Legal humor here. “The fixtures in this place have a mind of their own.” “Apparently, there’s a five-minute time limit on everything.” “As a matter of fact, this is the last of the hot water. And I’m damned well going to keep it, too!” “If it has feet, stay away!” “Lady, you can get my…
NYT reports on “intense debate” within the Obama Administration by quoting Republicans
There’s an “intense debate” going on within the Obama Administration over how aggressive the U.S. should be in countering Vladimir Putin’s semi-invasion of the eastern Ukraine, according to New York Times reporters Peter Baker and C.J. Chivers. Should the U.S. continue to “coordinate” with European nations, or should it act alone? So far, Mr. Obama…
James Thurber, A Reader’s Guide
INTRODUCTION This is the eighth episode of “James Thurber, A Reader’s Guide,” a rambling consideration of Thurber’s works, examining his life and work in some detail. Generally, these appear every Friday, unless I happen to be pushing something of my own or I happen to write something extra long on Thursday, which is why this…
Marx + Foucault = Piketty
With the possible exception of Chelsea Clinton’s baby bump, no one is getting more press these days than Thomas Piketty, author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century, which has lefties like Paul Krugman all in a lather. “Inequality is the new black!” they exclaim. “We’re going to win this mother!” Piketty’s basic pitch, delivered through…
Mr. Will writes the Constitution. Again.
When I was in college, I had an idea that was so profound that, even now, I find it hard to believe that I actually had it, but I did. The situation was this: back in the day, Oberlin College had a graduate school of theology, with a wonderful old library, of some 50,000 volumes….
“The Jeep’s Blues”—It’s no hustle
If you saw American Hustle you know the tune that starts and ends the film, “The Jeep’s Blues,” performed by the Duke Ellington orchestra. This is the tune that brings Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) together. I rather doubt that many seventies strippers and conmen were into fifties Ellington, but whatever….
Carlos Slim Helú? Who he?
Michael Barbaro has an intriguing story in the New York Times today on the finances of Jeb Bush (spoiler alert: they’re not pretty), but even more intriguing to me is the following: As a paid adviser to [failing Wall Street giant Lehman Brothers] in the summer of 2008, he met with Carlos Slim Helú, a…
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here. “Laugh your ass off. When I get audited, I’ll get to keep the shell.” “Because I’m a happening terrapin, that’s why.” “I’ll go goddamn digital when I’m goddamn good and ready.” “Shells are strong, but knowledge is stronger.” “Because memory is the mother of all wisdom, mon frére.” “Because I’m 125 and…
Literature R Us Explained. Again.
Since I’ve added a new book to the site—Vorak of Kolnap—I thought I would indulge myself and give a bit of a guide to the site. I’ve done this before, so it it’s old hat to you, skip it. I started this site to promote my unpublished if not unpublishable fiction, but that old mutatis…
Great violins, like great wines, only get better with age. Or not
Kudos to Alice Robb at the New Republic for letting us in on the following: A paper1 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of researchers led by Claudia Fritz, an acoustics expert and professor at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris, asked ten renowned violin soloists to select…