KINGS PART 1
YEARS AGO ENGLISH PAL DAVID ROBERTS, husband of Anita, the latter Innes Ireland’s secretary, recited to me a poem recounting England’s rulers from William I (the Conquerer to some; the … Continue reading
THE LRB, GRENADA’S ERIC GAIRY, UFOS, AND PRESIDENT CARTER’S INVITATION TO SATURN’S TITANIA PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE SET THE STAGE FOR LRB LETTERS connecting the words of our title. My sincere acknowledgement and thanks to the three writers, Paul Sutton, Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire; Robert Hunter, … Continue reading
THE LRB, GRENADA’S ERIC GAIRY, UFOS, AND PRESIDENT CARTER’S INVITATION TO SATURN’S TITANIA PART 1
FIRST, I STRESS THAT THE LATE JIMMY CARTER was one of our most technically trained of presidents: He was a Naval Academy graduate eventually specializing on nuclear submarines. Thus, his … Continue reading
DIGITAL OVERLOAD—TWO BOOKS (HOW QUAINT BUT EFFECTIVE)
JENNIFER SZALAI’S “How Big Tech Mined Our Attention and Broke Our Politics” appeared in The New York Times Book Review (alas, perhaps behind a paywall). Yet it contains tidbits well … Continue reading
H.L. MENCKEN REVISITED PART 2
LET’S CONTINUE ENJOYING the acerbic wit of H.L. Mencken. One excellent source of this is his Chrestomathy, (from the Greek adjective chrēstos, “useful,” and the verb manthanein, “to learn), now in its second edition. … Continue reading
H.L. MENCKEN REVISITED PART 1
I’VE ALREADY SHARED MY FAVORITE H.L. MENCKEN line: “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” Another equally … Continue reading
THE EMPEROR’S NEW CASH
WITH RESPECTFUL APPRECIATION OF Keiserens Nye Klæder by Hans Christian Andersen. Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best … Continue reading
THINKING ABOUT CHANGE
THE INSPIRING QUOTES WEBSITE often lives up to its name. Indeed, its February 14, 2025, posting caught my eye: “Reframing the Way You Look at Change.” I’d have to think … Continue reading
SHAKESPEARE’S BEHIND
NOW THAT I’VE GOT YOUR ATTENTION, there’s nothing scatological here. Rather, it’s a timely update of “Do Our Languages Shape Us? Or Do We Shape Our Languages?” Background. There we … Continue reading
NOTES ON HARD TIMES
GEE, WHY EVER SHOULD this title about George Orwell catch my eyes these days? Now you tell one. Remarkable Diaries: The World’s Greatest Diaries, Journals, Notebooks, and Letters, foreward by … Continue reading
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