Geeksouts — Page 5
TIL a new word: sycophant.
sycophant
noun
: a servile self-seeking flatterer : one who praises those in power in order to gain their approval
a fawning sycophant
TIL a new word: gesundheit.
gesundheit
interjection
Said to someone who has just sneezed.
Currently watching: Widow’s Bay 📺
Widow's Bay is one of those shows where the haunted lore feels lived-in because it basically is.
Creator Katie Dippold spent nearly 20 years building this world, pulling from Stephen King's small-town New England atmosphere, John Carpenter's The Fog, and the DNA of Jaws — a stubborn mayor refusing to believe his island is in danger while everything around him says otherwise. She even tapped Hiro Murai, the director behind Atlanta's unforgettable "Teddy Perkins" episode, to helm half the series. If anyone knows how to make something funny and deeply unsettling at the same time, it's him.
I went to Yellowstone in 2019. It’s such a beautiful place, and I’ve been inside that inn. It’s stunning inside and out — truly a treasure.
Why Yellowstone’s Old Faithful Inn Remains a National Treasure
TIL a new word: untenable.
untenable
adjective
: not able to be defended
an untenable position
adjective
: not able to be occupied
untenable apartments
Haiti declared independence in 1804 — the first nation founded by people who freed themselves from slavery.
The world’s response was not celebration. France demanded a massive indemnity. The US was the last country in the Atlantic world to recognize Haiti’s independence. They waited 58 years.
Frederick Douglass called Haiti
“bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh.”
Same revolution. Same hunger. Same stakes.
Two hundred years later, Haiti has no stable government. Gangs control the streets. And still, Haiti fights to simply be free.
Being stranded on a ship in the ocean like that, with all the uncertainty about what is happening, is frightening. I would be scared, too.
“What’s happening right now is very real for all of us here. We’re not just a story. We’re not just headlines." — travel vlogger Jake Rosmarin
TIL a new word: han*ta*vi*rus.
han*ta*vi*rus
noun
: any of a family (Hantaviridae and especially genus Orthohantavirus) of bunyaviruses transmitted especially by rodent feces and urine and including viruses causing serious pulmonary disease or hemorrhagic fevers marked by renal necrosis
via CNN
Want to read: Radiant Star by Ann Leckie 📚
The planet Aaa has lost its star, forcing its population to live underground. The underground city is quite an inward-looking backwater, and its central focus is a rather arcane religious site called the Temporal Location of the Radiant Star. The site is home to many “saints”, who may or may not just be dead bodies. Outside the Temporal Location, the city is a very political place. The locals are fractious, and oddly reliant on onions (which becomes important later).
What ever happened to it? No way out? Hmm.
On my watchlist: The End of Oak Street 🍿
Check the trailer: