Uncategorized
-
“Mahler’s childhood was not idyllic: His first composition (age six) was a Polka with an introductory Funeral March.” —James Penrose, reviewing a new book about Mahler in the November New Criterion (not available online except to subscribers)
-
With great precision and no mess. Perhaps you've already seen this; if not, you should. Be sure to watch the video. The natural world is full of astonishing things. And the more closely we look at them the more astonishing they seem. I recall watching my little dog Andy one night as he considered whether…
-
I may lose it if I hear the word "iconic" many more times in trivial contexts such as "the iconic Thanksgiving dinner."
-
I just saw, for the 20th or so time this week, that annoying pseudo-adage: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Generally it's accompanied by the claim that Einstein said it. I think it was around the 300th time I heard it that I thought wait a…
-
I've been thinking all day (I've had a day off from work) that I should sit down and write something about the election. (Perhaps some outside the U.S. haven't noticed: we just had an election in which a great conservative wave washed over the government.) But I haven't been able to make myself do it.…
-
Do not mess with the Jimmy Dean Sausage fan (warning: contains quite vulgar language). Thanks to Janet for this. I had to wipe away the tears of laughter before I could post it. See, I grew up with people like this, so he's not some exotic crazy to me. In fact I work with a woman who…
-
I should say something about the election, but I don't really want to bother…maybe tomorrow. I don't know why, but I've gotten very interested in the birds I see on my daily walks with the dogs. I find myself really wanting to know their names, what song goes with what bird, and so forth. I'm…
-
A note on the English love of ghost stories, via Andrew Stuttaford at NRO. The link to the story from which he's quoting is broken; go here to read the whole thing. A marvelous gallery of spectral photographs assembled for this week's program at Music from the Hearts of Space (one of my guilty pleasures).
-
We went to eat at R&R Seafood, on the causeway, last night–my wife, daughter, son-in-law, and grandson. When we got there, about 6:30 or so, the western sky had this beautiful band of pure pale green light at the horizon, turning into a sort of pink-orange higher up, then blue. My wife bought herself a…
-
"…more than 30 people stopped to help and pray for those injured in the wreck." (my emphasis)
Light On Dark Water 