Open thread 5/9/2025
Don’t miss the ending, when a girl gets turned into a spinning top:
Continue reading →neo
Bernie Sanders, man of the people
Sanders isn’t one of the richest of politicians, but he’s got a few million.
Continue reading →India avenges Daniel Pearl
The murder of Daniel Pearl seems like ancient history now; it happened early in 2002. However, a few weeks after the October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel I took a look back at Pearl’s murder and wrote this: Remember Daniel … Continue reading →
Papal surprise
The surprise? The newly-elected pope is an American from Chicago. I don’t think that was on the radar screen of any predictions I ever read or heard. His name is Robert Prevost, to be known as Pope Leo XIV. It … Continue reading →
Open thread 5/8/2025
Even without the clicks, he’s got a great voice:
Continue reading →AI taking over education?
This is a problem – a big problem: For higher education, “AI’s takeover [is] a full-blown existential crisis.” “College is just how well I can use ChatGPT at this point.” “I think we are years — or months, probably — … Continue reading →
The conflict between India and Pakistan
A helpful tip for people of the future: don’t partition an “I” state and a “P” state, especially if the “P” state is Muslim. Israel and Palestine; India and Pakistan. I’m being a bit facetious about a topic that’s very … Continue reading →
Birthrates large and small
Commenter “Snow on Pine” recently started a discussion about people claiming China’s population is less than officially reported. That rang a small bell for me; I believe such rumors/reports are mostly based on the work of this guy: China has … Continue reading →
Open thread 5/7/2025
This is one of Cohen’s less well-known songs, but I think it’s very beautiful. He (uncharacteristically) forgets some of the words to the third chorus – the one about his children – which go like this: And they lead me … Continue reading →
The Trump assassination-attempt photo wins a Pulitzer
But it’s the wrong photo. Although the winner is an interesting shot (literally; it shows the bullet track before hitting Trump’s ear), it can’t compare in terms of composition and importance to the one that became iconic. The latter – … Continue reading →
Met Gala fashion
I thought I’d do a light little number on the usual over-the-top fashions at the Met Gala, but I ran into the fact that the following story has taken over and dominated everything else. I think it’s a tale for … Continue reading →
The FBI misled the public on the 2017 baseball practice shooting of Republican members of Congress
I guess this is news, but it seems to me that we (the right, that is) already knew it and so should have any sentient being following the story: The FBI “misled the public” for years in claiming a sniper’s … Continue reading →