January 2009
-
From Douglas Woodruff, in Evelyn Waugh and His World: [Waugh] said that one of the particular pleasures of being a father was when the children believed what they were told, and he would point to the golf links near Dursley and expound how it was a punishment ground or exercise yard in which poor colonels…
-
…reading the newspaper online in 1981. Then you'll probably want to try to forget. This comes via Will, who observes: “The caption ‘Owns Home Computer’ is the funniest part. Who knew that those Internets would become so powerful? Now we just have to figure out what all these young people with their FaceTubes and GoogleyPods…
-
This is a collection of reminiscences of Waugh by various people who knew him, edited by David Pryce-Jones. I checked it out of the college library many months ago, read about half of it, got a bit bored with it, and put it aside for a while. But since I’m a staff member and am…
-
This is a slightly dishonest post, because apart from a few graceful short stories I’ve read nothing of Updike. So I can’t say we’ve lost a giant of literature etc. Mainly I just want to quote this remark of his, which appears in a Washington Post obit (hat tip to Clairity), on the subject of…
-
Via Will, an amazing ginormous pannable-zoomable picture of the inauguration. Play with it and you'll be amazed at how much detail you can see. For instance, if you knew someone sitting on the top row of the seats sort of directly across from you, in front of those trees, you'd be able to identify them—maybe…
-
An interesting and sometimes amusing set of reactions at Crunchy Con. (I think it is, as you know.) Pre-TypePad http://js-kit.com/for/lightondarkwater.com/comments.js
-
For an executive order prohibiting the use of “enhanced interrogation” aka torture. See Waterboarding Is Torture…Period from a source that, to say the least, can’t be accused of being either naive or ignorant on the subject. (I’ve previously written about torture here and here.) And one quiet sigh of relief that Wednesday has come and…
-
As I never tire of saying, I am not a philosopher or theologian. But to the extent that I understand it, I’ve always thought St. Anselm’s ontological argument for the existence of God strange, intriguing, and unconvincing. I didn’t know until this morning that Anselm’s is not the only ontological argument, and that they all…
-
From Julianne Wiley via Daniel: Pre-TypePad http://js-kit.com/for/lightondarkwater.com/comments.js
-
Ok, the whole country, even those of us who were not Obama supporters, is justified in feeling a warm glow about the fact that a man of mixed race has been elected to our highest office. (I find it difficult to refer to him as “black,” since he really isn’t, in either the literal or…
Light On Dark Water 