New Yorker Archives Now Fully Digitized

Fair warning: there goes the rest of your life. 

Parked Domain Girl

Those who, like me, frequented the early-21st-century Internet will instantly recognize this girl, who appeared daily seemingly at random.

From Know Your Meme: "Dead/Expired Domain Girl or eNom Girl refers to this stock photo of a girl with a backpack that achieved viral status after being used as a placeholder image for ads plastered on multiple squatted/parked domains from 2005 (?) to 2012."

More:

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Origin

On August 6, 2005, Dustin Steller uploaded a photo of his sister, Hannah Steller, to IStockPhoto. Demand Media Inc. bought the license for the stock photo and used the image as a placeholder for empty "squatted/parked" websites, placed alongside link ads. The goal of the websites was to earn ad revenues from accidental clicks and misspelled URLs.

Spread

The stock image attained viral status, as it was shown whenever you visited an incorrect URL or expired domain. On August 25, 2008, the now defunct website YouSuckAtWebsite.com posted the article "The Most Infamous Girl in the History of the Internet" in the hope of identifying the girl in the stock photo. Dustin Steller himself commented on the article and confirmed the her identity.

The stock image continued to be used on parked domains until 2012, when Enom, Inc., the domain registrar under Demand Media that managed its websites, decided to retire the backpack girl from future usage.

Swearing Makes You Stronger

A new paper published December 18, 2025 in American Psychologist is titled "Don't Hold Back": Swearing Improves Strength Through State Disinhibition."

It's not as if everyone didn't already know this: I mean, when you're having trouble opening a jar or package, it's natural to swear loudly at the recalcitrant object until it gives way.

So ignore all the tut-tutters and let 'er rip the next time you run up against a stubborn zipper or its ilk.

Know that the science backs you up.

Below, the abstract of the paper.

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Swearing, often dismissed as socially inappropriate, has been linked to increased physical performance. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. One proposed explanation is state disinhibition, a psychological state in which individuals are less likely to restrain their behavior. This study tested whether swearing enhances physical performance and whether that effect was mediated by psychological variables linked to state disinhibition. Two preregistered, repeated measures experiments (N = 88; N = 94) and an aggregated analysis including a prior preregistered study (total N = 300) examined the impact of repeating a self-selected swear word versus a neutral word on a chair push-up task. Experiments assessed potential mediators related to state disinhibition, including psychological flow, distraction, humor, and self-confidence. Both experiments replicated the swearing advantage, showing significant performance improvements in the swearing condition. Although mediation analyses varied across individual experiments, the aggregated analysis demonstrated that psychological flow, distraction, and self-confidence significantly mediated the swearing effect. These findings suggest that swearing promotes psychological states conducive to maximizing effort and overcoming internal constraints. These effects have potential implications for athletic performance, rehabilitation, and contexts requiring courage or assertiveness. As such, swearing may represent a low-cost, widely accessible psychological intervention to help individuals "not hold back" when peak performance is needed.

Mr. or Ms. Right: Is he/she out there? — Episode 2: The 37% Rule

I happened on the 37% rule many years ago, but Tim Harford's well-reasoned/intentioned advice to one Ruth of Barcelona, Spain — featured here yesterday — occasioned a trawl back down memory lane (to mix a metaphor), and dredged up a superb discussion by Dr. David K. Smith of the Mathematical Statistics and Operational Research Department of the University of Exeter (UK) of this deceptively simple yet enormously useful rule applicable to all areas of life.

Long explanation short, in the context of romance: "Look at a fraction 1/e of the potential partners before making your choice and you'll have a 1/e chance of finding the best one."

Translated into English and applied to the workplace: "Once you have seen 37% of the application forms, a coherent picture of the ideal employee is built up and the next person to fulfill these criteria gets the job."

According to Smith, "Building models like this gives interesting results, but you don't know, at the age of zero, how many potential partners you are likely to meet in your lifetime. Dr. Peter Todd turned the problem around. Instead of trying to estimate the number of potential partners one could consider, he put forward a rule which would work for most people. He suggested that a typical person should count up to about a dozen potential partners, and then start hunting seriously. The first dozen would give enough information for a reasonable choice."

Now close the deal and live happily ever after.

'Magpie'

Lately (the past few years) I'm increasingly watching movies on Netflix or Amazon etc. that I know I've seen before — the thing is, I don't remember much about what they were about and so it's a strange experience viewing them again yet not having a clue what happens next.

It's not bothersome, this memory FAIL, not even annoying, just interesting.

Long story short: I watched "Magpie" the other night.

When I saw the listing on Netflix I instantly remembered Daisy Ridley with super-short hair but nothing else.

So I watched it again: it was great, and as I noted about my zero recall of what happens next let me enjoy as much the second time around as the first. 

I came out last in October of last year so duh I must've seen it since then.

What a great actor is Daisy Ridley.

Highly recommended.

Useful Mnemonics

For me it's not even close:

"30 days hath September, April June and November"

I invoke this handy aide d'memoire at least once a week when referring to dates past, present, and future, and have ever since I was a kid.

Others in my commonly referred to list:  

I V X L C D M — Just stop whatever you're doing and memorize this. Roman numerals made simple: 

1 5 10 50 100 500 1000 . 

Now you'll be able to translate inscriptions on buildings etc. wherever in the world you find yourself. It can be fun at parties to show and tell people their ages in Roman numerals.

"Red sky at night, sailors delight; red sky at morning, sailors take warning." I've followed up on this over the years and it's quite accurate.

ROY G. BIV — I think it was in elementary school that a teacher told us to memorize this name so we could quickly recall the colors of the rainbow in order, short to long wavelengths.

HOMES — the Great Lakes made easy: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior

Extreme Beachcombing — 'Mankind's trash is one man's treasure'

 

YouTube description:

"'Extreme Beachcombing' is an intimate portrait of retired plumber John Anderson and his 46-year-obsession with collecting manmade objects that wash up on the obscure beaches of the Pacific Northwest. Narrated entirely by John himself, this poetic and philosophical documentary short includes images, items, and stories from his one-of-a-kind Beachcombing Museum in Forks, Washington, culminating in a raw firsthand look at what he calls 'extreme beachcombing.'"

Holotypic Occlupanid Research Group

"Dedicated to the study of plastic bread bag clips."

Fair warning: there goes the day.

Wait a sec — what's that great 70s group whose music I'm hearing?

"I'm looking for 'the one' — is he out there?"

Tim Harford, author of "The Undercover Economist" and a number of other books, responded as follows in his "Dear Economist" Financial Times column.

Q. I'm looking for "the one." Is he out there?

Yours,

Ruth, Barcelona

A. Dear Ruth,

It might help if we understand which elements of marriage are common to many potential husbands, and which are unique to "the one."

First, marriage offers economies of scale in production, particularly production of children. Husband and wife can each specialize in different skills, according to their comparative advantage. I fail to see why you cannot realize these economies of scale with almost anyone. Second, there are economies of scale in consumption. One garden will do, so will one kitchen.

The real question, then, is whether you can stand the person you marry enough to enjoy these efficiencies. Here, economics had little to say until a recent breakthrough by the economists Michele Belot and Marco Francesconi. They examined data from a speed-dating company, and discovered, unsurprisingly, that women like tall, rich, well-educated men. Men like slim, educated women who do not smoke.

The more intriguing finding emerged when pickings were scarce. Women "ticked" about 10 per cent of men as worthy of further investigation, regardless of the quality of a particular crop. If the men were short and poor, then the women lowered their standards, and still picked 10 per cent. The men, too, abandoned unrealistic ambitions. They "ticked" about a quarter of the women, regardless of quality. This happened even though each could have a complimentary speed date another time if he or she found no one they liked.

My conclusion: even when there is little to be lost from maintaining standards, people are very quick to lower them. My advice: do likewise.

Is the Stendhal syndrome a fiction?

Richard A. Friedman, M.D., in a provocative piece that appeared in the New York Times, suggested just that; his essay follows.

Shoulder-to-Shoulder Swooning

We humans take our art very seriously. How else to explain the throngs who will brave the foulest weather just to stand three or more deep to glimpse the latest blockbuster exhibition?

Not that I'm above the fray. This winter, armed with a friend's museum pass, I rushed off to take in the Holbein show at Tate Britain in London.

At first, things looked promising; for about half an hour I actually got to see Holbein's arresting portraits. Soon, however, I found myself in the museum equivalent of a scrimmage, elbowing my way through the crowd to a corner where I could get a view of some art — instead of the back of some museum visitor's head.

This brought a few minutes of one-on-one with Jane Seymour, one of Henry VIII's luckier wives who escaped the ax. But soon the room was packed; I decided to call it quits and do the only sensible thing I could: study the crowd.

There was a lot of hushed talk of Holbein's genius and the horror of Henry VIII's cruelty. But the prize had to go to a cheeky young boy, probably 10 or 11, who, after listening attentively to his well-educated father explaining that Anne Boleyn had been beheaded, remarked casually, "Well, she probably deserved it." Apparently, he didn't like her portrait.

Clearly, there were some patrons who were more acutely aware of their aching backs and empty stomachs than the paintings and who were busy with lunch plans as they breezed past the art.

Just when I thought I'd taken in the crowd, I noticed a young woman who was seated on one of the strategically placed couches, looking somewhat flushed. "It's just too much to take in," she sighed to her friend. "I'm exhausted."

Being a physician — and a psychiatrist at that — I quietly sat down next to her, pretending to gaze at a few more portraits. She had apparently been stricken with an attack of lightheadedness halfway through the exhibition. At first I thought she'd either had a panic attack or had forgotten to eat breakfast when I realized the true nature of her malady: it had to be a case of Stendhal syndrome!

Named after the French writer who was overwhelmed with feeling at the sight of art during his 1817 trip to Florence, the so-called illness is characterized by symptoms like disorientation, palpitations, faintness and confusion.

Stendhal himself described "ecstasy" and "celestial sensations" when face to face with the frescoes in Florence's Church of Santa Croce.

Fittingly, the syndrome was first named and described by the Italian psychiatrist Graziella Magherini, who made the diagnosis in more than 100 tourists and visitors to Florence. In one survey, Dr. Magherini found that 56 percent of the patients stricken with Stendhal syndrome had a known prior psychiatric history.

Just as I suspected: the majority of those with the putative syndrome had mental problems in the first place. This all makes me wonder if there isn't a simpler explanation. After all, is it any surprise that some people feel queasy or even disoriented in the sea of bodies that regularly fill our temples of art? Why blame beauty when it might be nothing more than a reaction in certain psychologically vulnerable people to being packed like sardines in an unfamiliar place?

To take an extreme example, remember the sculpture of the curly-haired youth that sat unnoticed in the lobby of the French Embassy for nearly a century until, in 1996, several art historians suggested it might actually be a Michelangelo?

What do you think people would do if they saw the very same sculpture sitting in a museum in Italy, properly labeled, and surrounded by a tightly packed crowd? That's right. They'd be swooning.

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More on the Stendhal syndrome here.

The 1996 movie (top), directed by Dario Argento and starring his daughter Asia, offers another perspective.

How Reese's Peanut Butter Cups Are Made

Best while enjoying a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup — or two — IRL.

"Reese’s purposely over-roasts their peanuts just enough to bring out a bold nutty flavor. That extra heat is what gives their peanut butter its signature granular texture and taste. This technique was discovered by accident, thanks to a faulty overheating roaster in H.B. Reese's original factory. What could have been a ruined batch turned out to be the signature flavor still used today."

Freakpages — 'The Directory of Esoteric Knowledge'

"Freakpages is a community-curated directory of esoteric articles across the internet, primarily from Wikipedia. Here, we encourage you to learn about interesting topics you have never heard of. Enjoy your stay, and please consider voting for or suggesting pages you find interesting, or sharing Freakpages with others who might enjoy it too!"

AutoMondrian — 'Mid-century Modern for the Masses'

Bruce Ediger created this entertaining page designed to help you waste what's left of your day.

He wrote: "I saw a Mondrianizer in the functional language F#. This offended me on aesthetic grounds, in that a functional program should not generate 'random' images. Additionally, only Windows users can make any further use of that Mondrianizer. That offended me on ideological grounds."

"Acting on my aesthetic sensibilities, I churned out a Mondrian-like picture generator using a dodgy, open source, imperative language, PHP. The very sketchiness that PHP is famous for can be used to great effect in generating 'surprising' images. Now you too can have Art — and generate Art. If you have a PHP-enabled website, put automondrian.phps (PHP that generates the page you're now reading) and mond.phps (which generated the image above) in your htdocs directory, removing the s suffix."

Is your Casio F-91W a fake?

 

You wouldn't think anyone would bother faking a watch that costs $19.70 but you would be wrong.

Spend some time here and have your eyes opened and your horizon broadened.

If you're not completely satisfied with your time on that page let me know and I will cheerfully refund three (3) times what you paid for your fake Casio watch.

Gallery of Book Covers 1900s-1960s

Features over 45,000 images uploaded by Ivan Chekhov since 2014.

Fair warning: there goes the day.

Restoring Rothko

Mark Rothko's painting, Black on Maroon (1958), was defaced with a black graffiti marker in 2012.

"Restoring Rothko" is a 17-minute YouTube documentary that shows how the expert restoration team at the Tate Gallery in London tested solvents and cleaning methods for nine months to find the optimal cleaning strategy for removing the ink while preserving Black on Maroon's delicate paint layers.

Rachel Barker, lead restorer, spent nine more months painstakingly removing the surface ink and carefully touching up the painting's surface with oil paints.

Oba-Q (Ghost) Lamp — Shiro Kuramata

Said to have been inspired by the folds of a dropped handkerchief.

Hand-cast acrylic, 23.03"H x 27.55"W x 27.55"D, First edition, 1972.

$3,000.

The Power of Doing Nothing

It cannot be overstated.

When I receive something in the mail that makes me uneasy, unhappy, or otherwise feel out of sorts, my response is always the same after the initial wave of alarm, anxiety et al: I put the letter away, not to be dealt with until the next day.

No matter how bad the content, it's never as powerful and upsetting the next morning.

It's as if the potential emotional hit to my psyche somehow loses some of its impact and punch overnight, the way flowers start to fade from the moment they're cut.

"Anxiety is interest paid on a balance that may never come due."

I don't recall the source but there's truth in that 12-word epigram.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

'An Indirect Animal' — E.M. Cioran

All men have the same defect: they wait to live, for they have not the courage of each instant. Why not invest enough passion in each moment to make it an eternity? We all learn to live only when we no longer have anything to expect, because we do not live in the living present but in a vague and distant future. We should not wait for anything except the immediate promptings of the moment. We should wait without the consciousness of time. There's no salvation without the immediate. But man is a being who no longer knows the immediate. He is an indirect animal.

'Gesundheit'