December 3, 2021
In case you didn’t know:
“Let’s Go Brandon!” means “Fuck Joe Biden!” The latter phrase was chanted at some NASCAR event and the sportscaster mis-heard it as the former, referring to a race driver named Brandon Brown.
And so a new rallying cry has entered the American…
November 29, 2021
The biggest fact of life is death. Life’s purpose is preparing to be dead for a very long time. How do we do that?
Some try to evade the issue by anticipating an afterlife. But one suspects few truly believe it, deep down. …
November 26, 2021
“The Deep State” refers to a locus of true power, hidden, pulling strings behind the scenes. Journalist David Rohde discussed his 2020 book about this, at the New York State Writers Institute’s 9/25 Albany Book Festival.
No, Rohde’s book did not expose the Deep State. …
November 22, 2021
Last week I went to the Baltimore coin show. Normally thrice yearly, it hadn’t been held for two years, due to Covid. …
November 19, 2021
In 1977, when Avon published my fantasy novel, my middle initial was omitted on the cover. So we got a tart letter from the other Frank Robinson — Frank M. — a more prominent writer. Thought his name was being ripped off.
I’d never read any of…
November 14, 2021
You’re walking in a forest and find a watch on the ground. Seems obviously the intentional creation of an intelligent designer. Applying this analogy to all creation has always been a central argument for creationism or “intelligent design.” Originally introduced by William Paley’s famous 1802 book Natural…
Comedian Dave Chappelle had a history of offending some trans activists. His latest Netflix special, Closer, focusing on that subject, sparked a firestorm. Netflix was assailed and picketed, some employees joining in, demanding the show’s cancellation.
My wife and I decided to watch it, to see what the fuss was…
November 6, 2021
Didius Julianus was the Roman Emperor who bought his crown at auction.
Here’s the story. The madman Emperor Commodus (the one in Gladiator) was murdered on the last day of AD 192. Succeeded by Pertinax, an upstanding statesman. He tried to discipline the Praetorian Guard, an elite…
November 2, 2021
Robert Boyers’s 2019 book, The Tyranny of Virtue, decried the woke left campus culture’s oppressive censoriousness. My 2020 review* ended by noting that the infection hadn’t much spread beyond academia. But already that needs a revisit.
The Economist recently had a cover story about this. It begins…
October 27, 2021
Ted Ngoy came to America, a refugee from Cambodia’s genocide, with nothing but some family members — and great drive. Worked hard at various jobs, one in a donut shop, where he learned the business. Then he started his own. Leading the way for fellow Cambodian refugees…
