Useless knowledge we dug up this week.
Fustian
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Fustian? Is that another one of those literary subgenres? A kind of psychological trope, maybe?” I am here to tell you in a very fustian manner that you are wrong about the meaning of “fustian.” Fustian means a fewstian things, but firstian things first: We’re here to discuss wordplay.
Fustian is a heavy cloth woven from cotton. Today, we’re more familiar with some of its varieties—denim, corduroy, velveteen, and moleskin—but fustian dates all the way back to the middle ages. Historians believe that fustian may have been named after the Egyptian city of Fustat, its likely birthplace. Over the next few centuries, fustian spread up into and across Europe, gaining popularity for its cost-effectiveness and durability. Long story short, a lot of people used fustian for a lot of things.
One of those things was padding clothing. In addition to being cost-effective and durable, fustian is also thick. This made it a natural choice to use as insulation for cold-weather clothing. And as fashions changed, tailors began to put that padding in less practical places, too. Anyone like shoulderpads?
As it always does, the English language took its own course. Clothing is not the only thing that can be padded; writing can, too. In the 1600s, “fustian” became an adjective used to describe someone who is trying too hard to sound smart. Purple prose? Sounds pretty fustian to me. Incidentally, another synonym is “bombast,” a word that originally meant—you guessed it, a type of padding.
—Kana Coonce, Wandering Wikipedia Editor
Photo from Arad Branding, an exporter of Iranian goods.
YT1: 
It’s that time of the semester when we lose the motivation to do our schoolwork and study; all we want to do is lie in bed or stay in and do anything but schoolwork. This video gives us college students tips on how to study better.
I find it helpful when studying to listen to music without lyrics, so I don’t get distracted by the words coming from the artists I am listening to. This playlist is full of instrumental music to help students study better.
Set yourself up for success and plan for your detox by picking a reasonable timeframe for the cleanse. Then, try the following activities to take your mind off your gadgets:
What is digital detoxing? It is usually classified as when a person takes some time away from electronic devices and social media, which then provides an opportunity for a person to focus on social relationships and reduce stress. I know how much any social-media platform can affect someone within all aspects of their lives. Social media puts immense pressure on people, because they start comparing their lives, jobs, looks, and relationships to the “perfect” ones that influencers get paid to post.
This edition’s influential athlete is Serena Williams, a famous tennis player sponsored by the brand Nike. Williams has a website called 
Award-winning actress Halle Berry of X-Men fame plays a revived graphic designer-turned-literal Catwoman who’s … clearly meant to be the supposed DC Comics antihero. Probably in the same way Frankenstein-ing some two to three crosscuts in five seconds flat is supposed to be “fast-paced,” or that handwriting analysis is supposed to predict your personality. It’s almost captivating to watch a movie trip over itself at every opportunity, at every idea—all in service of a “creative vision” that should never be left five feet within a woman nor a pleather catsuit ever again.
Given these superheroes’ history of lackluster film adaptions, Tim Story’s was certainly no different. Its characterization-first approach and rather pitch-perfect cast softens the bare-bones plot, allowing a poignant look into othering and disability via the Thing; otherwise, the film struggles to innovate outside just fulfilling an archetypal superhero origins story. Expect a circa-2005 approximation of human interaction, Chris Evans’s most punchable performance known to man, and a whole lot of cheese.
Back in the early 2000s, Hollywood finally decided to give women a shot at starring in a superhero film. Having had my fill of various Superman and Batman incarnations, I eagerly anticipated Elektra, starring Jennifer Garner. At the time, Garner was the up-and-coming star of the popular Alias TV show, playing spy and mistress-of-disguise Sydney Bristow. With biceps even Angela Basset might envy and a flair for elegantly lethal fight choreography, Garner seemed like the perfect person to show that women could headline a blockbuster action franchise.
Major League Baseball: MLB is in spring training right now, but you can always watch on TV or listen to training sessions on the radio and see what is going on with the teams before the real season starts.
One of the most significant barriers to embracing podcasts is time. A platform dedicated to hour-long discussions often requires a buy-in, such as an already-established personality or popular topic. Writing Excuses is therein unique; first for its brevity (15 minutes or less, or so the podcast promises) and, secondly, as the jumping-off point for several acclaimed hosts, including Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive author Brandon Sanderson and The Calculating Stars author Mary Robinette Kowal.
The Universim is not an outstanding game, and it is certainly not a bad game. It is a city-building game, it is a god game, it is a planet-settling game. It is the space stage of Spore with more flesh and new mechanics. It is a calm and leisurely game with obstacles to keep it interesting. At times, it is a thought-provoking game or a mindless game. It is a shallow yet wide river. But most of all, it’s $30 and provides about 30 hours of entertainment.
Okay, so you didn’t actually get around to reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy until, like, college, but you’ve always liked the movies, right? While Sam and Frodo are off sobbing and stumbling over rocks in Mordor, Aragorn is … well, you guess he’s doing everything else. You didn’t quite follow the trajectory of his journey, but it didn’t really matter, because he looked so cool doing … whatever it was he was doing. Whose army is that again? You couldn’t really hear the dialogue over the plane, and besides, they probably didn’t include the scene where they explain it in the theatrical cut included on your in-flight entertainment, anyway. Doesn’t matter! Aragorn brought a bunch of ghosts, so it’s fine now. Wait, ghosts? Doesn’t matter. It’s cool. Go Aragorn!