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cyanobacteria

“At some point in the first billion years of life, cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, learned to tap into a freely available resource—the hydrogen that exists in spectacular abundance in water. They absorbed water molecules, supped on the hydrogen, and released the oxygen as waste, and in so doing invented photosynthesis. . . . [P]hotosynthesis . . . was invented not by plants but by bacteria.”

—Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, 2003.

Chromosomes

“Chromosomes had been discovered by chance in 1888 and were so called because they readily absorbed dye and thus were easy to see under the microscope.”

—Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, 2003.

the lovely Carolina parakeet

“Take the case of the lovely Carolina parakeet. Emerald green, with a golden head, it was arguably the most striking and beautiful bird ever to live in North America. . . .
    By the second decade of the twentieth century, the birds had been so relentlessly hunted that only a few remained alive in captivity. The last one, named Inca, died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1918 . . . and was reverently stuffed. And where would you go to see poor Inca now? Nobody knows. The zoo lost it.”

—Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, 2003.

She sells seashells

“She sells seashells on the seashore
The shells she sells are seashells, I’m sure
So if she sells seashells on the seashore
Then I’m sure she sells seashore shells.”

The Man With The Sky Blue Eyes

“His eyes were an improbably vivid sky blue, not made for looking outward but for steeping themselves in the cerulean essence of dreams. . . .

The man with the sky blue eyes invites everyone to keep on working, fabricating, jointly creating: we are all of us dreamers by nature, after all, brothers under the sign of the trowel, destined to be master builders.”

—Bruno Schulz, “The Republic of Dreams”, The Street of Crocodiles and Other Stories, 1934; translated by Celina Wieniewska.

A night in July!

“A night in July! What can be likened to it? How can one describe it? Shall I compare it to the core of an enormous black rose, covering us with the dreams of hundreds of velvety petals? The night winds blow open its fluffy center, and in its scented depth we can see the stars looking down on us.”

—Bruno Schulz, “The Street of Crocodiles”, The Street of Crocodiles and Other Stories, 1934; translated by Celina Wieniewska.

Alphabet Updated With 15 Exciting New Replacement Letters

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What Type Are You?

The password is “character”.

Crocoite

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a dangerous, frivolous element

“Only a sheaf of peacock’s feathers standing in a vase on a chest of drawers did not submit to regimentation. These feathers were a dangerous, frivolous element, hiding rebelliousness, like a class of naughty schoolgirls who are quiet and composed in appearance, but full of mischief when no longer watched. The eyes of those feathers never stopped staring; they made holes in the walls, winking, fluttering their eyelashes, smiling to one another, giggling and full of mirth. They filled the room with whispers and chatter; they scattered like butterflies around the many-armed lamps; like a motley crowd they pushed against the matted elderly mirrors, unused to such bustle and gaiety; they peeped through the keyholes.”
—Bruno Schulz, “The Street of Crocodiles”, The Street of Crocodiles and Other Stories, 1934; translated by Celina Wieniewska.
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