Posts by author
Paul Collins
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Making Out in the Back of Horseless Carriages!
Teen hysteria, courtesy of the February 14, 1925 issue of the New York Evening Journal:
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Whatever Entrepreneurs Can Dream Up…
…con-men have thought of first. Wandering through Old Bailey records, I found an 1889 investor scam worthy of a dot-com:
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A little bit of film history
Via Daily Dish, an amazing hand-tinted 1899 Lumiere film of a Serpentine dance.
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Stop Making Sense
An odd ‘un in the Guardian about a new study in this month’s Psychological Science:
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The Blooburds uv my Hart
The Times carries an obituary to spelling reformer Ed Rondthaler, who passed away at age 104. He’s the man I described in a Believer piece last year as the last living link to the movement’s Edwardian zenith. From his obituary:
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Dogfishing
Those of you with long memories may recall the Monkeyfishing hoax of 2001 in Slate. This was a piece by Jay Forman which revealed the existence of a illicit sport on an island of former medical research monkeys in the…
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Coffee and Cigarettes
One unexpected Wayback Machine trip produced by Google Books: it appears that all of New York magazine is available in full text, something that produces such charming finds as this pre-Starbucks cover story from June 27, 1977:
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Little House on the Amazon
Galley Cat notes speculation on a patent filed by Amazon for a small building design. (The patent’s here…) The Street weighs in with that claim that “If, indeed, Amazon were to embark on retail locations, analysts think it would only…
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We Inspire Complete Coincidences
Amazon, last seen on Slate not answering questions about corporate philanthropy, now has a new web page up—complete with an application form for “nonprofit author and publisher groups that share our obsession with fostering the creation, discussion, publication, and dissemination…
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Action Cook Book
Len Deighton’s Action Cook Book—the long-lost 1965 gem by (yes) the airport-novel writer, which I pressed upon the public a few years ago in the Village Voice and on NPR —has been reissued! Well, reissued in Britain, but still. Pay…