"In 1832, a student named Jonathan Pearson wrote in his diary that the city was 'only fit for hogs and Dutchmen' and complained: 'Why are the ways and walks never cleaned? Why never repaired? Oh, what a world of filth.'"

New York Times article on town-gown relations in Schenectady, NY

"Knit on with confidence and hope, through all crises."

Elizabeth Zimmerman, master knitter

"One wonders where our nation would be if we all bailed out of imperfect institutions."

letter to the Editor of the New York Times on Evan Bayh's retirement

"Ducks are mean."

Slate's Brow Beat Blog's How I Met Your Mother Shame Index

"...pink has a decidedly masculine, even butch side: At different points in history, for different countries, it has served as the color of imperialism, speed, and strength in many forms."

Slate slideshow essay on the color pink

I was the daughter of a clergyman
a suffragette
a teacher
a Girl Guides’ leader
interested
in nursing
books and horseback riding
a religious idealist

I loved an artist
left with him
lived through 4 wars
worked hard
for the meatballs of life
gave birth to 3 wonderful
fantastic children
so this really
hasn’t been
too bad.

Ham

poem in the style of the Spoon River Anthology by Signe Hammarsten-Jansson, mother of Tove Jansson

"After running out of more creative ideas for my presentation, I ended up choosing Finland's largest mattress manufacturer, Unituli Oy, as my topic."

from a student email

"Barney. Doogie. Average names elude me."

Six word memoir by Neil Patrick Harris

"It started with, 'How do we give the visitor a big hug in each room?'" said Magnus Danielsson, president of Touring Exhibitions, the company behind ABBAWORLD. "This is going to be more like going to 'Mamma Mia!' than going to an exhibition. We want people to sing and dance."

AP article on the opening of ABBA World in London

"Ratio of Finns to saunas in Finland: 4:1 " January 1991

"Number of people per sauna in Finland: 2.5" November 2003

Harper's Index

"Chances that an American thinks the United States has a “mainly positive influence” on the world: 2 in 3

Chances that a Russian thinks that Russia does: 4 in 5"

Harper's Index May 2007

"One thing at a time. Most important thing first. Start now."

Lifehacker post

"Vi är en natt med en tyst minut,
en turkisk film med lycklig slut."

"We are a night with a silent minute,
a Turkish film with a happy ending."

from Undantag (Exception) by Bo Kaspers Orkester

"To counter boredom, online language programs have introduced crossword puzzles, interactive videos and other games to reward users for making progress."

NYTimes article on Rosetta Stone and other computer-based language learning products