PicoBlog

“This is clearly golf writing for the thinking observer interested in more than just the latest leaderboard update. I like the layout and the headlines make we want to binge-read. I'm more tempted to subscribe to the paid version of this than any other sport Substack so far - and will do so the moment I have any disposable income!” ncG1vNJzZmippZaxs7XLmqueqpGhe7TBwayrmpubY7CwuY4%3D

The legendary musician, Tina Turner, died this week at the age of 83, leaving behind a legacy defined by her unequivocal brilliance and influence. Beyoncé called her “the ultimate,” and “[m]y beloved queen.” This week’s TBL will look at Tina Turner’s place in rock & roll history … with a twist. RIP, Tina. If you like The Better Letter, please subscribe, share it, and forward it widely. Share The Better Letter

Ælfgif-who? provides short biographies of early medieval English women. Click on the podcast player if you’d like to hear this newsletter read aloud in my appealing Yorkshire accent. Long term Ælfgif-who? readers might remember Queen Bertha, a Christian woman who travelled from Francia to Kent in the late sixth century to marry a non-Christian king, Æthelberht. We explored the possibility that it was Bertha’s influence that led to the eventual conversion of the king and the people of Kent to Christianity.

Like many other elder millennials, my clearest memory of Pat Carroll–who died July 31, at the age of 95–was as Ursula, the villainous sea witch in Disney’s 1989 film The Little Mermaid. Even as a child, I knew there was something about this voluptuous villainess that called to me, though it would take me many more years to realize just what it was that made her so appealing (hint: it’s her queerness).

A few days ago, a handful of similar stories or anecdotes about technology came to my attention. While they came from different sectors and were of varying degrees of seriousness, they shared a common characteristic. In each case, there was either an expressed bewilderment or admission of obliviousness about the possibility that a given technology would be put to destructive or nefarious purposes. Naturally, I tweeted about it … like one does.

A news blog written in the tradition of pamphleteers to stir the citizenry toward a common good. (QSJ is a member of the Maine Press Association and published by The Quietside Journal, Mount Desert Island LLC. It is represented by Morgan Lewis & Bockius. No thanksncG1vNJzZmismJq%2BtLbOrqmnmZxjwLau0q2YnKNemLyuew%3D%3D

Arrakis is the most godforsaken shithole planet in the known universe. Its surface may be beautiful from above—endless desert sands of different textures and subtle changes of color, with scattered outcroppings of rock—but actually living there is close to impossible for outsiders and such an immense pain in the ass for even the native Fremen that their asceticism has developed into a kind of religion. It never rains on Arrakis, so the Fremen have designed the “stillsuit,” a form-fitting outfit that preserves and recycles the body’s moisture, filtering sweat and urine into the drinkable water that accumulates in “catchpockets.

Sarah Kane did not say this. I found this quote while trying to look up a quote I remembered from theater school, which I somehow associated with Sarah Kane. I had to stop for a second when I saw this. I know quotes get attributed to the wrong people all the time, but the wrongness of this overwhelmed me. If you don’t know who Sarah Kane is, I DO NOT recommend you go looking her up.

Reminder: I will be sending out a zoom link to the email addresses of all paid subscribers for Sunday evening’s discussion about the movie GETTYSBURG, which will take place at 7PM EST. Still time to upgrade if you would like to join us. Last week I shared a bit of writing from my current book project about Robert Gould Shaw, specifically about his views of the freedpeople along the sea coast islands of South Carolina and Georgia.