A.I.’S PLACE, HUMAN EFFORT, AND FRICTION-MAXXING PART 1
HUMANITY IS AT A CUSP OF INTELLECT, tantamount to moveable type’s effect on sharing thought, radio and television’s effect on communicating it, and the computer’s effect on amassing it. Today, … Continue reading
LAMENTABLE OR LUDICROUS—OR BOTH? PART 2
YESTERDAY, FRANK BRUNI GOT US THINKING about the Trump administration’s lack of professionalism. Today in Part 2, let’s consider Donald “The Golf Cap” Trump himself. Protocol Honoring the Fallen. There’s … Continue reading
LAMENTABLE OR LUDICROUS—OR BOTH? PART 1
HAVING READ FRANK BRUNI’S “We Are Being Governed by Unserious People,” The New York Times, March 9, 2026, I’m left with an intellectual quandary: Are Trump and his cohorts lamentable … Continue reading
THE MITFORD SISTERS (AND BROTHER) PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE BEGAN EXPLORING varied adventures of the fabled Mitford sisters, acknowledging their brother as well. Today, there’s the last three in birth order: Unity, Jessica, and Deborah. Unity Mitford. … Continue reading
THE MITFORD SISTERS (AND BROTHER) PART 1
IF YOU’RE PLAGUED BY A MAGA UNCLE or other errant family members, rest easy: It coulda been worse. I doubt there was any more dysfunctional set of offspring than those … Continue reading
THE CRUCIBLE—AN OPERA FOR OUR TIMES
IN THE MARCH 2026 OPERA WITH OPERA NEWS, Eric Myers discusses Robert Ward’s The Crucible, based on the McCarthy-Era Arthur Miller drama. Here are tidbits gleaned from this article, together … Continue reading
STORING STUFF FOR MILLENNIA
HITTING THE “SAVE” BUTTON instills perhaps misplaced confidence. True, the stuff continues to exist somewhere or other. But can it be easily retrieved? And for how long? Robert F. Service … Continue reading
THE PALIMPSEST OF ARCHIMEDES PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE BEGAN SHARING CLAIRE HALL’S LRB REVIEW “Maths is Second Best” of Nicholas Nicastro’s Archimedes: Fulcrum of Science. Today, we pick up with her analysis of the Hellenistic world … Continue reading
THE PALIMPSEST OF ARCHIMEDES PART 1
THE WORD “PALIMPSEST” MAY JOG THE MEMORY of longtime readers of this website: “Medieval DNA Sleuthing,” SimanaitisSays, August 7, 2017, described “A palimpsest is a piece of writing material, parchment, … Continue reading
DOUBLING DOWN—AND REMINDING ME OF AN OLD JOKE
SPEAKING, UNDER OATH, ONE WOULD ASSUME, before a Congressional committee, Kristi Noem outdid herself in the Trump administration’s practice of doubling down. Examples of this are offered in “Noem Sticks … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 