“Slang is like a breeze; it softly comes and goes, as new times bring new buzzwords. Some stick (‘cool’ defiantly endures); some induce cringes when dusted off (‘groovy’ is now in the dustbin of irony). It’s obvious when slang becomes less funny or less meaningful through overuse: ‘Internets,’ for example, has become too widespread to [...]
Archive for May 15th, 2009
Baseball’s Slang, or: “Setting the Table” with “Muffins” & “Jelly Beans”
Posted in Baseball, Books, Language, Popular Culture, Sports on May 15, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Kerouac at the Bat: Jack Kerouac’s Personal Fantasy Baseball Game
Posted in Baseball, Books, Museums & Exhibitions, New York City, Popular Culture, Sports, Writers & Writing on May 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“Almost all his life Jack Kerouac had a hobby that even close friends and fellow-Beats like Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs never knew about. He obsessively played a fantasy baseball game of his own invention, charting the exploits of made-up players like Wino Love, Warby Pepper, Heinie Twiett, Phegus Cody and Zagg Parker, who toiled on imaginary teams named either [...]
Thrown for a Curve: The Secret of the Curve Ball Picked World’s Best Illusion
Posted in Baseball, Science & Technology, Sports on May 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“The three best visual illusions in the world were chosen at a gathering last weekend of neuroscientists and psychologists at the Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts in Florida. “The winning entry, from a Bucknell University professor, may help explain why curve balls in baseball are so tricky to hit. “A properly thrown curve ball [...]
Springtime for Hitler: Hitler, Nazi Relics Fetch Record Prices at Connecticut Auction
Posted in Antiques & Folk Art, Business, Collectors & Collecting, Europe, Jewish Life on May 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“The items were sometimes delicate, often minimalist and always haunting: a monogrammed silver matchbox; a gold locket with a butterfly design; a letter-opener, its sturdy handle embellished with an eagle and a swastika. Up for auction here on Thursday, the relics fetched record prices and even spurred bidding wars, purely because of their history: They [...]
