Welcome to the third edition of Ephemerata, a weekly-ish digest of links, ideas, learnings, and sounds that I think are worth sharing.

I’m doing this to stimulate discussion around what I find interesting and also to share things before they disappear into the void of my journal.

HUMANITY

Short pithy contemplation of the week:

Fools don’t trust mirrors.

A short anecdote about why this Cohen was supposed to be a Katz, related to why one father from Gaza recently traded his children.

Trevor Noah mixes funny with serious talking about Israel-Palestine:

[Religion has never calmed down a situation when there’s a clash]

[Israel has a giant Mutombo in the sky knocking down rockets]

[What responsibility comes with power?]

India’s Golden Temple community kitchen has been feeding 100,000 people per day since the 1500s. The video describes quantities, costs, routines, division of labour involved in preparing massive batches of rice, potatoes, lentils, bread, tea and desert. (via @grey)

Beau of the Fifth Column talks about burning out from helping those in need.

Christopher Butler’s Think About the Future’s Past reflects on our relationship with time—on how we connect our current self to a potential self:

Our selves inhabit a world like that not as a contained body moving through space, but more like a worm whose dimensions are defined by time. Our posterior, the past; our middle, the present; our head, the future. His turn of phrase, “the long self,” is, as it turns out, quite literal.

LANGUAGE

At some Istanbul/Greek weddings, guests receive a dish known as “f***-off pilav” when the hosts want them to leave. Reminds me of the Brazilian practice/superstition of leaving a broom behind the door to tell guests you don’t want them around now.

Folha de S.Paulo showcases various Portuguese accents from Brazil and beyond.

Zé Felici made a Brazilian Portuguese IPA chart based on the popular English version. (via Dani)

In the search for the previous chart, I stumbled upon a fascinating infographic visualizing variations of slang interjections with religious origin. The way the words morph might be particular to Brazilian, but I wonder if similar transformations exist in Québec French. Est-ce qu’il y a un.e québecois.e sur la liste avec un indice?

An Egyptian sign language course given in Masri. (via @Stoori@polyglot.city)

TECHNOLOGY

Stephen Diehl details how cryptocurrency scales ransomware to new heights.

Means TV describes itself as “the world’s first worker-owned, post-capitalist streaming service.”.

How people used to connect to the Internet: using a rotary dial phone and shoving the handset into a modem.

LAUGH

Comedian Drew Morgan shares his hilarious theory about how slavery in the United States led to the southern accent.

Mondo Mascots documents prolific creativity in Japanese mascots.

MUSIC

All the following items can be accessed as a one-click playlist.

Tariq Harb plays Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 on guitar—a challenge translating this piece from organ keyboard to six strings. Classical music on this instrument is one of the most sublime things.

This funk carioca body-shaker blasting at home signalled my friend’s long-awaited scheduling of a COVID vaccine. I dig the music, and it has gotten over a billion views, but the video hurts your eyes. Featuring samples of Bach’s Flute Partita in A minor.

I’ve never seen such fiery dance choreography by someone in a wheelchair. (via Romain)

Three tracks in a row from Bandcamp Weekly #450 stopped me. Jaubi’s mix of jazz, raga, and rock, Yellow Spoon’s minute-long drum amen break escapade, and Athletic Progression’s high-energy vortex non-stop fire drumming.

If you liked the pygmy hockets from last week, check out Meara O’Reilly’s Hockets for Two Voices. In these exquisite duets with herself, she manages to create a diversity of moods using only the sound of her own voice.

Lovely Latin jazz with congas and cowbells from Cal Tjader’s Complete Concert By The Sea.

I always love receiving music. Send me recommendations anytime, anywhere!

That’s all folks!

Feel free to reply and share any reflections you might have.

If you enjoyed this, please consider sharing on Twitter or WhatsApp or Email.