Saturday, December 31, 2022

Good idea …

Paul Davis On Crime: What Goes Up Must Come Down: Philadelphia Officials Warn New Year's Eve Partiers Not to Fire Guns In The Air.

A twofer …

It’s time for a 1946 proclamation and a 2023 resolution.

A great Pope …

… Opinion | What Pope Benedict Taught Me About Faith - The New York Times. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The danger is that this narrowly scientistic account of reason affords humans a much lower status than the one granted them by classical philosophy and revealed religions. You can do anything to people, especially the weak and the poor, if you view human beings as mere collections of particles, lacking any special origin or destiny.

This will take some time …

 Shredding away the COVID insanity.

A new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that “a regular exercise routine may significantly lower the chances of being hospitalized or even dying from COVID-19.”

RIP …

… Ian Tyson, Canadian Folk Great Who Wrote ‘Four Strong Winds,’ Dead at 89.

I saw him, not long before I retired, when I covered the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, NV, for The Inquirer.

Indeed …

 Joseph Ratzinger: A Man Sent from God - Crisis Magazine.

Something to think on …

Military power wins battles, but spiritual power wins wars.
— George C Marshall, born on this date in 1880

RIP…

… Benedict XVI has died. What happens next?

Triple play …

… things that matter: Revisiting a demonstration, a celebration, and a breakup.

Word of the day …

… Turbid | Word Genius.

Friday, December 30, 2022

Hmm …

… Did Poetry Die 100 Years Ago This Month? —PoemShape. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

I think e. e. cummings was rather well known— at least in my day. And there was Dylan Thomas. And allen Ginsberg was practically a rock starnp.
But I wonder if you still are made to read poetry in school. That’s how my generation caught on to it. Ther is plenty of great poetry around today. Read Dana Gioia. He can help you appreciate life.

Where do these people come from?

… well this guy won’t tell you: Paul Davis On Crime: I'm Shocked, Shocked That Politicians Lie.

Something to think on …

A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition.
— Rudyard Kipling, born on this date in 1865

Much bigger than we thought …

… things that matter: Looking far beyond this small planet.

Word of the Day …

… Melomaniac | Word Genius.

In case you wondered …

 … Who was IMHOTEP?

Thursday, December 29, 2022

A unique work …

… Rereading the Indescribable Perelandra | Brandywine Books. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The authorial challenge Lewis takes on here is supremely audacious – to imagine a true state of innocence in a way that won’t be misinterpreted by dirty minds. To describe colors the reader has never seen and tastes he’ll never taste, without sounding precious. To provide a parable of the life by of faith that even skeptics can appreciate – even if they don’t get the point.

Just so you know …

… 14 Shakespearean Phrases We Still Use Today | Word Genius.

Marking time …

For some time I thought there was time.

Something to think on …

Time just seems to fly away for a boy. That, I s’pose, is why one day you wake up suddenly and you ain’t a boy any longer.
— Robert Ruark, born on this date in 1915

Word of the Day …

 Unhorse | Word Genius.

Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Public Domain Day ...

… things that matter: Sherlock Holmes will finally escape this weekend.

A surprising — and encouraging — comeback …

… What Can We Learn from Barnes & Noble's Surprising Turnaround?: (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Here’s the surprise: This company has been a failure at digital media, and has succeeded by embracing the most antiquated technology of them all: the printed book.

Cool …

… Using form: alliterative verse: A.M. Juster, ‘Three Visitors’. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Odd anniversary ..,

… things that matter: 300 men dodged military draft when Truman died.

Something to think on …

More consequences for thought and action follow the affirmation or denial of God than from answering any other basic question.
— Mortimer J. Adler, born on this date in 1902

Word of the Day …

… Scalene | Word Genius.

Tuesday, December 27, 2022

Hmm …

… Therese of Lisieux, dangerous saint - Aleteia.

… it’s not by our own efforts that we become holy.

So what are we supposed to do? The paradox is that we’re supposed to do nothing—God does all the work.

This looks great…

… Groucho & Cavett - Watch the Trailer Now | American Masters | PBS. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

A most important piece …

… Conscience, Brain, and Scientistic Pseudo-Understanding,

Part of what is offensive about this rubbish is that a great and humanly very important topic is treated in a jocose manner.  (I am assuming, charitably, that the author did not write his piece as a joke.) But that is not the worst of it.  The worst of it is the incoherence of what is being proposed.

I am not a scientist, though, having having had three lab courses in science (physics, biology, and chemistry) I am sufficiently literate scientifically to have done a good bit of science editing (also medical editing). I think that Covid made it clear that the media these days doesn’t really know science.This article makes clear the nature of the problem. The writer of the piece being critiqued should have asked more questions, rather than just extrapolate on his own. I think I share the views of the writer of the piece, but it’s wise to be careful,

Spot on …

… A Letter to Father Pavone - Crisis Magazine.

What some radical Catholic writers like Leon Bloy and Bernanos meant by the term bien-pensantwould apply to some middle-class Catholics in America who are much more middle class than Catholics. Radical statements rock the boat, and you were unfortunately exceptionally good at a religious form of épater les bourgeois—upsetting the self-righteous and complacent who don’t want their religion to get in the way of their careers or their social relationships. 

Tuneful anniversary …

… things that matter: Flashback to a music hall, the glory, and the dream.

Something to think on …

My greatest desire is that I may perceive the God whom I find everywhere in the external world, in like manner also within and inside myself.
— Johannes Kepler, born on this date in 1571

Word of the Day …

… Attornment | Word Genius.

Monday, December 26, 2022

Genuine wisdom …

 10 Beautiful St. Therese of Lisieux Quotes on Love.

Just so you know …

Climate Alarmism Behind Christmas Energy Shortages.


A novel’s story …

…  Nathan "N.R." Gaddis's Reviews > Take Five. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Q&A ..,

.., ‘Glories Stream from Heaven Afar’ (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Marilyn Robinson interviewed by Daniel Drake and Lauren Kane.

Something to think on …

There's nothing wrong with the world. What's wrong is our way of looking at it.
— Henry Miller, born on this date in 1891

A good man passes away ..,

.., things that matter: Rest In Peace, Mr. President.

Word of the Day …

.., Rhadamanthine | Word Genius.

Sunday, December 25, 2022

Happy Christmas …

things that matter: Amazon and Christmas complicate my life as a bibliophile.

RIP …

… Remembering Ned Rorem | NLS Music Notes. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

I can’t believe I saw nothing about this is the news. I met him once. He seemed very nice. A great compser.

Birthday of a heroine …

… things that matter: Civil War nurse went on to found the American Red Cross.

Poetry amid plague …

To Draw the Mortal Hours: On James Matthew Wilson’s “The Strangeness of the Good”. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)


Wilson distinguishes two meanings of “good.” The first is the more familiar. He would call it sentimental. Wilson’s preferred meaning can be thought of as ontological. “Good Friday, 2013, Driving Northward” has potentially the most banal of premises: the speaker is driving home in the dark, having promised his wife he would arrive before the children wake. Somewhere in the Appalachians, the humblest of events occurs: dawn. Wilson likens it to “deep breathing underneath a blanket, / Where things declare themselves by being what they are within; / So much, it seems, that every blessed thing which comes to light / Stands forth to show its birth from that first fruitful wakefulness.” The poem concludes: “[A]ll is blessing, all is light.”   

Something to think on …

We are aware that globalization doesn't mean global friendship but global competition and, therefore, conflict. That doesn't mean we will all destroy each other, but it is no happy global village, either.
— René Girard, born on this date in 1923

Word of the Day …

… Repartee | Word Genius.

Saturday, December 24, 2022

The spirit of Christmas

.., things that matter: In the Dark Streets Shineth by David McCullough.

That’s for sure …

… The FBI Destroyed Its Once Great Reputation - The Lid.

Where are Roger Smith and Efrem Zimbalit Jr. when need them?

Something true vs. the pathetic Pope …

… Father Frank Pavone to Newsmax: 'Political Advocacy' Defrocking Excuse for Envy | 

These are wonderful …

… Ivanka Demchuk, Christian Artist - The American Conservative. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.

Well worth noting …

Canon lawyer Fr. Gerald Murray on Frank Pavone's dismissal from Catholic priesthood: Only the Pope can issue a decision without appeal | Catholic News Agency.

… 
the Code of Canon Law does not state that the possible penalties for these two offenses include dismissal from the clerical state. Canon 1368 states that a person who utters blasphemy is to be “punished with a just penalty.” Canon 1371 states that “a person who does not obey the lawful command” of his Ordinary “and after being warned, persists in disobedience, is to be punished, according to the gravity of the case, with a censure or deprivation of office or with other penalties mentioned in can 1336, 2-4.” Canon 1336, 5, which is not included in the scope of punishments for a violation of canon 1371, mentions dismissal from the clerical state.

Rest assured …


To be chosen and known and loved by such a woman is not a small thing. It is seeing Mary without him that breaks George enough to make him ask for life, as it is her just anger at him that sends him into the most desperate phase of his downward spiral. When he chases the alternate Mary through the streets, his desperate cry is not “Mary! What have they done to you?” but “Don’t you know me? What’s happened to us?” If Mary does not know him, if Mary does not see who he really is, he must not exist indeed.

In case you wondered …

… things that matter: The Legend of the Christmas Stocking.

For today …

… Christmas Eve by Christina Rossetti | Malcolm Guite. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Word of the Day …

… Flavanol | Word Genius.

Friday, December 23, 2022

A Christmas story …

… Zealotry of Guerin: Poetry and Fiction by Christopher Guerin: Young Santa, by Christopher Guerin.

Read this to your kids.

God bless him …

Mark Twain’s Christmas Wish in 1890.



The original king of cool …

… Four Perspectives on Bing Crosby - by Ted Gioia. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

If he’s remembered nowadays, it’s only during December, when his version of “White Christmas” briefly returns to heavy rotation. Even today, it ranks as the bestselling single of all time. There aren’t many records that last eighty years, and least of all in the record business, but Crosby still sits atop this chart.

Hmm …

You Say You Want a Revolution.

The average American college hopeful would be better off drilling a hole in his head than attending a present-day university. He’d learn about as much, wouldn’t be financially crippled with student debt, and would likely avoid acquiring a variety of sexually transmitted diseases. And if a drill to the head sounds like self-harm, what do you think four to six years of safe spaces, trigger warnings, grievance studies, and neo-Marxist indoctrination amounts to, if not an expensively acquired ritual lobotomy?

Something to think on …

As the saying goes, you might as well be yourself; everyone else is taken.
— Robert Bly, born on this date in 1926

Holiday monster …

… things that matter: Meet the Christmas monster who rules the roost in Iceland.

Word of the Day …

 Mizzle | Word Genius.

Tuesday, December 20, 2022

For the season …

… Reflections on the Chesterton Carol - Benedict XVI Institute.

Moviegoer …

“This Fairground Farce of Light”: Vladimir Nabokov’s “The Cinema” (1928). (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… Nabokov reported writing an essay on the cinema, but if it was ever completed, it does not survive. What we have is this poem: a metropolitan miniature, a confession of love, a gentle parody, and a refusal of snobbery. 

Mind-boggling …

 … The Stanford Guide to Acceptable Words.

These people need to get a life, preferably as far away from our kids as possible. They need to be mocked into deserved oblivion.

Something to think on …

The words! I collected them in all shapes and sizes and hung them like bangles in my mind.
— Hortense Calisher, born on this date in 1911

Masterful …

… Poem of the week: Grey Evening by DH Lawrence | DH Lawrence | The Guardian. (Hat tip, Dave Lull,)

Still worth watching …

… things that matter: Mixed reviews for Christmas movie in 1946.

Tracking the decline …

Bad Words: California Colleges Push Students To Purge ‘Harmful’ Phrases Like ‘Brown Bag Lunch’.

What makes these people think they’re so smart?

Word of the Day …

Renascent | Word Genius.

Monday, December 19, 2022

He’s not the only one …

… though he could ave done something about it: Bezos appears to lose interest in the Washington Post as its tech ambitions wither | Semafor.

How things are …

… Deus Absconditus - The Catholic Thing.  (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

For let us be Catholic for a moment. God does not expect us to lie in the cause of religion, or in any other cause. We cannot claim, or timidly imply, a knowledge that is beyond our means. We accept tradition, and value it on its own terms, which are extravagant enough – neither discounting nor inflating its claim upon us.

A wise maneuver …

…  things that matter: Moving away from here and now by escaping into the past.

Maybe more worrisome than I thought …

 Vatican Removes Fr. Frank Pavone, Pope Francis Plays Key Role | 

As I have said of Dope Francis before (the historically informed will know the reference): Will no one rid us of this turbulent priest? I am opposed to abortion for the same reason I am opposed to capital punishment: It’s wrong to kill people (the child in the womb is a genetically unique individual, not a condition the mother is suffering from; pregnancy is not an illness).

As for my rude reference to the reigning Pontiff, no I don’t want a cluster of knights to kill him. But he is making it difficult for this cradle Catholic — abandoning a key doctrine I was raised to believe. Maybe Francis will cut a deal with Planned Parenthood regarding the sale of organs from aborted children so the Church can gain some revenue. This “vicar” of Christ may end up destroying the Church. God I loathe him.




This is worrisome …

… Vatican dismisses Trump-supporting, anti-abortion leader from priesthood.

I’d receive Communion from Pavone before  I would from the Pope.

In memoriam …

… Ten Years Have Got Behind You.


(Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Something to think on …

Everyone tends to remember the past with greater fervor as the present gains greater importance.
— Italo Svevo, born on this date in 1861

Colonial best-seller …

… Poor Richard’s proverbs preach industry and prudence.

Word of the Day …

… Hardpan | Word Genius.

Saturday, December 17, 2022

Arts and culture in the UK...

...The number of people working in these fields drops considerably  

In case you wondered …

… things that matter: But just how did the Christmas festival originate? 

When orchestras strike …

… Zealotry of Guerin: Poetry and Fiction by Christopher Guerin: Melody.

Life, love, and persons …

… Death, Consolation, and 'Life Goes On'.

… it is a point of phenomenology that love intends to reach the very haecceity and ipseity of the beloved: in loving someone we mean to  make contact with his or her unique thisness and selfhood. It is not a mere instance of lovable properties that love intends, but the very  being of the beloved. It is also true that this intending or meaning is in some cases fulfilled: we actually do sometimes make conscious contact with the haecceity and ipseity of the beloved. In the case of self love we not only intend, but arrive at, the very being of the beloved, not merely at the co-instantiation of a set of multiply instantiable lovable properties.  In the case of other love, there is the intention to reach the haecceity and ipseity of the beloved, but it is not clear how arriving at it is possible. 

Something to think on …

Regardless of what anyone may personally think or believe about him, Jesus of Nazareth has been the dominant figure in the history of western culture for almost twenty centuries... It is from his birth that most of the human race dates its calendars, it is by his name that millions curse and in his name that millions pray.
— Jaroslav Pelikan, born on this date in 1924

Taking off …

… things that matter: Inaugural flight.

Word of the Day …

 Flappable | Word Genius,

Friday, December 16, 2022

I remember this …

… things that matter: President declares state of emergency in Korea.

My own view is that this was unfortunate. It got this country setting itself up as the world’s policeman. We have better things to do with our tax dollars, to say nothing of our young people’s lives. Let the rest of the world take care of their problems themselves. We can help out, of course, as we are in Ukraine.

Quite a trip …

… Christmas at Sea - Word & Song by Anthony Esolen. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Something to think on …

Whoever it was who searched the heavens with a telescope and found no God would not have found the human mind if he had searched the brain with a microscope
— George Santayana, born on this date in 1863

Interesting …

 Nigeness: '(I have always greatly disliked writing)' (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Quite a party …

342 chests of imported tea get dumped at Griffin’s Wharf.

Word of the Day …

… Topstitch | Word Genius.

Thursday, December 15, 2022

A wonderful appreciation …

… The Waste Land at 100 | The Russell Kirk Center. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The Waste Land is full of tattered costumes and hints of consolation, too, but it also attempts to represent the world as it is and why one might wish to escape it. Moreover, it attempts to depict the present moment, the modern world, without sublimation but nonetheless in relation to that which transcends it: the archetypes of myth, the cyclical movements of history. If the fragmentation of poetic language found in Eliot’s poem would lead poetry in a direction from which all clear speech and substantial insights were to be excluded, the poem itself remains one of the most ambitious and strangely successful efforts in our literature to comprehend the vast horizons of history and spirit. In brief, it is a poem of great substance.

The joke that is now higher education …

Scholars work at ‘Decolonizing Light’ to combat ‘colonialism in contemporary physics’.

Not a very funny joke, either.

As part of their effort to decolonize light, the three wrote, they plan to develop courses with indigenous scholars and “Knowledge Keepers” in which indigenous knowledge is elevated and Eurocentric western science is de-centered and scrutinized for its alleged past and present contributions to colonialism.

I think the aim is supposed to be to determine which  is scientifically correct.

 

Something to think on …

Sometimes one word can recall a whole span of life.
— Edna O’Brien, born on this dare in 1930

Just so you know …

4 Christmas Stories You’ve Probably Overlooked.

Word of the Day …

 Untenable | Word Genius.

Wednesday, December 14, 2022

A masterwork …

Cole Porter’s "Night and Day" - A Lasting Song of Longing by John Edward Hasse. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Hmm …

… things that matter: What if we have been wrong about Ebenezer Scrooge?

I think we’ve been reading it right all alongr

Something to think on …

In the country of the story the writer is king.
— Shirley Jackson, born on this date in 1916

Off to a start …

….  Ohio man travels 105’ in just 3.5 seconds in 1903.

Life and the seasons …

 Spending the Winter (Book Review) - CBMW. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Spending the Winter opens with a resurrection poem in which Bottum resolves the bloodshed of Drudic rites and ritualized pagan longings in Easter, just as Easter, in the northern hemisphere, divides winter from spring. Bottum’s primary interlocutor in this first piece is René Girard, to whom the poem is dedicated. Girard’s anthropological study of the relationship between communal violence and ritual religion (Violence and the Sacred, 1972) frames the poem’s argument: Bottum’s young daughter running through the barely blooming dogwoods embodies resurrection hope against the backdrop of human suffering, experienced acutely in pagan rites of “grief / By grief, pain by vengeful pain,” but also echoed in the modern world of wars and ecological disasters where “innocence will come to grief.”

Word of the Day …

 Topiary | Word Genius.

Sunday, December 11, 2022

Well worth pondering …

… things that matter: When was Jesus born? (The answers can be confusing).

The interesting thing about Jesus (I am rather well trained in theology) is that he died a most ignominious criminal death and then within a couple of decades became probably the best known figure in the ancient world who attracted more and more followers and is still to be reckoned with today. 

Poetry and espionage …

As Coleridge would put it, they’d snapped the “squeaking baby-trumpet of Sedition.” Still, Nicolson makes the case that, insofar as poetry can pursue political ends by other means, “Wordsworth and Coleridge were moving faster and further than the most famous radical in England,” John Thelwall. For though their activist friend experienced “failed encounters between the champion of the poor and the poor themselves,” the Somerset poets “were wanting to understand them as people,” not “as a political problem.”

Map Quest …

… things that matter: Recommended map reading and NPS links.

Something to think on …

If I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible what was the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: 'Men had forgotten God; that is why all this has happened.'
— Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, born on this date in 1918

In case you wondered …

… Best Films About Poets, Ranked. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

Word of the Day …

… Perseverate | Word Genius.

Saturday, December 10, 2022

D. H. Lawrence

 

Well, that was a slog. And let me be clear: I don't mean that as a compliment. 

When it comes to Women in Love, I don't even know where to begin: 
  • It was either the case that sex wasn't much fun in 1920, or that D. H. Lawrence couldn't figure out how to write about it. Because I doubt the former is true, I've settled on the latter: for all of Lawrence's references to "loins" and "passion," I must admit, I missed the sex. I mean: I looked for it, and I thought it was coming a few times, but then when it did, it was so thoroughly obfuscated -- so vague and shadowy -- that it amounted to nothing at all. 
  • Women in Love is a novel of two couples: but the personalities of these individuals are so uncertain, and their motivation so unclear, that anything they have to say about love or sex is shrouded in a frustrated veil of philosophy. At least three of these characters have very little background, and the fourth, who is propped up with a generic story about early capitalism, doesn't fair much better: all of these characters approach sex as some moralistic thing warranting endless discussion. But as I say, I wondered by the end whether all this discussion was a sign of Lawrence's simple inability to capture the sex act itself.  
  • You could argue that, despite its title, this is a novel less about love and sexuality than it is about violence, gender relations, and humanity's relationship -- of all things -- with animals. And I suppose all of that would be true. But the fact is: there are other novels about these topics which are more successful, and which were written at about the same time as Women in Love
  • One area where I will concede that Lawrence has charted interesting ground is around love and its association with monogamy. Lawrence's characters -- especially the men -- wonder about this: whether marriage, for instance, precludes the ability to maintain loving, or "eternal," relationships with other men. Put differently, these men wonder whether they can have both: sexual intimacy with women and intellectual companionship with men. Lawrence seems to suggest that this dynamic -- this rivalry -- is a frustrated one, and the novel, which ends by engaging this topic, seems not to fully answer the question. 
I don't mean to be negative, but Women in Love is not a novel to enjoy: it's a big hulking thing without a third dimension. There are ideas here, and there is a vague sense of time: but there's no character and there's no context. I can't imagine sex was as pained in 1920 as Lawrence presents it. Or put it this way -- I certainly hope it was not. 

Choices …

… things that matter: Great history books and a twelve-month reading resolution.

Words of wisdom…

Quotes on Aristotle’s Virtues, From Courage to Wit.

So true …

… Zealotry of Guerin: Poetry and Fiction by Christopher Guerin: Hate.

Something to think on …

Any faith in Him, however small, is better than any belief about Him, however great.
— George MacDonald, born on this date in 1824

Word of the Day …

… Devoir | Word Genius.

Birthday girl …

… things that matter: Much Madness is divinest Sense (Emily Dickinson).

Literary anniversary …

You don’t know about me … but that ain’t no matter.



Thursday, December 08, 2022

Wonderful .…

… Piers Morgan savagely eats juicy steak while interviewing vegan protester: 'I love eating steak' - TheBlaze.


Mark Twain in Paris …

A funny thing happened to me with Mark Twain in Paris..

One of our great Presidents …

Atoms for Peace” speech delivered by U.S. president.



Wisdom …

James Baldwin on the Creative Process and the Artist’s Role to Society – 1962.. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

“Freedom is not something that anybody can be given; freedom is something people take and people are as free as they want to be. One hasn’t got to have an enormous military machine in order to be un-free when it’s simpler to be asleep, when it’s simpler to be apathetic, when it’s simpler, in fact, not to want to be free, to think that something else is more important”

Future traitor leads siege …

… things that matter: Americans hope to win support from Canadians.

Sad …

Poem: “The Revenant”. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Word of the Day …

… Tubbable | Word Genius.

Wednesday, December 07, 2022

Something to think on …

I never had a dog that showed a human fear of death. Death, to a dog, is the final unavoidable compulsion, the least ineluctable scent on a fearsome trail, but they like to face it alone, going out into the woods, among the leaves, if there are any leaves when their time comes, enduring without sentimental human distraction the Last Loneliness, which they are wise enough to know cannot be shared by anyone.
— James Thurber, born on this date in 1894

Remembering a hero …

… That Such Men Lived (UPDATED) - by Juliette Ochieng.

Wondrous …

Poem: “When You Pursue Me, World.” (Hat tip, Dave Lull.

Mark Twain singers in Hannibal …

 … “As the Angels Sang” by Mark Twain Chorale.

It still lives in infamy ……

… another commonplace : Few suspected that it would happen where it did in 1941.

Something to think on …

It takes a great deal of experience to become natural.
— Willa Cather, born oo this date in 1873

Lovely …

… Poem: “L’esthétique de la Ville.”  (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Listen in …

Martin Girard narrates his father René’s “I See Satan Fall Like Lightning” – and now you can hear it, too!

Word of the Day …

…  Ingeminate | Word Genius.

Monday, December 05, 2022

Flight plans …

… another commonplace : Vanishing without a trace into the Bermuda Triangle.

Bravo …

… another commonplace : Vanishing without a trace into the Bermuda Triangle.

As Bette Davis said, growing old ain’t for sissies. I’m 81.

Something to think on …

I think that modern physics has definitely decided in favor of Plato. In fact the smallest units of matter are not physical objects in the ordinary sense; they are forms, ideas which can be expressed unambiguously only in mathematical language.
— Werner Heisenberg, born on this date in 1901

Better late …

… A HOF Rap - BallNine.

In case you wondered …

2022’s Most Sinful Cities in America.

Tracking the decline …

… The 2022 MTC Lysenko Award: And the Winner Is... - Minding The Campus.

Happy birthday …

… another commonplace : Remembering the lady who took me to the market.

Word of the Day …

… Quieten | Word Genius.

Sunday, December 04, 2022

Good advice …


…  it can take Li up to three weeks to finish a novel. “When you spend two to three weeks with a book, you live in that world,” she says. “I think reading slowly is such an important skill. Nobody has ever talked about it, or taught me that. I’m a very patient reader. Even if it’s a very compelling book. I don’t want to rush from the beginning to the end.”

Something to think on …

A great man shows his greatness by the way he treats little men.
— Thomas Carlyle, born on this date in 1795

Ghost ship …

… another commonplace : Found floating, unmanned and abandoned, in the Atlantic.

Word of the Day …

… Vedette | Word Genius.

Friday, December 02, 2022

What the Dickens …

Dickens — public readings then and private readings now.

Let’s hope he sticks around for another century …

World’s oldest tortoise has seen off two world wars and the British Empire.

A movie about poetry …

… Paterson and Poetic Fidelity - Front Porch Republic. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

I liked the film a lot. I was surprised, though, when some people found the scene near then when Paterson lays out a guy waving a revolver with one punch. A bus driver with a proclivity for poetry? Well, he doess seem also to habeen a cobat veteran in Iraq.

Johnstown History …

… another commonplace : Spectacular example of what talent can achieve.

Something to think on …

I am what I am because early in life I decided that I would please at least myself in all things
— Edmond Rostand, who died on this date in 1918 

Happy Birthday, Georges …

… another commonplace : Sunday afternoon on the island of la grande jatte.

Lovely …

… Venice 3: Titian's Assumption | Bryan Appleyard | Flickr. (Hat tip, Dave Lull..)

Word of the Day …

… Prolepsis | Word Genius.

Thursday, December 01, 2022

December Reviews at North of Oxford …

 These Days of Simple Mooring by Florence Weinberger

… The Girl Who Quit at Leviticus by Sueanne Rhodenbaugh.

… Under the Raging Moon – A Drama in Four Acts by Peter Thabit Jones.

… La Clarté Notre-Dame’ and ‘The Last Book of the Madrigals by Philippe Jaccottet (Trans. John Taylor).

… The Vanguards of Holography by Annie Christian.


… New from Poetry Editor, Diane Sahms - City of Shadow & Light (Philadelphia).

A wise priest …

… Fr. Marvin O’Connell: A Historian Who Saw the Past & Future.

O’Connell could be sharp-tongued. He could also be wrong. Several times in the volume he hinted at his own skepticism about the Church’s teaching on contraception. But he also had a bit of the prophet in him. His 1990 address to the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, “An Historical Perspective on Evangelization in the United States: Shifting Concentration of Interest,” looks remarkably prescient three decades later. At a time when Catholics in the United States had achieved a remarkable degree of power and prestige, O’Connell noted the already cratering numbers of priests, baptisms, and weddings. He thought that the American Church had returned to the state of its earliest days—a quest for “survival.”

Just so you know …

… 8 Fascinating Foreign Words With No English Equivalent | Interesting Facts.

Wisdom …

… though maybe nor comprehensible to today’s airheads: The Care And Feeding Of The Mind : Jacques Barzun : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive.

RIP …

… Gaylord Perry, Hall of Fame pitcher who won 2 Cy Young awards, dead at 84 | Fox News.

A duo debuts …

… another commonplace : Mildly successful physician publishes detective story.

Something to think on …

Labels are for the things men make, not for men. The most primitive man is too complex to be labeled..
— Rex Stout, borm om this date in 1886

Exactly like us …

… A Poem by Adam Zagajewski: 'A Provincial Roman Town' - The Atlantic. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

Good advice …

… Jack Kerouac's Belief and Technique for Writing Modern Prose In 30 Bullet Points - Flashbak. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

Word of the Day …

… Deucedly | Word Genius.

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

RIP …

Christine McVie, Keyboardist and Singer for Fleetwood Mac, Dead at 79.

Another birthday boy …

another commonplace : A modest proposal for Irish stewing, roasting, baking, etc.

My sentiments exactly …

A Unified Theory of “Backwardism.”
This sort of either/or thinking is absurd, but they appear to believe this. Such is the only explanation I can conceive for why it is better to close down healthy parishes if the only way they can be salvaged is to fill them with Latin Mass Catholics, or to let seminaries and religious orders die if the only way to perpetuate them is to restore traditional theological or liturgical practices to them. Better to let the Church die off, apparently, than have it fall into the hands of people you think are fundamentally evil.

I am at a loss as to why Jesus doesn’t call the Pontiff  home and have s chat. Happily, I remember that Jesus remains the head of the Church. Francis is only a stand-in.

Q&A …

Independent Author Spotlight: Lars Walker — DMR Books. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

We can be grateful they weren’t used …

… things that matter: President prepared to use nuclear weapons in Korea.

Something to think on

Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred.
— Jacques Barzun, born on this date in 1997

Happy Birthday, Sam …

It’s finally the birthday of the man who mainly told the truth.

Word of the Day …

Scrutator | Word Genius.

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Maybe the end times grow near …

… Census: Christians a Minority in England; Non-religious Grow | Newsmax.com.

A nightmare painting …

… Review of "Leopoldstadt," by Tom Stoppard | City Journal. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Politics, for Stoppard, can only go so far in extricating us from the scourge of politics. A playwright preeminently of ideas, in such works as The Real Thing (1982), Arcadia (1993), and The Invention of Love(1997), Stoppard in Leopoldstadt shows his audience the vanity of ideas, especially political ones, when confronted by the monstrous evil of race hatred.

Something to think on …

The most dangerous ideas in a society are not the ones being argued, but the ones that are assumed.
— C. S. Lewis, born on this date in 1898

Anniversary …

… things that matter: I never tell anyone any story except his own.

Word of the Day …

… Alabastrine | Word Genius.

Monday, November 28, 2022

Happy birthday, Bill — and more …

… things that matter: O clouds unfold! Bring me my Chariot of fire!

Hear, hear …


Are their own voices so compelling that the rest of us are expected to listen, heeding advice which overturns two-thousand years of Catholic Christianity? Are the witness of countless saints and scholars, popes and martyrs, to count for nothing? The authority, no less, of Christ Himself, who made provision for none of the changes being proposed today?

Q&A …

… A Universe Reveals Itself From Within: An Interview with Anthony Bukoski — Hypertext Magazine. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Over a period from, say, 2007-2012, I’d come to the end of the line. J. W. Beecroft, the independent bookstore which hand-sold my books, closed in late 2007. My beloved editor of eighteen years had tired of my work. Then in 2010, Southern Methodist University Press, my home all those years, suspended operations. Sometime during this period, the midwestern representative for Publishers Weeklyhinted she might profile me for the magazine but instead profiled Marilynne Robinson, a better choice. After publishing four short-story collections with SMU Press, I’d gotten to the end.

Something to think on …

There is nothing more vindictive, nothing more underhanded, than a little world that would like to be a big one.
— Stefan Zweig, born on this date in 1881

Weird …

… things that matter: No action on behalf of man claiming to be Billy the Kid.

Word of the Day …

… Nostrum | Word Genius.

Sunday, November 27, 2022

Time for a smile …

… Paul Davis On Crime: A Little Humor: The Off-Kilter Wisdom Of Alfred E. Neuman.

Seems like there may just be …

… Is There a Science of Musical Transformation in Human Life? (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

For our purposes here, it’s more important to focus on the two very different ways our competing hemispheres have of changing the world. For the left hemisphere, we change the world by manipulating and controlling it. For the right hemisphere, we go out into the larger environment and transform both ourselves and our world in a way that feels more like merging or transcending. That is precisely the hero’s journey described in this book, and songs are better tools for that transformation than a hammer or a gun.

I remember him well …

… things that matter: A political career based on war service and war associates.

That damned global warming …

… Snow Extent in the Northern Hemisphere now Among the Highest in 56 years Increases the Likelihood of Cold Early Winter Forecast both in North America and Europe

Cold War memories …

I’m posting this because I remain fascinated by the 1950s,

Something to think on …

As a whole part of "psychological education" it needs to be remembered that a neurosis can be valuable; also that "adjustment" to a sick and insane environment is of itself not "health" but sickness and insanity.
— James Agee, born on this date in 1909

Word of the Day …

…  Dyad | Word Genius.

Saturday, November 26, 2022

Just so you know …

7 of History’s Strangest Coincidences.

Sign up …

… CS Lewis on Christianity | Hillsdale College.

Rhyme and reason …

… Zealotry of Guerin: Poetry and Fiction by Christopher Guerin: Number.

Anniversary …

 things that matter: FDR leads me finally to the Mayflower and my Kindle.

Birds and a legend …

 … A. E. Stallings: Two Poems: Crows in the Wind & The Younger Memnon(Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

A singular masterwork …

… Cole Porter’s Lasting Song of Longing. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Porter’s unconventional harmonic shift from the first to the second theme surprises the listener. His second delivers a gift: instead of the standard 32 bars, we get 48, heightening the lyric’s expression of passion.

Something to think on …

It is a lesson we all need — to let alone the things that do not concern us. He has other ways for others to follow Him; all do not go by the same path. It is for each of us to learn the path by which He requires us to follow Him, and to follow Him in that path.
— Katharine Drexel, born on this date in 1858

Mark thy calendar …

… Priests for Life to host day of mourning for baby whose abortion death was played on NPR - LifeSite.