I’m not all that fond of precious jewels. That’s very fortunate, because I don’t own many. Richard Burton would have gotten off easy with me. When I got married, I wore a plain gold wedding ring, one that had been … Continue reading →
I’ve been going through some old papers and trying to get rid of a lot of them. Sometimes I even succeed in throwing something out. But some things need saving. Sometimes I come across notes I made about incidents I’d … Continue reading →
Commenter “Phil D” has some questions and observations [I’ve corrected one typo in the following]: When exactly did we lose the “courage to see things as they are”? When FDR recognized the USSR in 1933, just after that regime murdered … Continue reading →
I like that word, “prolix.” I first learned it in high school, probably on some vocabulary list meant to prepare me for the SATs. Or maybe it was in studying The Scarlet Letter during my sophomore year. That book had … Continue reading →
I’m a little late to this party, but I wanted to say a few words about the Chrissie Hynde brouhaha: …Chrissie Hynde has waded into another contentious area ”“ the overly sexualised nature of modern pop music. In an obvious … Continue reading →
Here’s Megan McArdle on how the housing bubble and resultant crisis happened: In fact, according to a new paper by Fernando Ferreira and Joseph Gyourko, subprime loans accounted for only a bare majority of defaults at the beginning of the … Continue reading →
I suppose I’ll bite the bullet and watch tonight’s Republican debate, which looks to have some verbal fireworks and a huge listening audience. I may even live-blog it, if I can stomach it. Those of you who read this blog … Continue reading →
From commenter “Eric”: The “LIV” is a conformist. To marshal the “LIV” to your agenda, set the zeitgeist to your agenda. The “LIV” will conform to it. Engineering the zeitgeist is an activist function. I would phrase it differently, but … Continue reading →
There has been so much news lately that it’s hard to keep up with it, much less write about every topic that I consider vitally important and/or entertaining and/or amusing and/or inspiring and on which I have something to say. … Continue reading →
Violette Verdy is now in her early 80s, but in her heyday as a soloist with the New York City Ballet I saw her dance many times and loved her performances, particularly in the role she created as the girl … Continue reading →
…with my fabulous new ceiling duster. I bought it yesterday at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, a store that’s a bit expensive but really the only place to go for such esoteric items. I have high ceilings and quite a few … Continue reading →
…this. From the video at the link: “They’re scared that maybe there’s no place to make money. If the stock market’s not going to make you money, where do you make it now?” When I was younger and looking towards … Continue reading →