FEAR ITSELF AND OTHER INAUGURAL COMMENTS
THE NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD CHOSE A TELLING QUOTATION in “Standing Up to Donald Trump’s Tactics,” Opinion, January 17, 2025: “ ‘Real power is—I don’t even want to use … Continue reading
90S SLANG STILL ALIVE AND WELL
NEAR THE END OF THE 1990S I WAS—wisely, it turns out—debunking the Y2K Dread that gizmos were incapable of counting 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001…. I was driving a Morgan at … Continue reading
KALININ’S K-12: WIN SOME, LOSE IT ALL
KONSTANTIN KALININ WAS A SOVIET AIRCRAFT DESIGNER. His designs were unconventional, which made them controversial during the Stalin era—and also, in retrospect, interesting projects for my GMax hobby of building … Continue reading
TRUMP’S BUNCH PART 2
YESTERDAY WE BEGAN GLEANING TIDBITS from Elliot Weinberger’s London Review of Books article “Incoming!” concerning Trump appointees. Today, we continue (is there no end to this madness?). “The future director … Continue reading
TRUMP’S BUNCH PART 1
ELLIOT WEINBERGER IS AN AMERICAN ESSAYIST regularly appearing in London Review of Books. By way of achievements, Wikipedia notes, “In 2021, Weinberger was awarded the Jeanette Schocken / Bremerhaven Citizens’ … Continue reading
“GHOST WORDS” IN DICTIONARIES
THERE’S NOTHING SCARY ABOUT DICTIONARY “GHOST WORDS.” They’re the result of misreading, mistranscribing, and plain old editorial goofing. Here’s a selection gleaned from several Internet sources. Dord. Wikipedia recounts, “The … Continue reading
EUROPEAN SOUVENIRS
THE DISCOVERER BLOG RECENTLY RECOMMENDED “Ten Souvenirs You Should Actually Buy in Europe.” Which, in turn, got me thinking of my own travel acquisitions, about which I score pretty well … Continue reading
ON A.I. COMMENTARIES, ELEPHANT HIJINKS, AND TRUMP CLIMATE IGNORANCE PART 2
YESTERDAY’S SCIENCE TIDBITS REVEALED A.I. SKULLDUGGERY within academic journal commentaries. Today’s continue with elephants and weather forecasting. Talk about variety. Behaviors Reveal Sophisticated Tool Use—and Possible “Pranking” Among Pachyderms. Elephants … Continue reading
A GRAND SUMO CHRISTMAS BOOK
DAUGHTER SUZ AND I ENJOY Grand Sumo Highlights on NHK World TV. To enhance our knowledge of this Japanese sport ritual, she gifted me a copy of The Perfect Guide … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 
ON A.I. COMMENTARIES, ELEPHANT HIJINKS, AND TRUMP CLIMATE IGNORANCE PART 1
THERE ARE TIDBITS A’PLENTY in scientific matters, as reported in Science, publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Here in Parts 1 and 2 today and tomorrow … Continue reading →