Via Joy

The Via Appia

Alizah Holstein | 3 Quarks Daily | 1st July 2025

History of Via Appia, perhaps the most befuddling of Rome’s great roads. Constructed in the 4C BCE, it ran through the Pontine Marshes. Many futile attempts were made to drain the marsh, first by Caesar, then by Da Vinci, then by a succession of Popes. Mussolini brought thousands of workers to toil there as he posed amongst them, bare-chested. Finally in 1934, six giant pumps succeeded (2,500 words)

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Face With Tears Of Joy

Keith Houston | Longreads | 1st July 2025

Could emoji be considered a language in their own right? While undoubtedly a form of communication, “the prospect of an emoji grammar is perplexing. Can emoji constitute words used in a structured and conventional way? Does PISTOL (🔫) mean “water pistol”, “handgun”, or “gun” in general? In “😨🔫😡”, can we say for sure that 🔫 is a verb and not a noun? There are, as yet, no accepted conventions” (4,300 words)