By Ryozui Ryosen, a fourteenth-century Japanese Zen monk. The poem is the first recorded mention of ramen in Japan and was deciphered last year by Hajime Yoshizawa, an associate professor…

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From Let Me Tell You What I Mean, a collection of essays that will be published next month by Knopf. The essay originally appeared in The Saturday Evening Post in…

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From postscripts of letters written by Robert Lowell to his daughter Harriet, collected in The Dolphin Letters, 1970–1979, which was published last year by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. cat for…

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From a September town-council meeting in Swastika, New York, during which members discussed a request to change the town’s name. The name dates to at least 1913, when it appeared…

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From “The Secret to Chukjibeop,” an article published in the May 20 edition of Rodong Sinmun, a state-run newspaper in North Korea. Chukjibeop refers to the power to bend time…

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From a letter sent in August by the chairman of the Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Greetings from our nation’s front…

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From the Everyday Objects collection by Tiffany & Co., which the company says was developed to turn “ordinary” and “utilitarian” objects into luxury “works of art.” paper cups Inspired by…

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From a 2017 conversation between Yoram Ne’eman, then chief superintendent of the Israeli police, and Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel. The police were investigating whether Netanyahu had been…

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From remarks made by U.S. judges in 2019, which appeared in the Winter 2020 issue of the Judicial Conduct Reporter, published by the National Center for State Courts. These remarks…

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From marketing copy for Civvil, a technology company that connects gig workers with property owners and local governments seeking assistance with the eviction of tenants who have fallen behind on…

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From TikTok videos of customers ordering the Travis Scott Meal. The meal, which includes a Quarter Pounder, french fries, and a Sprite, is a collaboration between McDonald’s and Travis Scott,…

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From a decision issued earlier this year by the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board of Ontario. The board was responding to a complaint filed by a patient about the…

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From entries on Wikipedia written by the user AmaryllisGardener. AmaryllisGardener, a nineteen-year-old from North Carolina, has written more than twenty-three thousand articles for Scots Wikipedia but cannot speak Scots, a…

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From the anthology A Very German Christmas: The Greatest Austrian, Swiss and German Holiday Stories of All Time, which was published in September by New Vessel Press. Translated from the…

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From a speech delivered in September to the Boca Raton School Board, in Florida, by an elementary school teacher concerned about the behavior of parents during their children’s remote-learning classes.…

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From a manuscript in progress. I never doubted you’d return. You’re a man of your word And this is your kingdom. But recently I’ve feared you’d find me Looking like…

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From an account of John 8:3–11 in a law-and-ethics textbook published by the Chinese Communist Party. In the Gospel, a group of Pharisees have gathered to stone a woman accused…

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From Subprime Attention Crisis, published last month by FSGO x Logic. Though we’ve mostly forgotten this now, the idea that the internet would give rise to some of the largest…

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From “Origin of new emergent Coronavirus and Candida fungal diseases—Terrestrial or cosmic?,” which was published in July by Advances in Genetics. Claims that certain pathogens have extraterrestrial origins have been…

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From A Libertarian Walks into a Bear, which was published in September by PublicAffairs. When Chris Weathersbee, then in his sixties, moved onto the property in Corinth, Vermont, in 1999,…

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From descriptions of police violence filmed in the United States between May 29 and June 7. Compiled by ProPublica. A protester holds up her phone. The officer pepper-sprays her twice,…

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From remarks made in July by Russ Diamond, a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. I feel that I must personally respond to the incidents of hate and intolerance…

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From the dissenting opinion of the chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, issued in July in response to the court’s decision to decline to review the case of Fair…

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From complaints received by the American Battle Monuments Commission between 2014 and 2019 that were acquired by GovernmentAttic.org through a Freedom of Information Act request. The commission manages twenty-six American…

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From Pigeons on the Grass, a novel, which was published last month by New Directions. Koeppen (1906–96) was a German novelist who was awarded the Büchner Prize in 1962. Translated…

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From a lawsuit filed by Devin Nunes, a U.S. representative from California, against the Twitter user Devin Nunes’ Mom, whose identity is unknown. Nunes has denied the claims made by…

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From Rough Song, a collection of poetry, which was published last month by The Song Cave. Varela (1926–2009) was a Peruvian poet and the first woman to win the Federico…

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From a listing posted on August 12 by House of Brokers Realty, Inc., for a home in Fayette, Missouri. 203 east morrison street…

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