THE CONFIDENCE-MAN, COMPLETE WITH HYPHEN PART 2
THERE WAS literary justice in the first appearance of Herman Melville’s The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade being on April Fool’s Day, 1857: This Melville novel recounts the happenings on that very … Continue reading
THE CONFIDENCE-MAN, COMPLETE WITH HYPHEN PART 1
WHAT FOLLOWS is a meta-review. That is, a review of reviews, in this case of The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade, one of only a few books coming to mind that have … Continue reading
AUTOMOTIVE MUSCLE—PUT IN PERSPCTIVE
A BRIEF recollection of automotive muscle confirms the current idiocy of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Scott Pruitt wanting to dial back the auto industries’ hard-earned, if occasionally grudging, advances … Continue reading
(GARDEN) PARTY POLITICS, RHINOS ON STAGE
THEATRE OF THE ABSURD, yesterday’s topic here at SimanaitisSays, is an excellent metaphor for the current political scene. There’s unreality, cliché, tragicomedy, and a person here and there striving to … Continue reading
THEATRE OF THE ABSURD
WHAT WITH the world seemingly at sixes and sevens, what better time to explore the Theatre of the Absurd? Its mid-20th-century plays by Edward Albee, Samuel Becket, Václav Havel, Eugene … Continue reading
EVOLUTION EVOLVES TOO
IF EVOLUTION’S clock were wound back and restarted, would I be here to compose these lines or you to read them? This provocative question is addressed in Jonathan Losos’ book … Continue reading
THE TREE(S) OF LIFE
HOW COME tree-of-life diagrams always have humans at the top? A heady thought, this. There are subtleties galore in today’s evolutionary theory. Indeed, profound changes are taking place in how … Continue reading
WILLIAM WALKER—FILIBUSTER EXTRAORDINAIRE PART 2
AS WE learned yesterday, the original meaning of the word “filibuster” meant a person, an irregular military adventurer, not a political stalling ploy as we commonly use it today. And, … Continue reading
WILLIAM WALKER—FILIBUSTER EXTRAORDINAIRE PART 1
IN THESE times of less than cooperative members in the U.S. Congress, we’re all more familiar with the term “filibuster,” of endless oration to delay action. However, this particular meaning … Continue reading
FROM THE RIO GRANDE TO THE CANAL ZONE PART 3
THANKS TO Harry Franck and Herbert C. Lanks, we’ve already accomplished a goodly portion of our virtual 1940 adventure from the Rio Grande to the Canal Zone. Today in Part … Continue reading
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