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
Category: Education
Quote of the Day: Why is History Important?
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?
Regarding Stories
"If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” — Rudyard Kipling In the days before it was fashionable for entire generations of people to believe that the world came into being on the day that they were born, and ended on the day that they died, and that it… Continue reading Regarding Stories
There’s A Reason It’s Pronounced “Maudlin”
Telegraph breaking news: Queen becomes latest victim of cancel culture as portrait is removed from Oxford college. The Queen has become the latest victim of cancel culture after students at an Oxford College voted to remove her portrait. The Queen’s likeness hung in the middle common room (MCR) of Magdalen College, which has a long association with members of… Continue reading There’s A Reason It’s Pronounced “Maudlin”
Can You Hear Me Now Yet?
"Can you hear me now?" was the tag line in a series of Verizon commercials from the early 2000s, touting its nationwide coverage, and the fact that folks from all parts of the country were more likely to be able to "hear" each other via cellphone if they were Verizon subscribers, because of the company's… Continue reading Can You Hear Me Now Yet?
Shadow Lands and Cyber Worlds
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
Andrea Mitchell Puts Her Ivy-League Degree in English Literature* to Good Use
LOL. Dearest Andrea: Don't quit your day job. Love, RWKJ Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor… Continue reading Andrea Mitchell Puts Her Ivy-League Degree in English Literature* to Good Use
Jordan and Camille’s Excellent Adventure
I quite like Jordan Peterson. I don’t agree with everything he says. Occasionally, as do many of his critics, I find him a bit glib and superficial. But if a generation of young men (and even some of their fathers and grandfathers) are going to listen to a social media muse on matters of culture,… Continue reading Jordan and Camille’s Excellent Adventure
School: What Doesn’t Kill You, Makes You Stronger
I'm not generally given to quoting, or even slightly misquoting, Friedrich Nietzsche, but I know the interplay between struggle and resiliency is true in my case. And perhaps, as we go forward in the coming months, figuring out what to do about "school" and "kids" and Covid-19, we'll puzzle our way through to something better… Continue reading School: What Doesn’t Kill You, Makes You Stronger
Movie Review: They Shall Not Grow Old
I just ordered the blu-ray edition of what I think may be Peter Jackson's greatest movie, They Shall Not Grow Old. I say this as a fan of the Lord of the Rings movies to the extent that I binge-watch the three of them every year between Christmas and New Year's Day. I did this… Continue reading Movie Review: They Shall Not Grow Old