POSTERS IN THE GARAGE
SORTING ONE thing and another in the garage in preparation for our expected El Nino this winter, I uncovered a forgotten stash of posters. It’s a pity wall space inside … Continue reading
NEAT STUFF
THERE’S NEITHER reason nor rhyme in today’s offering. It’s just stuff that caught my eye and got squirreled away for a later date. Today’s the day. The Personals, London Review … Continue reading
READ EM’ MATH AT BEDTIME
HEARING MATH stories is beneficial for kids, just as hearing bedtime tales promotes kids acquiring reading skills. The payoff is especially dramatic in families with math-anxious parents. Proof positive of … Continue reading
ST. EXPEDITUS
A LETTER to the Editor in the London Review of Books, October 8, 2015, introduced me to St. Expeditus, the patron saint countering procrastination. Being able to procrastinate with the … Continue reading
URBAN FLIGHTS OF FANCY, FRUGALITY AND SECURITY
BUILD UPWARD, not outward. This has been an architectural truism for centuries, but not always for the same reasons. My interest in this was piqued by learning of the Two … Continue reading
MOVING THE GOODS—BY AIR
IT DIDN’T take long for marketers to realize that aeroplanes could move the goods, in the advertising sense. Quite distinct from poster art of early aviation meets, another genre quickly … Continue reading
CREATE ONE’S OWN LA BOHÈME
I’VE REDISCOVERED a book about making one’s own opera production with nothing more than scissors and glue. What fun. A snip-and-paste challenge. I think of this as preparation for the … Continue reading
THE MOOR OF THE MET
GIUSEPPE VERDI’S Otello opens the Metropolitan Opera’s 2015-2016 season with a break in tradition. Hitherto, its Moor of Venice has appeared in black makeup, but not this time. Tenor Aleksandrs … Continue reading
MOROCCAN RIFFS—AND MORAL CONSEQUENCES
FULL DISCLOSURE: This began as an item on U.S. World War I pilots taking part in the 1925 Riff Uprising in Morocco. However, the name Riff rang an old-movie bell. … Continue reading
CHOCOLATE: MINE! MINE! MINE!
THE BBC World Service alerted me to yet another world conflict, this one between chocolatiers. Sometimes called the Chocolate War, in legal circles it can be identified as Kit Kat … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 