Wednesday, May 31, 2023

In case you wondered …

 (14) Did Roman soldiers eat pizza? - Quora.

Curtains …

… I’m simply tired of the whole Blogger monologue thing.

Great way to start the day …

… reading twelve books: He enjoyed a gill of this each morning throughout his life.

Plumbing problem …

… Paul Davis On Crime: A Comedy Of Errors: My Broad Liberty Piece On A Look Back At Watergate.

Recalling a catastrophe …

… odds and ends (2023 edition): Flood causes the deaths of more than 2,200 people.

Something to think on …

Either define the moment or the moment will define you.
— Walt Whitman, born on this date in 181

Listen in …

 (9) Vita Beata - The Virtual Memories Show News.

The mystery of τέκτων …

… Jesus the Carpenter, and the Search for Biblical Words | Philip Jenkins. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… if I want to know how early Christians used words, I have to access the Greek Septuagint translation that was their main entry point to the Bible. I repeat a point I have made often enough in the past. If you want to understand Second Temple Bible readings, and the scriptural universe of early Christians, start with the Septuagint.

Poem of the Day …

“Advent” By Matthew King. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Word of the Day …

… Enjambment | Word Genius.

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

My town …

…  https://youtube.com/watch?v=MhvvxoIgNPg&feature=share.

When I was a little kid, and we lived in North Philly, my family used to go shopping there. I got my first Classic Illustrated in the Woolworth’s there. What a difference a few decades can make

Aspiring to sainthood …

… Read Mark Twain’s “Joan of Arc” — It will surprise you …

How sweet …

… Turkish 'Princess' Vows That Islam Will 'Break the Western Cross'.

Appreciation …

William F. Buckley Jr.’s Travel Writings. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

To relieve tedium on long voyages, Buckley gave this recommendation in 1980: “read gluttonously.” Later, in reviewing two volumes, from the Library of America, of travel writings by Henry James, he wrote: “You can close your eyes and open either volume at any page and find yourself reading prose so resplendent it will sweep you off your feet.” The same can be said of Getting About, which deserves a place alongside Buckley’s other travel books (AirborneAtlantic HighRacing through Paradise, and Windfall), as well as his posthumous anthologies (Athwart History, edited by Linda Bridges and Roger Kimball, and A Torch Kept Lit, edited by James Rosen).

Never forget them …

… odds and ends (2023 edition): To all those brave men and women who died in service to this country: May you rest in peace.

On the menu …

… reading twelve books: John Adams really enjoyed this when he was at Harvard.

Something to think on …

A good discussion increases the dimensions of everyone who takes part.
— Randolph Bourne, born on this date in 1886

Poem of the Day …

“Clair de lune” By Jean L. Kreiling. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Who exactly are we?

… Your Identity Is A Trap. Get rid of your story and be free! | by Nihan Kucukural | Curious | May, 2023 | Medium.

In releasing the grip of my identities, I found freedom. Life is a constant process of growth and change, and our identities should evolve along with us, or go away! Being more flexible and open allows us to reach the richness of life and fully engage with the world around us.

Word of the Day …

… Lethologica - Word Daily.

Monday, May 29, 2023

Good …

… Feds charge climate protesters for allegedly defacing Edgar Degas exhibit at National Gallery of Art - ABC News.

For us baseball fans …

… Play Ball! - BallNine

Good for them …

… Jewish protestors raise Israeli flag, sing at Roger Waters concert - The Jerusalem Post.

RIP …

… Claudia Rosett’s Wonderful Life.

What are we to make of this …

Texas High School Postpones Graduation When Only 5 Students Meet Graduation Requirements.

This is surely worrisome …

 AI Makes S**t Up | Power Line.

RIP …

… Ed Ames, Singer With the Ames Brothers & TV Star in ‘Daniel Boone,’ Dies at 95.

Hmm …

‘The Little Mermaid': What the Media Isn’t Telling You About the Film's Box Office Performance.

Serious setback …

… odds and ends (2023 edition): Terrible day for Americans in South Carolina.

Something to think on …

It is absurd for the Evolutionist to complain that it is unthinkable for an admittedly unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing and then pretend that it is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into everything.
— G. K. Chesterton, born on this date in 1874

Anniversary …

… St. Thérèse of Lisieux’s Propitious Pentecosts.

Word f the Day …

… Potation - Word Daily.

Sunday, May 28, 2023

God bless him …

 John Cleese won't remove politically incorrect transgender scene from Life of Brian - TheBlaze.

Anniversary …

… Paul Davis On Crime: On This Day In History Ian Fleming, The Creator Of James Bond, Was Born.

Very good advice …

… What You Need to Know About Rabies | NRA Family.

Ten miles from the battleground …

… odds and ends (2023 edition): He started a world war just up the road from my home.

Anniversary …

… odds and ends (2023 edition): Antics of several drifters who share a house in California.

Something to think on …

To understand the stars would spoil their appearance.
— Patrick White, born on this date in 1912

Today …

… Our Mother-tongue Is Love; A Sonnet for Pentecost | Malcolm Guite. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Word of the Day …

… Hypnagogic - Word Daily.

Saturday, May 27, 2023

Good advice …

… Feeling Discouraged? Try St. Thérèse of Lisieux's 3 Uplifting Resolutions.

Good for them …

… (9) Christopher Columbus's guardians sue Mayor Kenney for punitive damages..

Scary …

… From The Underworld | The Hudson Review. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

POTUS v. SCOTUS …

… odds and ends (2023 edition): Presidential initiative get derailed by Supreme Court.

What now becomes …

… Zealotry of Guerin: Poetry and Fiction by Christopher Guerin: Then, Sonnet #603.

Freewheelin’ Bob …

… odds and ends (2023 edition): None has equaled him in singularity of impact.

Something to think on …

Like an ox-cart driver in monsoon season or the skipper of a grounded ship, one must sometimes go forward by going back.
— John Barth, born on this date in 1930

I fear so …

 (9) Vatican II 'Reforms' Disastrous . . .

Friday, May 26, 2023

Very insightful …

… Martin Amis and the idolatry of style over substance | The Spectator. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Wise guys under fire …

… odds and ends (2023 edition): Senate takes a deep dive into organized crime in the U.S.

Very wise counsel …

… (9) On Her Deathbed - by William F. Vallicella.

Blogging note …

 I am about to take some things to Debbie, who is still in rehab. So I won’t be blogging until later.

Mark thy calendar …

…  Street Photography Workshops..

Poem of the Day …

… The Waking by Theodore Roethke | Poetry Foundation. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

Before the invasion …

… odds and ends (2023 edition): Middle-aged man playing the clarinet tops U.S. charts.

Worrisome indeed …

… Corrupt Bedfellows: SPLC and FBI Working Together to Frame Catholics as Terrorists.

Something to think on …

Thinking begins only when we have come to know that reason, glorified for centuries, is the stiff-necked adversary of thought.
— Martin Heidegger, who died on this date in 1976

Let’s keep them in our prayes …

Traditional Potters In Afghanistan Face An Uncertain Future. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

Word of the Day …

… Guerdon | Word Genius.

Thursday, May 25, 2023

Tracking the decline …

… At High School Debates, Debate Is No Longer Allowed | The Free Press.

Twenty years ago, the NSDA I knew encouraged me to think and speak about how policies and issues impacted different communities. Not anymore. 

Pretty impressive …

… Watch a Fugitive Cow Get Lassoed by a Cowboy on an Active Freeway.

This certainly bears thinking upon …

… (9) Is This The Real Life? Or Just a Fantasy?

Although in principle it’s possible to simulate anything in a sufficiently powerful digital computer, there’s one inescapable difference between being simulated and being real.  If we’re real, we just exist.  If we’re simulated, we exist only so long as the simulation runs.  And since, presumably, the simulation will run only so long as whoever is running it finds it useful or interesting, if we’re living in a simulation, it behooves us to be interesting.

No more traffic jams …

… odds and ends (2023 edition): They lowered the Corvette with his ashes into the grave.

Something to think on …

Power is of its nature evil, whoever wields it.
— Jacob Burckhardt, born on this date in 1818

Good idea …

… Paul Davis On Crime: Protect Yourself From Microsoft Tech Support Scams.

Tunes in your head …

… Where Everybody Knows Your Theme Song. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Things that don't make sense when you say them often sound fine when you sing them. Gilligan's three-hour tour, for instance. Or the theme song to the popular sitcom of the early 1960s, The Patty Duke Show, which explained that the merry mixups that occurred between the two lead characters—both played by Oscar-winning actress Patty Duke—happened because they were, as the lyrics convinced us, "identical cousins."

FYI …

Relics of St. Thérèse will be at Pope’s general audience in June.

Poem of the Day …

… Hamatreya by Ralph Waldo Emerson | Poetry Foundation. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

Word of the Day …

… Collogue - Word Daily.

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Where we are …

(9) 'Nuclear' Thoughts on Bob Dylan's Birthday

Get lost, Roger …

… Roger Waters dresses up as SS officer, compares Anne Frank to Abu Akleh - The Jerusalem Post.


This crap has to stop …

… Right and Proper - The Reading Experience. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

If you don’t approve of a book, don’t read it. But don’t keep others from reading it. And leave the book alone. Check out the First Amendment, and that business about freedom of speech and press. I think that forbids censorship.

River crossing …

… odds and ends (2023 edition): Bridge opened to traffic after 14 years of construction.

Something to think on …

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.
— Joseph Brodsky, born on this date in 1940

Truth, beauty, and faith …

… How the Apostles Spoke of the Beauty of Christ - The Catholic Thing. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

In some respects, these three kinds of preaching could not be more different. One appeals to the Jews’ knowledge of their scriptures and sacred history and holds Jesus as their fulfillment. The speech to the Athenians appeals to the laws of the cosmos, the order of reality, gleaned through wisdom and metaphysics. Both of these argue from general truths, as it were, the truths of history and the truths of being. Paul’s bearing witness at his conversion may seem, by comparison, no argument at all. He merely confesses the great transformation that has been wrought in him by Christ’s word, power, and spirit

Word of the Day …

… Zymurgy - Word Daily.

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Appreciation …

… Martin Amis, R.I.P.  (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Martin Amis, who died on Friday at the age of seventy-three, did not aspire to magnificence in the Wauvian sense. But he almost certainly would have recognized what Waugh meant when he said that in his own age “elegance tends to be more modest.” Unlike many of his contemporaries, especially in America, Amis aspired to—and, I think, ultimately achieved—what Waugh had proposed as a universal ideal for writers: the dutiful cultivation of a highly individual and readily identifiable style.

Natalie Zemon Davis

 


The Return of Martin Guerre is a great piece of historical writing -- and it's been celebrated as a movie, too. In the hands of Natalie Zemon Davis, this story of assumed identities and their eventual unraveling is a magical thing: Davis presents social history with techniques typically reserved for the novelist. Which is not to say that Davis reaches for too much: indeed, her history is well researched and accompanied by extensive footnotes. The point instead is that Davis weaves a narrative which reads like a novel: and yet, it is, in many way, traditional history. I found myself captivated not only by the story of Martin Guerre, but also by the accompanying social and religious context. The sixteenth-century was a period of profound change in France -- as it was elsewhere in Europe. And the ability of Davis to situate the events leading to the eventual return of Martin Guerre is very effective. I finished this book in only a few sittings. It was a pleasure to read: in part because the characters -- the historical characters -- come to life. 

This has to end …

… Campus Diversity Is Campus Jew-Hatred - Seth Mandel, Commentary Magazine.

… DEI cannot be fixed. It cannot be made to accommodate Jews—because Jews are its scapegoat. 

Books a million in 1911 …

… Largest marble structure constructed in the U.S. — 1911.

Listen in …

… The Biblio File hosted by Nigel Beale: Matteo Columbo on Falling in Love with Margaret Atwood.

Something to think on …

 

Nothing is more foreign than the world of one's childhood when one has truly left it.

— Pär Lagerkvist, born on this date in  1891

Word of the Day …

… Argle-Bargle | Word Genius.

Monday, May 22, 2023

Birthday …

… odds and ends (2023 edition): Here was a man with many talents and one strange belief.

Something to think on …

When the soul drifts uncertainly between life and the dream, between the mind's disorder and the return to cool reflection, it is in religious thought that we should seek consolation.
— Gerard de Nerval, orn on this date in 1808

Poem of the Day …

 … Ghalib Some Exaggerations.

Listen in …

… John Sargent on his career in Book Publishing | Latest Episode | The Biblio File podcast hosted by Nigel Beale - presterfrank@gmail.com - Gmail.

Appreciation …

… W. Somerset Maugham: the pleasures of a master by Anthony Daniels | The New Criterion. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Maugham was a highly intelligent, self-aware writer who knew what he was about. To call him shallow is itself shallow. In The Summing Up, Maugham reflects upon why it was that his meetings with expatriates in far-flung places was so important for him as a writer (and helps, incidentally, to explain why many other authors have found expatriate life an inspiration). 

 Maugham happens to one of my favorite writers.

 

Word of the Day …

… Oyez | Word Genius.

Saturday, May 20, 2023

Higher education challenge …

… reading twelve books: Anxious 15-year-old sets off on 12-mile ride to Harvard.

How sad…

… Martin Amis, era-defining British novelist, dies aged 73 | Martin Amis | The Guardian.

He was an engaging writer. Reviewing him was a dialogue. May he rest in peace.

A must-read for sure …

(9) The Queers Versus The Homosexuals - by Andrew Sullivan.

It’s perfectly possible to believe that transgender people exist, but that children may not know who or what they are before they’ve even gone through puberty. I’ll defend the right of adults to define themselves as they wish and take irreversible medical measures as they please. I’d march in defense of those rights. I’m just saying something that we recognize in every other area:children are different. And children should not be self-diagnosing a medical condition. 

Back in the day …

… The Bossa Nova Craze - JSTOR Daily. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The bossa nova may not have dazzled the youth, but it became a symbol of sophistication among the most powerful people in the country. In January 1963, a New York Times cultural column reported that Kennedy administration figures including Secretary of State James Rusk and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara “simply wouldn’t come to the White House to listen to [popular band leader] Fred Waring. You’ve got to give them Sandburg, Shakespeare, bossa nova, Leonardo da Vinci.” By the end of 1963, products from hair cuts to cashmere sweaters to ice cream were using the term “bossa nova” to convey sophistication.

What’s going in my neighorood …

… SOUTH 9TH STREET ITALIAN MARKET FESTIVAL - The South 9th Street Italian Market Festival - Philadelphia.

Appreciation …

… Paul Davis On Crime: An Appetite For Crime: A Look Back At Mark Bowden's 'The Vanishing Blonde And Other True Crime Stories'.

Mark Bowden (seen in the above photo) is perhaps best known for his book “Black Hawk Down” and his other books about the American military, such as “Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America’s War with Militant Islam,” and “Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam.” But in his latest book, “The Case of the Vanishing Blonde and Other True Crime Stories,” he returns to his roots as a crime reporter.  

Up, up and away …

… odds and ends (2023 edition): Woman flies alone and nonstop from Canada to Ireland.

Moving about …

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

Something to think on …

I saw not till now what sin brings with it - that we must tread others underfoot.
— Sigrid Undset, born on this date in 1883

Poem of the Day …

 … Roger Mitchell Giving a Box of Books Away.

Blogging note …

 I live just off the Italian Market in South Philadelphia. This weekend is its annual festival. So I have to go out early for my daily walk — before the crowds get too large. So I won’t be blogging until later.

Word of the Day …

… Estaminet - Word Daily.

Friday, May 19, 2023

RIP …

… Died: Tim Keller, New York City Pastor Who Modeled Winsome...... | News & Reporting | Christianity Today. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

“Fifty years from now,” a CT editor wrote, “if evangelical Christians are widely known for their love of cities, their commitment to mercy and justice, and their love of their neighbors, Tim Keller will be remembered as a pioneer of the new urban Christians.”

In case you wondered …

… The Lure of Orwell | John Wilson | First Things. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

I am struck now by the extent to which Orwell—whom I first read then—remains as pertinent to a soon-to-be seventy-five-year-old as he was to a teenager. At that age, the real world of 2023 was unimaginable (“2023” was science-fictional territory back then). By the same token, what we might call “Orwell’s world,” as meticulously re-created by Taylor, appears even more exotic, more strange, from the vantage-point of today. And yet, thanks to the biographer’s art, we can share for the moment what Taylor calls “Orwell’s gaze,” and we can glimpse him in turn through the eyes of his contemporaries.

Why Johnny could read …

… Learning his lesson: “Heaven to find, the Bible mind.”

All that glitters …

… odds and ends (2023 edition): How to turn a 1933 $20 gold coin into one worth millions.

Something to think on …

There is always something left to love. And if you haven't learned that, you ain't learned nothing.
— Lorraine Hansberry, born on this date in 1930

Hear, hear …

… Hang the DJ - The American Conservative.

As they exist—as they actually can exist—are the three-letter agencies compatible with American self-government? Is FISA compatible with American self-government? Or will these organs and legal mechanisms always lead to entrenched cartels operating without political accountability, pursuing their own ends irrespective of the will of the people? 

Poem of the Day …

… Paul Guest Invitation.

Good …

… Evolutionary biologist shuts down science magazine editor for using a bird to push far-left gender narrative - TheBlaze.

Word of the Day …

… Emmetropia | Word Genius.

Thursday, May 18, 2023

Words of wisdom …

… (9) Reflections on a death, and life on the final frontier..

Expansion is a solution to many of our modern problems, too, I think.  If Earth remains a closed system, it seems almost inevitable that it will wind up a poorer and less free system:  A global surveillance state, with social credit scores, scheming bureaucrats, and probably waves of mass hysteria spread instantly by social media.  In fact, that future is already here to a degree, it’s just not evenly distributed yet

Little wise guy …

… Paul Davis On Crime: A Little Humor: Pi R Squared.

Sounds like me.

Fine work …

… 2023 Members Show.

Anniversary …

… odds and ends (2023 edition): Down in the valley, the valley so low: 1933.

Something to think on …

Anything you can do, I can do meta.

— Rudolf Carnap, born on this date in 1892

The world we live in …

… Paul Davis On Crime: From China With Love: My Broad Liberty Piece On Drug Trafficking From China.

Another poem …

… W. S. Merwin To the Unlikely Event.

Literature born of suffereung …

The Open Presentness of Past Moments: On Gary Saul Morson’s “Wonder Confronts Certainty”. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Lenin is responsible for the remorseless sacrifice of millions of people for the sake of a terror-based Marxism that reminded no contemporary Marxists of the creed. And yet, like a character in Chekhov or Tolstoy, Lenin (as I learned from Sebestyen’s biography) hunted, smoked, read, loved, and was even nice to his family! That Lenin and Stalin were genocidal terrorists who also loved books makes one’s head and heart hurt. If literature makes us better, or inclined to less evil, how much worse would they have been if they hadn’t read Pushkin?

Word of the Day …

… Aureate - Word Daily.

Poem for today …

 A Sonnet for Ascension Day | Malcolm Guite. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

In the mystery of the Ascension we reflect on the way in which, one sense Christ ‘leaves’ us and is taken away into Heaven, but in another sense he is given to us and to the world in a new and more universal way. He is no longer located only in one physical space to the exclusion of all others. He is in the Heaven which is at the heart of all things now and is universally accessible to all who call upon Him. And since His humanity is taken into Heaven, our humanity belongs there too, and is in a sense already there with him.

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

I fear he may be right …

 (9) Negativity: The Spirit of the Left.

Where has sanity gone …

… We Are Objects In Their World THOMPSON, blog..

Any time there is a fundamental disconnect between what is real and what is not, there is a breakdown of trust. The trust between the working class and the mainstream media has long been broken. 

I have my NRA membership decal pasted in my front  window. I am the son of a cop, and the newphew of one. My neighborhood is armed. I also started life in North Philly. I’m street smart and street tough. Really.

That’s for sure …

 … THE TRUST BETWEEN THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA AND THE WORKING CLASS IS BROKEN.

America’s working class is struggling with real life issues, including, but not limited to, economic disparity, racism, sexual harassment, abortion, child abuse, homophobia, mental illness, violence, death, lost love and lost friendship. Yet today’s mainstream media does not reflect this reality. The working class is consistently portrayed by mainstream media as narrow minded, rigid conformists to alt-right conservative family values. This is a fundamental disconnect from reality. 

 I happen to be working class. My mother and grandmother, who raised my brother and me, were factory workers.

Humble beginning …

… reading twelve books: Beginning life in a humble saltbox on a few acres in 1735.

Something to think on …

Since philosophy is a dialogue, there is no reason to suppose that the last one to give his opinion is the one who is right.
— Don Colacho

Unusual music critics …

… odds and ends (2023 edition): FBI investigates rumor of pornographic lyrics in hit song.

The way we were …

… Esther Bubley, Waiting for the Bus at the Memphis Terminal. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

According to OWI documentary director Roy Stryker, Bubley and her photographer colleagues were asked to capture “pictures of men, women and children who appear as if they really believe in the USA. Get people with a little spirit.” [1] Bubley’s Bus Story series from 1943 faithfully included photographs of dutiful Americans patriotically making sacrifices—altering their modes of transportation to save gasoline and rubber for the war effort—without complaining or putting their individual needs first. Like images made by OWI peers including Jack Delano and John Vachon, Bubley’s photographs conveyed the public’s absolute faith in the ability of the United States to win the war.

Poem of of the day …

… Sonnet for Minimalists. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Anniversary …

 On this date in 1925 Therese of Lisieux was canonized by Pope Pius XI.

Word of the Day

… Funicular - Word Daily,

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

This must be addressed

‘Breathtakingly Corrupt' FBI EXPOSED in Durham Trump-Russia Report.

HiFi …

odds and ends (2023 edition): Demonstrating the Magnetophon in San Francisco.

No kidding …

Dershowitz: Durham Report Shows ‘Americans Are Right’ to Distrust Government.

Durham wrote that the FBI relied on “raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence” for its investigation. “The objective facts show that the FBI’s handling of important aspects of the Crossfire Hurricane matter were seriously deficient,” he added.

 I think the FBI may have outlived its usefulness,

Before the revolution …

… tidbits: Battle breaks out in Alamance County, North Carolina.

And the award goes to …

… tidbits: And, yes, there actually was some good news in 1929.

Something to think on …

I want people to talk to one another no matter what their difference of opinion might be.
— Studs Terkel, born on this date.in 1912

FYI …

10 Great Quotes About Poets, Poetry, and Writing by Richard Wilbur. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Appreciation …

Scott Timberg and “Boom Times at the End of the World”: the future that none of us wanted. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

As someone who has shared his struggles to make a living in the collapsing world of cultural journalism, I wanted to focus in this blogpost on his own journey in “Down We Go Together,” beginning in 2008, the year the housing bubble burst, as he was in Portland. He got the phone call so many of us dread (always assuming we have a house in the first place):

Word of the Day …

…. Sisyphean | Word Genius.

Monday, May 15, 2023

As they say …

…get woke, go broke: Is 'Boomer Sooner' Going Bust? University of Oklahoma Donors Pull Money Over DEI.

Words of wisdom …

… (9) Is it Sometimes Rational to Believe on Insufficient Evidence?

…in some cases, to refuse to believe beyond the evidence is positively irrational. A theory of rationality adequate for the kind of beings we are cannot require that belief be always and everywhere apportioned to evidence.
 

Running out of gas …

tidbits: Gasoline rationing begins in 17 Eastern states.

Time is running out …

… What is Mother's Day - Motherhood.

Maye we should defund PBS …

On PBS, Liberal Journalists Trade Tips on Deplatforming Trump for ‘24.How about we defund PBS.

Why should our tax dollars pay for them to promote their political agenda?

Good riddance …

… reading twelve books: Federal government offices ordered out of Philadelphia.

Something to think on …

To be ready is one thing, to be able to wait is another; but to seize the right moment is everything.
— Arthur Schnitzler, born on this date in 1863

Word of te Day …

… Glebe | Word Genius.

Sunday, May 14, 2023

Changing course …

… reading twelve books: Here is a preview of what you will find in this blog.

I guess so …

… Opera Is a Cultivated Taste.

Heads up …

… Rock that struck New Jersey house Monday confirmed to be meteorite | Space.

Appalling …

… Defending Pedophiles? YouTube Silences MRCTV for Calling Out Disgusting USA Today Article | Newsbusters.

Someone should remind YouTube that there are a lot more parents than pedophiles.

Well worth knowing …

… The Face of Water - Google Books. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)


“Hebrew poetry’s structure is mainly in the content, not the form.”

Remembering …

… Paul Davis On Crime: A Little Night Music: The Leonid And Friends Cover Band.

Word of the Day …

…  Hectare | Word Genius.

Last call in Milwaukee …

… tidbits: 7,100 brewery workers walk off the job.

Saturday, May 13, 2023

Laugh clown, laugh …

… Into the Ditch. (Hat tip, Dave Lull..)

The late Malcolm Muggeridge once discussed the macabre phenomenon of “royal humor,” where the monarch is granted laughter in response to practically anything he says. His finest example was of a group of workmen on a hot day, to whom the King of Portugal said, “Hot, isn’t it?”, whereupon they fell about laughing. 

Trouble in Venezuela …

… Tidbits: Vice President attacked by an angry crowd in Venezuela.

What comes to haunt us …

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

Something to think on …

Poets are people who can still see the world through the eyes of children.
— Alphonse Daudet, born on this date in 1840

Poem of the Day …

 … Killarney Clary — Sleep was streams of red and white lights.”

Word of the Day …

… Moiety - Word Daily.

Friday, May 12, 2023

Moriarty in the spotlight …

… Crimes and Detectives: Here is a fast-paced tale featuring an impossible crime.

Interesting indeed …

… Images from NASA's Mars Perseverance rover show evidence of ancient deep rivers - UPI.com.

Very worth reading …

 (10) The Intermission Is Over - by Andrew Sullivan.

Andrew always tells it like it is.

Those were the days …

… Truman Capote In Brooklyn - A Photo Story from 1959 - Flashbak. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

These days …

Ukrainians under siege – in our schools writes Sophie Waugh. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Our little town has been fantastically hospitable to the refugees – we have taken in so many that we were given a royal visit of congratulation and encouragement – so it seemed not only shocking but rather odd. How could so many parents be welcoming and so many children be foul?

Bad day in Charleston …

… reconsiderations: Americans suffer their worst defeat.

Something to think on …

Art and prayer are the only decent ejaculations of the soul.
— Joris-Karl Huysmans, who died on this date in 1907

Word of the Day …

Amanuensis - Word Daily.

Thursday, May 11, 2023

A master …

(

(Hat tip,Rus Bowden.)

Just so you know …

St. Therese Of Lisieux’s Way of Abandonment & Peace.

Time is running out …

… Moonstone Arts Center Submission Manager - World Laughter Day 2023.

Lest we forget …

… Paul Davis On Crime: Nation Marks 50th Anniversary Of End of Vietnam War.

Neat …

… Slant Books on Twitter: "Forthcoming from @SlantBooks https://t.co/16nMB2iiDJ" / Twitter. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Crime and poetry …

CHARLES REZNIKOFF: THE FINEST NOIR POET YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF. (Ha tip, Dave Lull.)

Every poem in “Testimony” is an all-American tragedy. People are shot over firewood and bad bets and bad marriages; crushed beneath trains and horses and industrial machinery; jailed, evicted, and left to die. Every line is stripped down to the starkest details. 

Peculiarly insightful …

… My Shoes by Charles Simic | Poetry Foundation. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.):

I once spent very pleasant evening with Charles Simic..

Remembering …


Brahms would have turned 190 on May 7. (Hat tip Rus Bowden,)

Appreciation …

… Paul Davis On Crime: Joseph Wambaugh: The Man Who Invented The Modern Police Novel.

A good year for drivers …

… reconsiderations: When automobiles were made safer and more efficient.

Perspectives …

On a Rain Barrel. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Appreciation …

…. The Neo-Latinate Imagination of Joseph Bottum | Acton Institute. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Encountering Bottum’s English versions of Latin poetry provoked the thought in me that this has always been his own natural idiom. Latinate and aphoristic, sagely observed but—with important exceptions—lacking in the precise observation of minutiae necessary for realism. 

Something to think on …

The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence.
— Jiddu Krishnamurti, born on this in 1895

Word of the Day …

… Fardel - Word Daily.

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

James Dickey


Deliverance is one of those novels that I had long avoided: I'd heard enough about the movie to understand that it wouldn't be a pleasant read. And it's not. It's a gruesome read: full of violence, depravity, and gore. I must say, I'm not sure what to make of novels like this: books which lean so heavily toward plot and character, but which are less focused, perhaps, on what might be called "themes." True, Dickey introduces a number of motifs, including the tension between urban and rural populations; and there is an exploration of masculinity in the model age, too. All of this is present and apparent. But beyond that, it was a lot of plot, and a lot of rowing down the river. I don't necessarily fault Dickey for this: Deliverance is full of suspense, and well narrated. I wish, though, that it had gone beyond the violence and despair, and had explored the emotional landscape of its characters. After all, these characters are pushed to the limit, and after being exposed to such sudden acts of savagery, I thought that Dickey would cast more of a light into their emotional response. That response is not always present in Deliverance, but the brutality is: and perhaps that's the point -- there's no escaping it.

Influences …

… Of Songs and Stories: What Bruce Springsteen Learned From Flannery O’Connor. (Hat tip, Zoe Colvin/Higgie.)

How could a believer such as O’Connor see the world as she portrayed it in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” “Good Country People,” “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”? “To the hard of hearing you shout,” O’Connor explained, “and for the almost-blind you draw large and startling figures.” Grotesques, really. “The characters are not ‘likeable,’” Joseph O’Neil writes in 
The Atlantic, “but my God they are alive.” The very same thing could be said of characters one finds in Nebraska.

Inflow …

 (10) On the Water Front - by William F. Vallicella.

The drama of exile …

 “The Unkillable Poor”: Dana Gioia and Alexander Voloshin at the Crossroads. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

It's not easy being green …

 reconsiderations: Man transformed after accidental exposure to gamma rays.

Something to think on …

The conservative who resists change is as valuable as the radical who proposes it.
— Ariel Durant, born on this date in 1898

Word of the Day …

… Plenilune - Word Daily.

Sunday, May 07, 2023

Insightful …

An American’s View of the Coronation.

If the coronation of Charles III seemed quaintly anachronistic, it was also moving in an irreducibly pertinent way. All the antiquities involved in the event—the 12th-century wooden coronation chair, the silver coronation spoon from the same era—were more than stage props. They, like the ceremony as a whole, were so many cords of memory binding the nation together through time. 

Experientia docet …

… Paul Davis On Crime: My Washington Times 'On Crime' Column: 'One Day In August: Ian Fleming, Enigma And The Deadly Raid On Dieppe.

FYI …

… The Instructive Obscurity of Scripture - The Catholic Thing. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

I knew one institution …  that had at least a plausible claim to such an authority. It was the religious institution I had been originally raised in. That institution, the Catholic Church, had an extra-biblical, historical claim to interpretive authority, one I could evaluate without claiming to be the ultimate judge of the Bible’s meaning.

Power to the people …

… He designed what’s in almost everything you plug in.

Word of the Day …

… Gelastic - Word Daily.

Something to think on …

It is very simple to be happy, but it is very difficult to be simple.
— Rabindranath Tagore, born on this date in 1861

Saturday, May 06, 2023

Talk about prophecy …

 … Life Is Worth Living — Episode 1 (1952).

Complete control …

… reconsideration : Computer controls house even after death of occupants.

Very interesting …

… Did Fulton Sheen Prophesy About These Times?| National Catholic Register.

There is only one path out of the chaotic conditions, the concerned bishop revealed. “The only way out of this crisis is spiritual, because the trouble is not in the way we keep our books, but in the way we keep our souls. The time is nearer than you think.”

 

So many and yet …

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

Something to think on …

Every oak tree started out as a couple of nuts who stood their ground.
— Henry David Thoreau, who died on this date in 182

Poem of the Day …

 …Rita Dove — The Satisfaction Coal Company.

Word of the Day …

Sprachgefûühl - Word Daily.

Friday, May 05, 2023

High seas adventure …

… How an inventor became a murderer’s worst nightmare.

Good for her …

.

… she interviews three fellow journalists: Michael Isikoff, Jane Mayer, and Mark Leibovich. All three rhapsodize about the good old days of typewriters and beer in the newsroom. Yet all three reporters themselves exemplify how the media have killed themselves over the last several years and why the rise of the internet and social media has stripped reporters of the credibility they used to have. The ink-stained wretches just can’t get away with anything anymore.

Once upon a time …

… reconsideration : 37 year old achieved perfection in Philadelphia in 1904.

Something to think on …

The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.
— Søren Kierkegaard, born on this date in 1813

Exceptional insights …

… Curtis Sittenfeld is the great American observer(Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Sittenfeld (born 1975 in Ohio) is a novelist. Like all the great ones, her perceptions are more accurate about real life than most nonfiction writers’ could claim. In Prep (2005), she skewered American class in the story of a Massachusetts boarding school; Sittenfeld herself went to private school at Groton. In Rodham (2020), a novel about Hillary Clinton, she nailed today’s politics. And, in her best book to date, American Wife (2008), a thinly disguised novel about George and Laura Bush, she filleted the American approach to inherited money, and the swaggering confidence it produces. Now, in Romantic Comedy, we get the Sittenfeld insight into a new phenomenon — celebrity of the modern age