Speaking of the ability to create something that simultaneously impresses me with its craftsmanship and with its appearance of spontaneity, take a peek at Monday’s Jon Carroll. Yes, it’s yet another dopey note where a middle-aged computer-illiterate discovers that Microsoft…
So, Bobby Short died the other day. This is, in its way, bad news; I never met him or heard him, and it appears that my library contains all of three of his songs, but I appreciate his stuff. In…
It’s not clear how Your Humble Blogger missed this, but the OCLC has a list of the Top 1,000 library books, that is, the books owned by the most libraries in the greatest abundance. It’s not clear to me what…
OK, Gentle Readers, you know how, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy lands a house on the Wicked Witch of the East, thus freeing the Munchkins from bondage? Right? What evidence is presented to us of that tyranny? The…
Your Humble Blogger is sufficiently traditional to have all of two—two!—glasses of wine on Purim. I find the wine blunts how horrific the story is, although two glasses ain’t enough. Anyway, a;thdpuh O’, scarce;u a teetpta;er, twp g;asses ps ,ptr…
A couple of weeks ago, Your Humble Blogger had occasion to note recent Hugo-winning novels, and the one that looked most intriguing was Hominids. I picked it up at the library, and it was a pretty quick and enjoyable read….
Your Humble Blogger had fond memories of Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates. Sadly, I went and ruined those memories by re-reading the thing. Yeesh. Yes, I know, it was published in 1865. But I cannot believe that even in…
This week’s reading is Parshah Tzav (Leviticus 6:1-8:36). It consists, primarily, of instructions for Aaron and the cohanim, and the actual anointing. There’s a lot of interesting stuff here, primarily in Chapter 8. I was unaware that Moses had washed…
In comments, [name redacted] asks What do you believe are the keystones of fascist rule, and how are they measurable? As I was slow to respond, he wrote a longish but cogent analysis of our own system, and how it…
So, you know how when you mosey around a museum looking at stuff, you feel totally self-conscious about whatever you say? I mean, Your Humble Blogger is like to say things to my Best Reader (either seriously or as jokes)…