Friday, February 13, 2026

Hello again.

Item 1: a link

We have a rich history in this country of giant megacorporations making up traditions and then us just gobbling them up like swine. For example, the lemon swine – I mean, lemon pig – which came to prominence (well, marginal well-knownness) in the 1970s when aluminum foil company Alcoa published 401 Party and Holiday Ideas from Alcoa, shameless aluminum foil propaganda which included the lemon pig as a make-at-home good luck charm. It's important to note, however, that lemon pigs had been made (mostly by children) for at least a century earlier. Alcoa just added an aluminum foil tail. That's corporate ingenuity for you!

Then nothing much happened for fifty years or so, until Anna Pallai, author of 70s Dinner Party: The Good, the Bad and the Downright Ugly of Retro Food, made one and put it on Twitter on New Years Eve 2017, and a bunch of people loved it and started posting their own.

Anyway, this is admittedly not a very timely link, nor do I endorse the foil version, but consider crafting your own lemon pig in late December if you want 2027 to improve on 2026.

Item 2: a list

Subcategories of Cultural Lists, Ranked:

1. Culture-related lists of superlatives
2. Food- and drink-related lists
3. Lists of hoaxes
4. Skepticism-related lists 
5. Cuisine-related lists
6. Lists of mascots
7. Lists of banned works
8. Cultural history-related lists
9. Arts-related lists
10. Lists of mottos
11. Lists of festivals
12. Etiquette lists
13. Communication-related lists
14. Lists of nicknames 
15. Lists of practical jokes
16. LGBTQ-related lists
17. Entertainment lists
18. Journalism lists
19. Gardening lists
20. Lists of awards
21. Clothing-related lists
22. Fashion-related lists 
23. Mythology-related lists
24. Lists of cultural organizations
25. Lists of observances
26. Lists of symbols
27. Sexuality-related lists
28. Animal rights-related lists
29. Cultural lists by country
30. Lists of organized events
31. Education-related lists
32. Astrology-related lists
33. Lists of orders, decorations, and medals
34. Translation-related lists
35. Religion-related lists
36. Christmas-related lists
37. World's fair-related lists
38. Beauty pageants related lists

[All subcategory names sic]

Item 3: a media recommendation

Item 4: word of the week

Congeries

This is less a book than a congeries of incoherent thoughts, phrased poorly and rife with spelling errors. But it's thinly veiled Harry Potter fanfiction so we're going to publish it.

Item 5: an image

See ya!

Thanks for reading. See you next week.