A MISSION IMPOSSIBLE BOOK HEIST
WHAT WITH GLOBAL complexities, the Internet, lawyer highjinks, and business school finesses, malefactors now have enhanced opportunities to evade punishment. On the other hand, malefinders (my new word, with obvious … Continue reading
HOPALONG HOPPED ALONG IN LIFE TOO
HOPALONG CASSIDY MAKES regular appearances among other cowboys on SiriusXM’s ”Radio Classics.” I recall him too as a frequent star of Saturday matinee westerns when I was growing up. Always … Continue reading
LENIN’S LOVES
SHEILA FITZPATRICK begins her London Review of Books article “To King’s Cross Station,” January 7, 2021, with “Lenin liked London. He arrived in April 1902, not long after his release … Continue reading
A NEW-ISH WORLD
WE ARE THANKFULLY, tentatively, and carefully feeling our way through this world pandemic. Winston Churchill’s comment of August 1942 World War II is most appropriate: “This is not the end. … Continue reading
ETYMOLOGY—FILIBUSTER PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE BEGAN a review of “filibuster,” its etymology, and its use as a delaying tactic in the U.S. Senate. Here in Part 2, we discuss its history, other filibuster … Continue reading
ETYMOLOGY—FILIBUSTER PART 1
THERE IS NOTHING good to say about “filibuster.” Even its etymology is embarrassing. As noted in Merriman-Webster, the word comes from the Spanish filibustero, literally “freebooter.” “Filibuster” made its first … Continue reading
CELEBRATING MAGAZINES
STEVEN LOMAZOW, M.D., collects magazine, some 83,000 of them. And New York City’s Grolier Club has assembled an exhibition selected from his collection. Jennifer Schuessler writes “Are Magazines Dead? Not … Continue reading
OBAMA’S MEMOIRS
I HAVEN’T READ Barack Obama’s A Promised Land, and considering the number of books already on my “to-read” stack, I’m not likely to attempt this 768-page challenge. On the other … Continue reading
ETYMOLOGY: VACCINE
MUCH ON OUR minds these days, the word “vaccine” has interesting etymology and important current usage. Here are tidbits gleaned from my usual Internet sleuthing. Dictionary Definition. Merriam-Webster says a … Continue reading
BARD STATS
WHEN WIFE DOTTIE was a kid, she and her friend Gracie Watts would perform plays for their parents. When she asked her dad which part he liked best, he’d invariably … Continue reading
