I often read about something that makes me think of Shakespeare’s line from Hamlet: A phrase used by the title character in the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. Hamlet suggests that human knowledge is limited: There are more things in … Continue reading →
Franco Zeffirelli died Saturday at the venerable age of 96. But to me, he was and always will be the director of the 1968 film “Romeo and Juliet,” a movie that breathed extraordinary life into Shakespeare. The sweep, color, costumes, … Continue reading →
It’s not possible yet, but they’re working on it: Progress toward making “artificial gametes” has been accelerating. In Japan, mice were born from eggs scientists had manufactured in a dish from a tail cell. Chinese scientists later claimed they had … Continue reading →
I’ve written about the great poet Yeats before, and in this post I dealt at length with his attitude towards aging and sexuality. In it, I mentioned that he had a lifelong love for and fascination—you might say “obsession”—with the … Continue reading →
Here’s an interesting question from commenter Geoffrey Britain: What is the practical difference between an entrenched ‘confirmation bias’, that is immune to contrary fact, logic, reason and common sense…and ideological fanaticism? How does a person who stops “all such meanderings … Continue reading →
Sex is a strong drive in human beings for a reason: the life of the species depends on it. But in this age of what might seem like no-holds-barred sex, sex has lost its luster for an enormous number of … Continue reading →
I’ve read Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four many times, but I haven’t opened it for a long long time. I recall a great many of his Newspeak terms—and I think his explanation of Newspeak’s nomenclature and aims is one of the most … Continue reading →
[NOTE: This story brought me out of my usual Sunday blog-hibernation.] The news story of the Catholic high school students in MAGA hats who were captured on video supposedly harassing a Native American Vietnam vet was a tale I ignored … Continue reading →
Did you ever notice that young people sometimes write and/or perform as though they’re old? Some do it very successfully; the best example that comes to mind is T. S. Eliot—who perhaps was born old—who began writing his masterpiece “The … Continue reading →
The lyrics were written in Scots dialect by the poet Robert Burns in 1788. That’s a lot of auld lang syne ago. But the song—set to a traditional folk tune—has endured, particularly at New Year’s to be sung right after … Continue reading →
So-called “internet poetry” is a phenomenon I knew nothing about till I saw this critique of it by Rebecca Watts. Although the author finds the genre completely abominable, nevertheless her piece contains within itself some answers to the question of … Continue reading →
Commenter “CatoRenasci” writes: Consider that urban areas have been more ‘liberal’ or ‘progressive’ or ‘radical’ (pick an adjective) since time immemorial – at least as far as we have any sort of reliable history: classical writers, both Greek and (especially) … Continue reading →