THE SUBLIME, THE HEARTWARMING, AND (LAMENTABLY) THE RIDICULOUS PART 2
YESTERDAY WE CELEBRATED FRANCE MINTING TWO NEW COINS heralding Notre-Dame’s reopening. There was also a Notre-Dame wedding of one of its artisans and his bride. Alas, today in Part 2, … Continue reading
THE SUBLIME, THE HEARTWARMING, (AND THE LAMENTABLY RIDICULOUS) PART 1
THE MONNAIE DE PARIS, FRANCE’S NATIONAL MINT, IS ISSUING 2-Euro and 10-Euro coins celebrating the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris after construction following the cathedral’s horrific fire on April 15, … Continue reading
SEEKING A LIFE’S PHILOSOPHY
I’VE NEVER BEEN MUCH INTO PHILOSOPHY: I admire the wit of St. Augustine’s comment: “Oh, Master, make me chaste and celibate—but not yet.” And as for Bishop Berkeley’s Esse est percipi … Continue reading
WHAT A LITTLE SWEETHEART! PART 2
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, WE BEGAN DESCRIBING the Fiat 508S Balilla Corsa, its Balilla moniker honoring an 18th-century Italian patriot. Today, Classic & Sports Car’s Richard Heseltine focuses on the … Continue reading
WHAT A LITTLE SWEETHEART! PART 1
“CHE PICCOLA DOLCEZZA!,” GOOGLE TRANSLATE offered, eventually. And Richard Heseltine’s writeup of the “Fiat 508S Balilla Corsa,” Classic & Sports Car, October 16, 2025, certainly fits this description. What’s more, … Continue reading
LRB LETTERS FUN PART 2
LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS READERS are literate (and good-humoured) people, as suggested yesterday in Part 1. Today we continue with tidbits gleaned from their letters to LRB editors. A Pacific … Continue reading
LRB LETTERS FUN PART 1
AS SHOWN IN SIMANAITISSAYS FROM TIME TO TIME, the London Review of Books is a most literate —and entertaining—publication, even to its “Letters” column. See, for example, “LRB Letters—A Reader’s … Continue reading
ON POLITICAL CHANGE
AS PART OF THE ATLANTIC’S “THE UNFINISHED REVOLUTION,” David Brooks writes, “America Needs a Mass Movement—Now,” October 14, 2025. His article provides a culminating lesson in civics, the initial one … Continue reading
MORE POWER TO AUSTRIA! (ARTISTICALLY)
TRADITIONAL ELECTRIC POWER LINES are functional, but not pleasing to everyone’s aesthetics. And the Austrian Power Grid has proposed a solution: reimagining electricity pylons as symbols of harmony between technology … Continue reading
THE NEW YORK TIMES—SEEMINGLY CATCHING ON PART 2
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, WE BEGAN AN ASSESSMENT of The New York Times Editorial Board’s “Are We Losing Our Democracy?” Here we continue with tidbits gleaned from this article which suggested … Continue reading
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