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Miscellanea-mania
Miscellanea-mania
14d
Miscellanea-mania
Turn Left at Orion (Consolmagno & Davis)
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One of the classic introductory texts for the amateur astronomer. Instead of relying on astrophotography, this guide provides simplified diagrams of the night sky with instructions how to locate objects that feel more like terrestrial map navigation in how they are followed. There’s definitely a learning curve, but this one pairs nicely with Nightwatch (Dickinson & Hewitt-White, another traditional starting text for astronomy) and the SkySafari app. Makes a great gift for folks of any level of expertise when it comes to stargazing.
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1
25d
Miscellanea-mania
Bandcamp integration on Rec League
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The app that keeps giving just keeps on giving. Use a link from Bandcamp as the URL for your rec and an in-app player will now show up. My thank you note will be in the mail shortly.
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36
3
4w
Miscellanea-mania
RuPaul's Drag Race UK s8ep2
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Wow, did the BBC ever shit the bed announcing they will be cutting Drag Race UK after eight series, and even moreso for making this news days before one of the most memorable episodes of the programme aired. Few have been quite as close to feeling like you're witnessing the show broadcast through a fever dream as this one does. Take a cast that is overall highly likeable and place them in a sewing/design challenge with one of the most inexplicably bad outcomes ever, add in an unhinged Werkroom walk-through with Ru and Kristen McMenamy, mix in a bit of drama and an unexpected development in the middle of the episode that has caused local controversy from outside the show to now be much more public, all leading up to a "lip snatch" for your life. That's the basis of it, but the key element is a basically non-stop flow of side-splittingly hilarious moments, some of them intentional, many of them not. Reading the episode discussion on the RPDR UK subreddit immediately after viewing was an almost fatal decision on my part because I was laughing so hard at some of the comments that I legitimately feared organ rupture was possible.
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1
5w
Miscellanea-mania
Repeatedly editing the text of your Recs once published
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Often I can't help but tinker a bit with the wording of a Rec after I've hit the Post button, then tinker some more and then a little more; maybe an hour or a day later still more. In my case, at least, chalk it up to: - Me being a chronic overthinker 😅 - Me being an English Language Arts teacher by trade ("You know, there really is no such thing as a 'final draft'!") 🤓 But also because there's that little hit of satisfaction that comes with figuring out the way you really wanted to express something all along. Apparently our brains start behaving in a slightly different way when we read back our writing once it's public compared to when it's still a private draft* (hence why we are more likely to notice typos after we've sent the email), so it's fun to leverage that fresh clarity when playing editor for yourself. Editing the silly little things I write on this platform has become one of those unplanned games I get to play throughout the week. Happy editing, League! *Case in frickin' point: I glossed over the fact I originally wrote public draft here until reading it back after publication. Talk about a fitting example.
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14
3
6w
Miscellanea-mania
Food Network's The Kitchen
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One of 2025's worst television casualties happened when Food Network/WB Discovery unceremoniously pulled the plug on weekend comfort-watch The Kitchen. New episodes aired on the station mid-morning Saturday and made a dependable feature of the post-workweek comedown. What made this live cooking demonstration program special was the convivial tone struck between co-hosts Geoffrey "GZ" Zakarian, Sunny Anderson, Katie Lee and Jeff Mauro as they exchanged praise, banter, friendly digs and little mementos from life outside the TV studio regarding family and travel while making food, stepping in as sous-chef or just admiring the culinary artistry from the side before getting served a plate to sample. Marcela Valladolid and Alex Guarnaschelli were also part of the cast during the show's earliest and later seasons, respectively. As the best cooking shows are, The Kitchen is equally enjoyable to view for learning a featured recipe or just watching people make food even in cases when you know you'd never actually make that dish yourself. My most-made recipe from the show almost definitely has to be Zakarian's Celery Salt-Roasted Chicken w/ lemony arugula potatoes on the side. A real crowd pleaser and Sunday dinner staple in my own kitchen. In a just world, the network execs responsible for the wound they made upon good television when they slashed The Kitchen from the production schedule would step out in their tailored suits and polished wingtips to render overdue public apology and seek atonement by reinstating the program; in the world that we actually inhabit, however, they are probably in the process of green-lighting Food Network's newest competition series called 999 Chefs Cook Nonstop for a Month in the Colosseum Showdown Duel Gauntlet-Throwdown Tournament Supreme featuring a toga'd and laurel-wreathed Bobby Flay as host.
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7w
Miscellanea-mania
Respecting the “Play Bow”
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I learned a while ago that dogs perform what is called a "play bow" to signal that they are in a playful state. As demonstrated by my pup in this photo, the play bow posture is distinguished by a lowered front half and a raised butt, usually with a wagging tail and a glimmer of mischief in the eye. The bow is not only frickin' cute, it is one of many reminders of the fathomless wisdom of dogs: Sometimes, we just need to make it clear that we're feeling a little zany and invite others into our joy, if they’d like to join, while it lasts. So, now when I see my doggo performing a play bow toward me, I give myself no choice but to respect it. I usually honor the invitation by then starting our favorite indoor game, which has no name, but it basically involves me jogging up and down the length of our apartment's main room while she gallops after me with a toy in her mouth and grunts like a warthog. When she's tuckered out, I walk away a bit winded and a bit happier for having said yes to making the time for play, even when I had thought I was too busy for it.
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97
5
9w
Miscellanea-mania
Snoopy in Fashion
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Oh, just top dog Snoopy and his alpha diva sister Belle turning it out and serving looks dressed in the height of fashion. Mugler, Versace, Miyake, Gaultier, Gucci, de la Renta, Chanel...need I go on? Yes, actual one-of-one outfits were made for Snoopy & Belle dolls by 80+ internationally acclaimed designers and their teams. Published in 1984 as a companion catalog for the Snoopy in Fashion touring exhibit showcasing these tiny haute couture garments, the book is very, very-OoP and will run you a cool 300 bones min. to get your paws on. Much like the ever-tenacious but forever-thwarted Charlie Brown trying to pitch a winning game or save his kite from disaster, I will continue waiting for that fine day where I chance upon a copy with an asking price that I can justify laying out the scratch for.
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4
2
10w
Miscellanea-mania
Inner Applause
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I saw this quote for the first time on the Lady Gaga subreddit (get it?) and it has been the source of a paradigm shift for me since. What a simple but empowering refresh of perspective. It's not a bunch of butterflies flapping about chaotically in there, it's your ever-loyal fan base rooting for you!
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3
11w
Miscellanea-mania
Snoopy's Reunion (1991)
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Argos, the Winter Lamb, Jackie the Eagle...how much more will we be expected to bear? Amid the stack of crises in front of us daily, one would hope we'd be spared the crisis of witnessing cute-ass animals in distress, but alas, not in this cold world. At the start of this weekend, I had to seek refuge in the form of the Peanuts TV special "Snoopy's Reunion." Despite my home more or less being a shrine to the famed beagle, I had not yet seen this feature, the premise of which is to reveal the very genesis of Snoopy and his siblings at Daisy Hill Farm. Turns out that the puppies like to occupy their time shredding shit up as a family bluegrass octet, jamming seemingly nonstop in the barn. I cursed myself when, minutes into the special, the pups at the farm grow increasingly distraught as they are taken one-by-one to their forever homes. Perhaps this was not the balm to soothe exposure to cute animal agony I so desperately sought. Snoopy is adopted by...a girl named Lila?..?? Ah, but we soon find out that the obvious slumlord managing Lila's apartment complex makes an abrupt reversal of the building's pet policy, and now Snoopy must be returned to the farm. Enter Charlie Brown. To my relief, we learn that all turns out for the best, and despite a blue Snoopy longing for his kin, the reunion promised in the feature's title restores happiness and suggests to us a truth about the strength of familial bonds both near and far. This is the First Family of my dreams:
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6
1
12w
Miscellanea-mania
NYRB Summer Sale Haul
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Book queue refresh thanks to the seasonal sale NY Review of Books had recently. Stacked on top of Jim Dodge’s Stone Junction, which I’m about to wrap up. I’ll gladly recommend that one to you. My word isn’t worth very much, but the fact Thomas Pynchon wrote the introduction for that novel certainly is. Speedboat, Renata Adler Transit, Anna Seghers The Rest Is Silence, Augusto Monterroso The Hive, Camilo José Cela The Stammering Century, Gilbert Seldes Really the Blues, Mezz Mezzrow
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2
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