Cause trouble with a purpose, for a cause

Do you think the washer and dryer are coworkers or real friends?

One day I will be french fries

Dream of creepy giants

Some things are too big to ponder

Smaller plants are perfectly nice too, but not particularly relevant to this audience

The dark centers of the flowers create beautiful contrasting stripes of brown among the yellow smears

Kindness is attention

Jerkitude should be accepted as a category worthy of scientific study in its own right

Turn away from the mirror and notice the colors in which the world seems to be painted

If you want to say "thank you," don't say "sorry"

Libraries are dangerous places; there is no getting around it

I gave myself a challenge on Facebook. My status read: Please leave a single, solitary word in the comments. This is what I made with the words that were left:

Tired.
Arid.
Waiting.

Not for Friday
or happenstance
or jazz;
for November.

Why?
Hope.
Revolt.

No tsujigiri
or defenestration
or even poop.

One word: vote.
Okay?

Never alone,
in plenty.

Gotcha?

Peace.







Strange Birds: A Field Guide to Ruffling Feathers, by Celia C. Perez

Who wouldn't want to be part of a club named the Ostentation of Others and Outsiders? Well, I would, anyway. And so would each of the four girls in this story. Each is strange in her own way, talented and passionate about her own particular area of expertise. And when they come together seeking empathy, intrigue, and companionship, all kinds of interesting things happen. They learn from each other and learn how to cause trouble together. Trouble with a purpose, for a cause. All kinds of interesting issues arise as they do, and this book makes exploring them fun and entertaining. I wish I'd had a club like this when I was twelve.

In crafting their membership oath, each girl picks "a word that represents you, something that is important to who you are and that you want to be important to the group too." Truth. Kindness. Justice. Community. All together: We, the Ostentation of Others and Outsiders, swear to seek truth and justice, demonstrate kindness, and create community.



May blessings be upon the head of Cadmus, the Phoenicians, or whoever it was that invented books.

 ~ Thomas Carlyle

A Practical Treatise

on

The Steel Square

and

Its Application to Everyday Use

Being an exhaustive collection of steel square problems and solutions, "old and new," with many original and useful additions, forming a complete encyclopedia of steel square knowledge, together with a brief history of the square, and description of tables, keys and other aids and attachments

revised edition

In Two Volumes

by

Fred T. Hodgson

Member of Canadian Association of Architects, Editor of "National Builder," Author of "Modern Carpentry," "Common-Sense Handrailing" and other practical works on Building, etc.

1903

Bot or Not

This website is a Turing test for poetry. You, the judge, have to guess whether the poem you’re reading is written by a human or by a computer.

Was “cocaine” written by a computer or a human?

a phoenix rising

from an extremely incriminating photo of us

friendly reminder

unrelated side note

i became pregnant with me

actually my giant face is nearly sold out of

irony, sincerity, vagueness, kafka, racism, feminism, kant, buddhism, internet

names of mind leaping over obstacles set by adults

reality in my internal universe in transit

an exhausted observing male teenaged individual

is the intrepid orange cat

Was “some men” written by a computer or a human?

some men just want to watch the world burn

some men just want to watch the world learn

some men just want breakfast

The Collected Works of Gretchen Oyster by Cary Fagan

A lovely, quiet little story about big emotions and small connections. Hartley makes an excellent narrator as he and his family struggle to find ways to express the grief they feel about the disappearance nine months earlier of his older brother. It can be hard to feel anything when you feel too much. Then he starts randomly finding a series of handmade art-poem cards that somehow touch him, the vague sadness of the anonymous artist, and hunting down more helps him rediscover what it feels like to have an interest in something. It's a small story about everyday things, yet so authentic and subtly deep and moving its perfect for what it is. Readers will find it a moment of connection and delight.

The Collected Works of Gretchen Oyster:

• i hate all kinds of flags except pirate flags
• i know cereal is made by some giant, soul-crushing corporation but it makes me feel better
• you know that sound nobody else hears? it might be near or far. what is it? all i know is i hear it too
• today i sneezed so hard i shook my brain inside my head. ever thought about your brain before? try it. now your brain is thinking about itself
• today i met a dog in the park. he looked up at me with his brown eyes. i think maybe he understood me
• when i am going up, you are going down. when i am going down, you are going up. why can't we ever go in the same direction?
• some people want to believe magic is real. i just want to believe that i am
• i would like to be a bird looking down. then everything would be so clear
• what i've realized is you never know what will happen next

"Last time I was here, your check out machine gave me the wrong due date. I'm not finished reading the book yet, so it gave me the wrong date."



"Dad, my head hurts."

"Did you bump it on something?"

"The house."



I'm not sure what celebrity heroes are common among five- and six-year-olds, but I'm guessing our house's aren't typical.

Older's favorite TV personality is Julia Baker (and beau Johnny Bagpipes) of Snake Boss.

Younger's is mother-daughter duo Karen and Mina of Good Bones.

Previous ones have included Sir David Attenborough and the guys of This Old House.

I wonder what the future holds.

A perfect bit of philosophy. "Do you think the washer and dryer are coworkers or real friends?" Ponder.

Found. Today you ignore me because I'm a potato; one day I will be french fries and you'll crave for me.

Found. I wish I had taken it.

For the Covid historical record. We're particularly excited about option #5.

Do you dream of meeting a creepy giant?

Snail Crossing

Some things are too big to ponder.

A Field Guide toRoadside WildflowersAt Full Speed

Introduction

We all know the best opportunities to see wildflowers come while on the road. Whether along an interstate highway or a remote country road, flowers of all colors and shapes are there to add beauty to our trip. Unfortunately, most wildflower field guides are nearly useless for roadside flower viewing, written for the eccentric botanical enthusiast who wanders slowly through prairies, stooping low to determine whether the sepals of a flower are hispid or hirsute.

This book is written for the silent majority of people who have important places to go, but want to enjoy and learn about nature as they travel. What good is a field guide that relies upon the characteristics of tiny hairs or even minute differences in leaf or petal shape when a flower is seen from a car traveling 70 miles per hour? The world desperately needs a guide that illustrates and identifies characteristics of wildflowers as most people actually experience them. This is that guide.

Users will find this guide works especially well in the central Great Plains of North America, in states such as Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota. However, it is also useful further east (Illinois, Indiana, etc.), where most of the same flowers can be found. It works pretty well further north and south too, though some of the flowering dates might be somewhat different.

No field guide, including this one, can contain all potential species someone might encounter. However, it does include many of the more common species that are large enough to be seen from a moving vehicle. Smaller plants are perfectly nice too, but not particularly relevant to this audience.

Finally, roadside wildflower enthusiasts have received the field guide they have long deserved. You’re welcome.

August 2020 Prompt

Write a story about the power of small acts of kindness, given or received. Is kindness always a “doing” or is it more nuanced than that? Does kindness from a stranger have more impact because it’s less expected?

To be kind is to notice. To perceive. To see, hear, feel, understand. To feel kindness is to feel recognized. To be acknowledged and comprehended.

Respect. The root "spect" is for seeing. Spectacles. Spectator. Inspect. "Re" is again. To re-spect is to look and then look again, closely enough to see carefully. Accurately. Truly.

Kindness is attention. It is paying attention with a desire to understand, without judgment or conditions or self-interest. It is accepting the other on their own terms.

Random acts of kindness are small moments of attention. . . . 

How to Tell If You’re a Jerk

I submit that jerkitude should be accepted as a category worthy of scientific study in its own right. The word “jerk” is apt and useful. It captures a very real phenomenon that no other concept in psychology quite does. Jerks are people who culpably fail to appreciate the perspectives of the people around them, treating others as tools to be manipulated or fools to be dealt with, rather than as moral and epistemic peers. To be a jerk is to be ignorant in a certain way—ignorant of the value of others, ignorant of the merit of their ideas and plans, dismissive of their desires and beliefs, unforgiving of their perceived inferiority. The nugget of folk wisdom in calling certain people jerks is to highlight this particular species of deficiency.

Jerks see the world through goggles that dim others’ humanity. The server at the restaurant is not a potentially interesting person with a distinctive personality, life story, and set of goals to which you might possibly relate. Instead, he is merely a tool by which to secure a meal or a fool on which you can vent your anger. The people ahead of you at Starbucks are faceless and of no account. Those beneath you in the social hierarchy lack your talents and deserve to get the scut work. . . . 

If the essence of jerkitude is a failure to appreciate the perspectives of others around you, this suggests what might be a non-obvious path to self-knowledge: looking not at yourself but at other people. Instead of gazing into the mirror, turn away from the mirror and notice the colors in which the world seems to be painted. Are you surrounded by fools and non-entities, by people with bad taste and silly desires, by boring people undeserving of your attention, by people who can be understood quickly by applying a broad and negative brush—creeps, stuck-up snobs, bubbleheaded party kids, smug assholes, and, indeed, jerks?

If this is how the world regularly looks to you, then I have bad news. Likely, *you* are the jerk. This is not how the world looks to most people, and it is not how the world actually is. You have a distorted vision. You are not seeing the individuality and potential of the people around you.

Does the shadow represent the person's secret dark side, their hidden anxieties, or something else?

Perhaps the shadow is in control and extending an arm to direct the puppet to act?

Everything Is Beautiful, and I'm Not Afraid: A Baopu Collection by Yao Xiao

If you want to say "thank you," don't say "sorry."

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

Sorcery, demons, libraries, and grimoires. A powerful female protagonist, a bit of romance, secret plots, and intrigue. A dark, magical delight.

When I found you on the steps, and picked you up and brought you inside, I was certain you would cry. Instead, you looked around and began to laugh. You were not afraid. At that moment I knew I couldn't send you away to an orphanage. You belonged in the library, as much as any book.

*

"Recently I overheard an apprentice explaining to her that ordinary children have mothers and fathers. Poor Elisabeth had no idea what he was talking about. She quite happily replied that she had plenty of books to keep her company."

The Director sighed. "Her attachment to grimoires is . . . "

"Concerning? Yes, indeed. If she does not suffer from the lack of company, I fear it is because she see grimoires as her friends in place of people."

"A dangerous way of thinking. But libraries are dangerous places. There is no getting around it."

*

"You may be wondering why you have been brought before me," said Mistress Wick without preamble. "Here in the Royal Library, even the position of maidservant is a great responsibility. We cannot let just anyone enter our halls."

"Yes, Mistress Wick," Elisabeth said, sitting petrified in front of the desk.

"It is also a dangerous job. During my time as Deputy Director, several servants have been killed. Others have lost limbs, or sense, or even their minds. So I must ask--why do you wish to work in a Great Library, of all places?"

"Because I . . . " Elisabeth swallowed, and decided to be as honest as she could. "Because I belong here," she blurted out. "Because there's something I must find, and I can only find it here, among the books."

"What is it you wish to find?"

This time, she spoke without hesitation. "The truth."