Yes, one can hope that Osama Bin Laden was not as “lucky” as Gavrilo Princip, the Serbian nationalist/terrorist who assassinated Arch Duke Ferdinand of Austria in the summer of 1914 and unleashed the dogs of war as they had never been unleashed before. The arch duke’s murder was seized upon by the military aristocrats at…
Author: Alan Vanneman
Apologizin’ for the fonts
Google has a new blogging system—which is why the fonts are lookin’ so lame these days. I hope I’ll get the hang of it in a month or so.
Divorce, Anglican style—a sheer series of accidents? I don’t think so.
I’ve been reading Diarmaid MacCulloch’s big, fat, excellent history, The Reformation. Near the end of the book, discussing divorce, he says that “Alone among Reformed Protestant polities, England did not introduce a divorce law, and that stemmed from a sheer series of accidents.” According to MacCulloch, Archbishop Cranmer had a divorce law all ready to…
Who are the Apple Police?
The bad news is that Apple has lost another iPhone. The good news is that they have the San Francisco police helping them look for it. The SF Weekly fills us in on the “bizarre saga” of the missing iPhone 6 prototype here. SF Spokescop Troy Dangerfield, who definitely has the name for the job,…
Metropole Orkest-Scott Routenberg (arr.) “Little Rootie Tootie,” Vince Mendoza, Roberta Gambarini
A vocal version of “Little Rootie Tootie”? I’m there. Metropole Orchestra Arrangers Workshop live concert February 18, 2011 at Lantaren Venster, Rotterdam. Thelonious Monk’s “Little Rootie Tootie” arranged by Scott Routenberg; Vince Mendoza, conductor; Roberta Gambarini, vocals and lyrics. Monk’s original piano solo is transcribed in the vocal part and orchestrated. Posted by “scottjazz78”.
Lost in the Ozone
Poor President Obama! When he murders innocent kids in Central Asia, I attack him. When he cancels overly restrictive regulations of ozone and promotes a pipeline to bring Canadian oil to the U.S. to fuel our economy, Ralph Nader attacks him. Yes, Ralph Nader, the guy who gave us Dub-Ya, is still talking, still bitching,…
Let Chris do it!
Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republican who would kill Medicare, the man without fear, is sort of wishing that some Republican would do something that he’s afraid to do—run for president. “It is not too late,” Ryan tells Politico. “Look it is 2011 still. The election is in 2012.” I give the guy credit. He has…
Egyptology II; Plus, Eunuchs!
I’m back to piling on Francis Fukuyama (see below), who totally disses not only “Western Civilization” but the Ancient Middle East as well in order to glorify the role of China in his recent book The Origins of Political Order. For Fukuyama, channeling Max Weber, “civilization” really means “an impersonal bureaucracy possessing a monopoly on…
Matt Welch and Hillary Clinton: Whom is meaner?
Hillary Clinton—“I make a mean tossed salad.” Matt Welch—“ I can still do a mean box-step, if pushed” As Lily Tomlin, channeling Jane Wagner, once said, “No matter how cynical I get, I can never keep up.”
Steven Brill, not entirely brilliant
I’ve been reading Steven Brill’s Class Warfare, his free-swinging account of the latest chapter in America’s ever-continuing education wars. Filling us in on the historical background, Steve tells us how Albert Shanker’s American Federation of Teachers pumped up starting teachers’ salaries in the Big Apple from $5,300 in 1962 to $45,530 in 2007, “more than…