Surreal and devastating story about an IVF mixup. (NYTM gift link.)

Fantastic info and accompanying video footage of a Robin and their chicks.

Anecdote Alert

One morning, while hiking with my dog, I crossed Parkside Drive to enter Toronto's High Park when something in the sky drew my attention. It was a bird, but it wasn't flying; it was falling, and it hit the ground, hard. It was a Robin, choking on a worm.

I scooped it from the road before a car could squish it and I slowly pulled the worm from its throat. I waited while the bird lay motionless on its side. A few seconds passed and it regained consciousness, slightly stunned. It looked at me and I at it and we sat there for a moment, both of us thinking: Well, that was something!

The bird started to hop but seemed reluctant to fly. It took cover in some brush and stood there, looking at me. I picked up the worm and laid it near the bird, waiting to see if it would eat it again, but it didn't. It just stayed there, blinking. I imagined it was experiencing satori.

I rose, and Shakedown and I continued our walk.

That was four years ago, but I think of that bird every day because I pass that same stretch of road daily.

I like birds. I've always liked them. There is a Heron that watches over me called Gilgan that I've seen in six countries in one form or another. One day, I'll have a her tattoo'd on the top of my left hand. Two years ago, I swiped right on a Tinder profile because of a woman named Wren. It was a small movement, but one of the most impactful in my life, for we became great friends. Before meeting her, the word Wren summoned Auguries of Innocence, which I always incorrectly recall as "He who'd harm the little Wren / Can never be a friend of men."

Of course, the poem also mentions the robin:

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower 
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand 
And Eternity in an hour
A Robin Red breast in a Cage
Puts all Heaven in a Rage 
...

My other associations with the bird are Leonard Cohen (I can't keep track of each fallen robin), and this:

Do robins walk or hop?

This is a question from the smash-hit 80s board game Trivial Pursuit. My family played it often and one time this was the winning question for me. I concentrated as best I could, trying to decide. I'd seen plenty of robins, but I have minor aphantasia, meaning I cannot create moving pictures in my mind's eye. Think! How do robins move?

The sand in the timer was running out, so I figured I'd just guess and have a 50/50 chance of winning.

"Hop," I said.

My stepbrother-in-law, who was a monster of a man, was delighted to tell me I'd got it wrong. He showed me the card. The answer was Yes.

Frank Moth is an Artist duo based in Veria, Greece. "They explore universal concepts of love, humility, truth, nostalgia and forgiveness in colorful, surreal floral portraits and futuristic retro compositions." Much of it is fantastic, in both senses of the word.

Linotype.Wiki is exactly what you'd expect: info on typesetting machines. I love niche things like this.

Someone has made a single-serving site called No Hello explaining how you should not say Hello when texting.

As someone who runs a business that relies on text messages, Please, just ask your question!

I found this story rather interesting. In the 80s, gangs of vandals were paid by an upholstery company to slash the seats on BART (San Francisco's rapid transit). The vandals had signature slashes so the company knew who to pay. This went on for years, with the contract price growing every year.

The little-told story about the BART seat-slashing gang that was part of an upholstery racket

Here’s the outlandish story of how a BART contractor was arrested on felony vandalism and…

SFGATEDianne de Guzman

I assume this was done with AI: Led Zeppelin II as if it was recorded in the 50s:

The channel that posted it also has some Rainbow and Kiss related stuff.

I love random facts. For instance:

Robert Duvall, Dustin Hoffman, and Gene Hackman were roommates while trying to make it as actors.

Martin Scorsese and Robbie Robertson were also roommates — after they'd found success. They just liked each other.

The Nike Swoosh logo was created by a student. She was paid $35 for her work.

John Cazale was only in five feature films: The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Deer Hunter, Dog Day Afternoon, and The Conversation. Every one of them was nominated for best picture.

In some tropical countries, people put coasters on top of their drinks to prevent wall-climbing lizards from pooping in them from the ceiling.

The shark in Jaws was named Bruce. It was named after Spielberg's lawyer.

There is no such thing as a Gin Martini. There is a Martini, which is made with gin, and a Vodka Martini, which isn't.

Robert Forster was a pallbearer for Fred Otash.

Those random facts are all off the top of my head. Many more random facts can be found with The Amazing Fact Generator.

Just about 20 years ago I proposed the idea of having children with the woman I loved. She had career objectives that didn't jibe with that and eventually we broke up. It was heartbreaking for me at the time, but today I am relieved to not have children. The political climate is dreadful, yes, but the climate climate is so much worse.

Capitalism is driving the destruction of our planet. We have to think outside – and against – the framework of our current political system.

From Sally Rooney's piece in The Irish Times, When Are We Going to Have the Courage to Stop the Climate Crisis.

"Over almost a decade, Guillaume Simoneau has documented high school students from Lévis, Quebec, on graduation night, resulting in a series of formally posed portraits that belie the emotional and alcohol-fuelled chaos of the actual “bush party” event."

More on Simoneau's site.

I first saw Guillaume Simoneau's work yesterday: Untitled (Kanazawa 02), Ishikawa prefecture, Japan at the Bulger Gallery in Toronto. Stunning piece, which you can see below.