Posted inCulture
We’ll miss you, Paul Harvey
Those of us who love radio love the human voice. Few, if any, voices were as beautiful as Paul Harvey's. I can remember listening to him when I was a…
Posted inBook review
Mini book reviews
This is mostly catch up...I'm spending my free time getting ready for a talk on the 15th... A History of the Vikings Gwyn Jones Oxford University Press Recommendation: read If…
Posted inBook review Culture
Class: A Guide Through the American Status System by Paul Fussell
Recommendation: read When Fussell wrote in 1982 (and published in 1983), he said that acknowledging the class divisions that exist in America exist was poor form and that doing so…
Posted inFun
Mental Magic and Psychology
I say, Thank God Penn & Teller reveal the workings of their magic tricks. We're all used to it now, but when they first got going they caused a lot…
Posted inCulture
Reasons the Apocalypse is not near
For reasons that are obvious to all, I have have been studying the imminent arrival of the apocalypse. Whether you are a Christian millenarian, or you thought the Mayans were…
Posted inCulture
The sad decline of music: Cole Porter vs. The Beatles
Paul McCartney has once again crept upon our shores. He was, of course, vanguard in the original "British Invasion", which occurred in early 1964. Now, an invasion is something to…
Posted inCulture
The sad decline of music: Billy Strayhorn vs. Drake
Inarguably, hip hop (rap) is one of the leading pop music genres; at least, it is one of the loudest. I did not know which hip hop singer to choose…
Posted inBook review
Closing Time, by Joe Queenan
Closing Time: A memoir by Joe Queenan Viking Recommendation: Borrow from a library if you're going fishing and think you won't be catching much. Joe Queenan's dad was a self-defeating…
