YOU WANT FAKE? I’LL GIVE YOU FAKE—PART 1
THESE ARE high times to celebrate satire. And in fact there’s a specialized branch of this genre: satirical novels. Taken one step further, there are satirical novels that satirize the … Continue reading
(WO)MEN OF MATHEMATICS
IN KEEPING with the book’s title, E.T. Bell’s classic Men of Mathematics has only 24 women out of the more than 300 personages listed in its index. As a source … Continue reading
WHAT’S YOUR STATE’S OFFICIAL FOSSIL?
NO FAIR if you just name some geriatric neighbor who complains about your loud music. I mean a genuine preserved relic from a previous geologic age. Wikipedia has a list … Continue reading
ARTURO BENEDETTI MICHELANGELI, CLASSICAL PIANIST—AND RACE DRIVER? PART 2
ARTURO MICHELANGELI was regarded as a great classical pianist. In a profession not unknown for eccentricities, he was also one of the most idiosyncratic and most mysterious. Forte-Piano-Pianissimo.com writes that … Continue reading
ARTURO BENEDETTI MICHELANGELI, CLASSICAL PIANIST—AND RACE DRIVER? PART 1
THE CLASSICAL music announcer added casually that pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli also competed in the Mille Miglia. Though I had heard of Michelangeli the pianist before, I was intrigued by … Continue reading
BUFFOON, BUFFOONISH, BUFFA
NOT ONLY does the word “buffoon” belong in my Etymology for our Times, there’s an operatic connection as well: Opera buffa is literally “comic opera” as opposed to opera seria, … Continue reading
WILL THE REAL BRYNHILDR PLEASE STAND UP
SCIENCE IS an on-going and self-correcting process of seeking truth. A curious example of this occurred with events of 1000 years ago, the 1880s, and only a few weeks ago. … Continue reading
ON BUSINESS EFFICIENCIES
TWO ARTICLES offered related examples of how today’s businesses are enhancing their efficiency. An OpEd piece by Thomas L. Friedman in The New York Times, September 27, 2017, discusses, among … Continue reading
ON BRIT STATUARY
OUR BRIT pals also experienced civil war, indeed, several of them if you count the three separating King Charles I from his head, 1649; kicking his son Charles II into … Continue reading
HYPOCRISY ON THE HIGH SEAS
THE JONES ACT, a U.S. regulation dating from 1920, is strangling humanitarian shipments to Maria-stricken Puerto Rico. What’s worse, the Trump administration has refused to waive this federal restriction to … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 