shel

The Transsexual Chofetz Chaim

Mutant, librarian, poet, union rabble rouser, dog, Ashkenazi Jewish. Neuroweird, bodyweird, mostly sleepy.


I write about transformative justice, community, love, Judaism, Neurodivergence, mental health, Disability, geography, rivers, labor, and libraries; through poetry, opinionated essays, and short fiction.


I review Schoolhouse Rock! songs at @PropagandaRock


Website (RSS + Newsletter)
shelraphen.com/

serpentstair
@serpentstair

the wikipedia page for door is one of my favorite pieces of writing in the world.


serpentstair
@serpentstair

the detail of the opening section, where the function of a door is described, is wonderful in itself. "A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide security by controlling access to the doorway (portal).... Doors are generally made of a material suited to the door's task." it's followed by a truly in depth history of doors. "A 5,000-year-old door has been found by archaeologists in Switzerland." "The Greek scholar Heron of Alexandria created the earliest known automatic door in the first century AD during the era of Roman Egypt." the article extols the beauty of specific doors. this is capped by a 27-photo short visual history of doors. all of the photos are beautiful.

the article continues and continues. sentences like "There are many kinds of doors, with different purposes." abound. each imaginable type of door is described in loving detail. their mechanisms, their construction. an incomprehensible detour into weatherstripping. close up photos of door hinges. "Door safety relates to prevention of door-related accidents." See also: Coal hole, Door security, Janus.


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in reply to @serpentstair's post:

the prosody of "Door safety relates to prevention of door-related accidents" reminds me of a sentence on wikipedia (now sadly departed) at the top of the article for "beach theft", which took pains to mention that the referent of the article was "theft of beach" (the illegal mining of sand from a public beach) rather than "theft in beach" (stuff being stolen on a beach)

first appearance of the sentence

A beach theft, in the sense of "theft of beach", is an unauthorized and illegal removal of huge quantities of sand from a beach leading to the full or partial disappearance of the beach. The term beach theft, used in the sense of "theft in beach", denotes incidents of theft occurring in beaches. Occurrences of beach thefts in the former sense are rare and uncommon; incidents of beach thefts in the latter sense are frequent and common. This article is about beach thefts in the former sense.

"Doors are generally made of a material suited to the door's task" what a flatly true and yet somehow thought-provoking sentence. like huh yeah I suppose they are, wikipedia, but I hadn't thought about screen doors that way