Curiosity Pill #30
On Christmas trees, books about the sea, toys, New Zealand and chance
Why do we have Christmas trees? The surprising history behind this holiday tradition
What is more necessary this week, than a journey through the history of the Christmas tree around the world, from the North to the South Pole; from the Christmas boats of Greece to the plundering of the Christmas tree in Sweden to the New Year tree in Russia to the scrap metal threes of Antarctica and the pooping log of Catalonia:”One tree-adjacent tradition is Catalonia’s Tió de Nadal, a hollow log with a painted face that families bring into their homes in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Children are expected to care for the Tió de Nadal by wrapping it in a blanket and leaving food and water out at night. Then on Christmas Day, they beat the log with sticks to make it defecate presents and treats from a hole in its rear end.”
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/2020/12/christmas-tree-customs/
Five Great Books About the Sea
Want to trade the sleigh for the boat this holiday season? Then hop on aboard the reading recommendations made by the brilliant Lamorna Ash in conversation with her own book, Dark, Salt, Clear. ”I am pretty much always fixed in an ocean reverie, that’s for sure. During the first lockdown, I spent a lot of my time on Google Maps’ street view, wandering up and down Newlyn’s Sea Road, wishing I could be there. If we extend the meaning of “ocean reverie” to any kind of nostalgic looking outwards, beyond one’s present circumstances, then I’m sure more people than ever are fixed in some sort of “ocean reverie” right now. It just so happens that the sea is an especially good medium to fix your desires upon, it being so vast, so filled with meanings.”
https://bookmarks.reviews/five-great-books-about-the-sea/
The Greatest Toys Since 1900, part 1
In honour of former Christmas wishlist champions, journey through iconic toys from the first half of the 20th century like: Raggedy Ann, the Radio flyer, the Green army men, the slinky, Legos and the Teddy Bear: “ Roosevelt had legends spring up around him everywhere he went. One in particular came out in a story where Roosevelt refused to allow a tethered bear to be shot during a hunt. The story morphed through various iterations, including one where he protected a bear cub. Morris Michtom saw an editorial cartoon depicting that story and hit upon the idea of selling stuffed bears named after the president. After sending him one and asking for permission to use his name, Michtom dubbed the new toy “the Teddy Bear.””
https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2020/12/the-greatest-toys-since-1900-part-1/
Selling New Zealand: The Railroad Posters That Made a Nation Want To See Their World
On the history and importance of the railway and advertisements for the early years of New Zealand. The British colonizers tried to replicate the railway heaven of their native lands and enforced the touristic value of the country through breath-taking posters. ”Today, alas, those of us not fortunate enough to live in New Zealand don’t often think of it as a land of railways. For most of us, it is far more familiar as the cinematic home of the hobbits, elves, and orcs who inhabit Middle Earth. For a select few 21st-century pākehā, billionaires who appear to be “prepper native,” it has lately become a place to build a bunker by the shores of the very same Lake Wanaka that was painted by Holmwood in order to wait out the apocalypse, whether it’s caused by climate change, an unprecedented finance crisis, or a virus that makes our global struggles with COVID-19 look like the good old days. So far, New Zealand has not had to sell itself to such well-healed settlers, but one can only imagine what the artists of Railways Studios would have done with that assignment.”
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/selling-new-zealand/
The Power of Chance in Shaping Life and Evolution
A great review of the book Series of Fortunate Events by Sean B Carroll which looks into the lottery winning odds we overcame in order to get here, alive, reading this email. “The slings and arrows continued post-asteroid; organisms continued to evolve, their destinies shaped by genes, environment, and natural selection. Carroll explains in some detail how Darwin’s theory took shape, and how it challenged the prevailing worldview in which different species were assumed to be created individually by God. In this new picture, there is no guiding hand; events simply unfold according to the laws of nature. Carroll sums it up: “Look around you at all the beauty, complexity, and variety of life. We live in a world of mistakes, governed by chance.””
https://undark.org/2020/12/11/book-review-a-series-of-fortunate-events/
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This week I want to feature a fellow Internet randomness enthusiast, David, and his most curious newsletter ‘The Land of Random’. Some features included in the latest editions: the awkward return of Myspace, wearing digital clothes, a selfie museum and the rise of glassmorphism. If any of these topics sparked your interest, I highly recommend subscribing to The Land of Random, and become a fellow citizen.
https://thelandofrandom.substack.com/subscribe
Video Pill
Is Success Luck or Hard Work?
DARCONVILLE'S CAT by Alexander Theroux
The Gameshows To Get You Through Self-Isolation
It's Time You Knew About Kabaddi: The Ancient Game That's Gone Pro
Extraordinary Until Proven Otherwise
Podcast Pill
Board games: The politics of play, podcast: The Cultural Frontline
How do board games encourage players to explore ideas, politics and morals? We meet Matt Leacock, designer of the game Pandemic, which has been used at medical schools to encourage co-operation, communication and strategy for trainees. Reiner Knizia, designer of 700 board games, talks about how making a game out of tasks can change players' behaviour in daily life.
https://player.fm/series/the-cultural-frontline-1301471/board-games-the-politics-of-play
A Generous History of Secret Santa, podcast: Letme Google that
The tradition has worldwide appeal, but there's actually one generous dude who was *the* Secret Santa.
https://player.fm/series/let-me-google-that/a-generous-history-of-secret-santa
Design Pill
‘Winter Sunshine at Nether-Alderley’ from the Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar
Poetic Pill
Revisions by Sridala Swami
“Before the poet was a poet
nothing was reworked:
not the smudge of ink on twelve sets of clothes
not the fearsome top berth on the train
not a room full of boxes and dull windows
not the cat that left its kittens and afterbirth in a pair of jeans
not doubt.
Before the poet was a poet
everything had a place:
six years were six years …………parallel lines followed rules
like obedient children
[the Dewey Decimal System]
…………………………………….………..homes remained where they’d
been left.
Before the poet was a poet
many things went unseen:
clouds sometimes wheedled a ray out of the sun| parents kept photographs under
their pillows| letters never said everything they wanted to| lectures were interrupted
by a commotion of leaves| ………… | every step was upon a blind spot.“
Underground Pill
Facade Records - Bazooka
“I'm 'bout that wave in the sea salt, balance like a seesaw
Don't be involved 'cause we can see y'all frequency's off
'Cause life's a bitch and I'm so deep, I fell asleep in the sauce
How y'all be lying through your teeth, ain't got no reason to floss
Let you keep the foreign, I be sliding in somethin' with no computer in it
Even if apocalypse hit, niggas could maneuver in it
All my life is classically scripted, you just a movie critic“
Dictionary Pill
peat = fuel consisting of spongy material formed by the partial decomposition of organic matter, primarily plant material, in wetlands such as swamps, muskegs, bogs, fens, and moors
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