HYPOCRISY ON THE HIGH SEAS
THE JONES ACT, a U.S. regulation dating from 1920, is strangling humanitarian shipments to Maria-stricken Puerto Rico. What’s worse, the Trump administration has refused to waive this federal restriction to … Continue reading
CROCS BUTCHING UP
ECOLOGICALLY, ALL living things are related, sometimes to their benefit, other times not. This is exemplified by an article in the September 1, 2017, issue of Science, the American Association … Continue reading
HOLMES’ (AND OUR) SCOTLAND YARDS, PART 2
BY 1887, the Metropolitan Police ran out of room in its original Scotland Yard, even with expansion to buildings near its No. 4 Whitehall location. New headquarters, logically named New … Continue reading
HOLMES’ (AND OUR) SCOTLAND YARDS—ALL OF THEM, PART 1
SHERLOCK HOLMES and we recognize Scotland Yard as exemplifying London’s Metropolitan Police. But describing the whereabouts of this place makes for a three-pipe problem, even for the world’s greatest consulting … Continue reading
TO A MORE APPROPRIATE KINGDOM, THIS TRULY COULDN’T HAPPEN
A TEXTBOOK is being withdrawn from Saudi Arabian schools because it contains a photo of the late King Faisal, a Saudi prince at the time, signing the UN Charter in … Continue reading
ON THE KINGDOM OF NAMBY-PAMBY
I OFFER today’s SimanaitisSays as amelioration of the U.S. President’s U.N. covfefeing of two African nations, Namibia and Zambia, into “Nambia.” Nambia? I researched this illusive place. The earlier kingdom … Continue reading
ČAPEK’S ROBOTS
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE is a controversial topic these days. Will its advancement be to mankind’s good or detriment? Czech author Karel Čapek’s play R.U.R. predicted the latter in 1920, though, in … Continue reading
COMPARATIVE MENDACITY 101
THE ENGLISH language is so amply endowed that there’s comparative mendacity. I never thought of this scale of dishonesty until I looked up “to equivocate,” the next in my ever-expanding … Continue reading
DECEPTION, TO DECEIVE, TO BE DECEPTIVE
TODAY I add the word “deceptive” to my etymological thoughts on useful political descriptors. Recent pronouncements concerning Charlottesville, tax reform, dreamers, not to forget continuing компромат, bring the word “deceptive”and … Continue reading
BEL CANTO POP!
PACIFIC OPERA Project’s production of Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor was great! This Los Angeles-based opera company, known affectionately as POP, has even made a Bel Canto lover of me. … Continue reading →