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Bloody hell, I miss Bowie being on the earth. RIP Parky.

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Yeah.

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Do you want to know who else loved mosses? Alma, the heroine of Elizabeth Gilbert's wonderful novel, The Signature of All Things. Thoroughly recommended!

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The Signature of All Things https://g.co/kgs/pp78ZU

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Thanks for the recommendation!

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Aug 19, 2023Liked by Lev Parikian

Moss! Marvellous, many thanks

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The surname thing is cool, isn't it? It got my married surname spot on, and maiden name is something I suspected but wasn't sure. Very interesting!

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The map for my surname (well, the first half of it) shows very distinctly where my family is from in West Sussex. If you look at the census data from the early part of the last century, say 1911, you'll see all Charmans are in West Sussex, but the world now has a very light dusting of Charmans all over the place. Apparently, there are less than 6000 of us alive right now, which is just... well, a bit weird really.

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The surname thing came as no surprise, showing a hotspot for my maiden name in Stoke-on-Trent - we always knew the name was, while rare everywhere else, prevalent in the Potteries, and in fact back in the 70s were told there was a village where 50% of the houses were occupied by the name. (The conversation came about when we met someone with not only our unusual surname but also my dad's first name, in the unfortunate and incredibly unlikely circumstances of turning up to find our holiday accommodation double booked. One booking had been written in the diary, and when a second phone enquiry was made with the same name it was assumed someone else must have already entered it).

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Aug 20, 2023Liked by Lev Parikian

An utter gem of a Six Things. Giggled at The Slave Chorus (Black Hole) and kept a fist in mouth to prevent any yells of laughter obliterating Ustinov & Moore. Thank you thank you.

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Quickly discovered you can play several Sounds of Space simultaneously, to thrilling effect. Slightly disappointing that Earth sounds like a passing rag-and-bone cart though

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Glad to know I am an outlier in thinking about moss quite regularly. I’ve never wondered what space sounds like though, despite having a degree in astrophysics so it’s great to know black holes sound like the moans of trapped souls like I assumed they would.

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