I’m still working on Gerard’s book, and I thought I’d mention a few things that came up in the comments of my earlier post on the subject. The basic structure of the book was decided on by Gerard, and I’m … Continue reading →
Have you ever read Shirley Jackson’s famous short story “The Lottery,” written in 1948? If you haven’t, SPOILER alert: the plot involves a tradition in a seemingly-normal town in which a person is chosen by lot to be stoned to … Continue reading →
Commenter “huxley” observes, first quoting commenter “Irish Otter49” in a discussion of the man who committed suicide after being insulted in an anti-racism training mandated by his employer: “So he took his own life because he couldn’t deal with harsh … Continue reading →
I’ve said many times that I don’t much care for political oratory. In my lifetime, I don’t recall any political speech that interested me at the time, although in retrospect I would rate some of Reagan’s as quite good. But … Continue reading →
Sign me up – not: Tourists are flocking to the Big Apple to check out its exploding rat population — and tour guides are tailoring excursions to introduce them to the city’s most beady-eyed natives. Kenny Bollwerk maps out late-night … Continue reading →
[NOTE: Today I was going to write about the usual political brouhaha, depressing though it is. But I found myself dragging my heels – not only because the news isn’t pleasant, but also because I had to deal with some … Continue reading →
In an earlier post today, commenter “PA Cat” writes this: Today marks the 84th anniversary of the German invasion of Poland that is usually considered the beginning of WWII. I went back to look at a poem by W.H. Auden … Continue reading →
For a long time I’ve seen the repetitive Republican in-fighting in terms of that classic work, Don Quixote. Today’s example starts with this from commenter “Bauxite,” Panza’s stand-in: Gregory Harper wrote – “With the exceptions of DeSantis and Vivek, everybody … Continue reading →
The real Lewis Carroll, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, created the original “Alice” stories for the young Alice Liddell and her two sisters one day when they were rowing on the Thames. The story was originally spoken extemporaneously, but the girls liked … Continue reading →
I missed this story back when it first happened, in April of 2022. This explains what I’m referring to: A large organization that drives the training of U.S. librarians and their use of public funds has chosen a self-described “Marxist … Continue reading →
[Hat tip: Commenter “Barry Meislin.”] RIP Milan Kundera. Long-time readers here probably recall that Kundera has been one of my favorite authors and almost certainly was my favorite living author, someone I’ve quoted time after time on this blog. You … Continue reading →
I’ve finally done some actual work on Gerard’s book – using the Amazon self-publishing platform, which my research points to as the most user-friendly. However, there’s still a steep and rather tedious learning curve there, and so I’m nowhere near … Continue reading →