All Purls. No Swine.
Dateline July 20, 1969: My immediate family was ensconced in the UK, visiting our grandparents, aunts, uncles and sundry other long-lived relatives and friends before they kicked off, and happy to belong to the tribe that Mr. She would–decades later–come to refer to as the Dúnedain, because of our long-livedness and generally extraordinary compos-mentisness. (A few failures along… Continue reading One Small Step, 55 Years Ago Today
Good grief. Not sure what's wrong with the US military retired, all the way from Generals down to Field Grade Officers. I think it's pretty safe to say that the grunts--the enlisted--the sad sacks, the jarheads, the squids, etc. don't suffer from this foolish nonsense, but honestly! LTC Vindman. General Mark (I'm in China's Corner)… Continue reading Lloyd Austin–For Fuck’s Sake, Don’t Be A Jerk
It is beneficial that the next generation learns about the past for the same reasons that it is important that you remember your childhood. The quintessential question of “what next!” How will we as a society go into the future without knowledge of the past? If we don’t know what we, as Americans, are, how… Continue reading Why is History Important?
I’ve always loved literature. By which I mean, I’ve always loved stories. I was never terribly academic about it, even during my university days, and I’ve certainly never been one of those desperate creatures the like-minded among us used to call (with a sniff), “Serious Students of Lit-ter-a-toor.” They could usually be spotted on Friday nights… Continue reading Shadow Lands and Cyber Worlds–2023
A little over four years ago, I wrote a post–Shadow Lands and Cyber Worlds–in which I reflected, among a few other things, on the books and stories of my childhood, and the life lessons I took from them: Through my childhood and over time, I came to find lessons and truth in these tales of… Continue reading The Death of Imagination
I know many of you know them by heart. I’ve seen some of you say so, on Ricochet, over the past thirteen years. At some point in your lives, you probably had them thrust at you; you might have struggled through them; maybe you cheated with the Cliffs Notes; perhaps you said you couldn’t possibly… Continue reading The First Eighteen Lines: “Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote”
Finding myself wakeful in the middle of the night, I listened for a second time to an excellent discussion--which was brought to my attention on a Ricochet post from a few days ago--between Jordan Peterson and Victor Davis Hanson. It's an erudite (I would expect nothing less) romp through both mens' minds when it comes… Continue reading It’s Still Good Advice From ‘The Moderator’
There are some things that, when they erupt in my life, catapult me instantly back in time, or elsewhere in place or company. Certain smells, and I’m in Granny’s kitchen five or six decades ago. Or, it’s the early 1970s, and I’m cleaning fish on Court Brothers’ wharf in Rustico Harbour, PEI. Or perhaps I’m… Continue reading The Bard of the Yukon: Celebrating Robert W. Service
A few months ago, I was invited, by someone I've known slightly online for a number of years, to join a book club. Rather trepidatiously, I agreed, with the stipulation that I couldn't be much involved for several weeks due to some personal commitments around the same time as their weekly online meetings, commitments which… Continue reading Blessings from the Great Beyond: The Machine That Thinks Like a Man
It is beneficial that the next generation learns about the past for the same reasons that it is important that you remember your childhood. The quintessential question of “what next!” How will we as a society go into the future without knowledge of the past? If we don’t know what we, as Americans, are, how… Continue reading Quote of the Day: Why is History Important?