SLEEPY HOLLOW TIDBITS
THIS HALLOWEEN, LET’S celebrate a guy named Washington and a classic American tale. Manhattan-born Washington Irving was named after another fellow named Washington even before the latter became our first … Continue reading
ON CHANDLER’S GREATNESS PART 2
RAYMOND CHANDLER’S ENTICING and elegant prose encourages this two-part collection gleaned from The Annotated Big Sleep. Here in Part 2 are burbank tops, license holders, and California’s sturdy front doors. … Continue reading
ON CHANDLER’S GREATNESS PART 1
I’VE BEEN savoring the annotated version of Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep. Annotations, bibliography, and all, the book is 474 pages long, and I feel no urgency to finish it. … Continue reading
THE LRB’S CHINA PART 2
THIS CONTINUES yesterday’s tidbits gleaned from John Lanchester’s “Document Number Nine” in London Review of Books, October 10, 2019. Here in Part 2, we’ll see how, despite Western expectations, China … Continue reading
THE LRB’S CHINA PART 1
GAD! THE ARTICLE “Document Number Nine” by John Lanchester in London Review of Books, October 10, 2019, is so chock-full of information about China that I’m tempted to quote all … Continue reading
A TRIAD OF SOUTHERN COOKBOOKS
SOUTHERN COOKING is a plentitude of cuisines, and cookbooks on the subject are also in a wide variety. Here are tidbits on three of my favorites. One is a traditional … Continue reading
THE QUBIT CAPER
THE NEWS ON October 23, 2019, was fast and furious, its updates and scientific self-corrections occurring within hours. Here are tidbits on quantum supremacy, together with SimanaitisSays comments on this … Continue reading
ICELAND, WPI, AND THE PLAN
I REGRET THAT my undergraduate years at Worcester Polytechnic Institute were before The Plan. My graduation coincided with the 100th anniversary of this solidly traditional engineering school “founded on a … Continue reading
SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE UNDEAD
WHAT WITH Halloween approaching, and with the world’s greatest consulting detective being immortal, it’s not inappropriate to address Holmes and the Undead. Scary. Here are tidbits from the Sacred Canon, … Continue reading
LAS VEGAS HITCHING
CHAROLETTE RICHARDS is 86 now, and her Little White Chapel, 1301 Las Vegas Boulevard, is up for sale with an asking price of $12 million. Cassidy George asks, “Why Won’t … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 