Just as I was lamenting the ripening fruits of the conclusions found in The  Closing of the American Mind, written about in a best-selling book authored by the late Allan Bloom in 1987, along come two pieces on the Intellectual Dark Web: Veritas! The above references an opinion article by Bari Weiss of the NYT which can be found here: The Audacity of Learning How to Think! Underground or “dark” answers to withering institutions, totalitarianism, etc., have endured from time immemorial.  As refreshing as they may be, they note soundly the inherent deficiencies in the above ground they are created to mirror. More can be … Continue reading Light, Through a Web Darkly

The article link below is courtesy of the WSJ…. Wendy’s and Me The rule of law works effectively and efficiently only so long as those to whom it applies are in general agreement as to its purpose and need. Continue reading Can You Hum this Chinese Variation on the Cloward-Piven Strategy?

The extent airlines will go to eat off unbroken China! “Gild a Farthing if You Will, Yet It Is a Farthing Still” “Things are Seldom What They Seem”, Gilbert and Sullivan, HMS Pinafore Buttercup. Things are seldom what they seem, Skim milk masquerades as cream; Highlows pass as patent leathers; Jackdaws strut in peacock’s feathers. Captain. (puzzled) Very true, So they do. Buttercup. Black sheep dwell in every fold; All that glitters is not gold; Storks turn out to be but logs; Bulls are but inflated frogs.Captain. (puzzled) So they be, Frequentlee. Buttercup. Drops the wind and stops the mill; … Continue reading China Unbroken

Beginning of the Finnish? Or the Finnish of the Beginning? Continue reading Finns Prove Tom Sawyer Wrong?

“Coffee sellers will have to post ominous warnings in California because each cup contains a chemical linked to cancer, a judge ruled.” So goes the byline to yet another decision on disclosures. And in the midlle of the article the legal reasoning for the decision: “Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle said  that the coffee makers hadn’t presented the proper grounds at trial to prevail.” Can’t Get Up Ealier Than a Kiwi for Your Java   Continue reading Thanks a Latte’

I have to admit, that from time to time a headline from a supposedly newsworthy source really grabs my attention.  This particular one from the Paris-based AFP (Agence France-Presse) certainly did.  But it wasn’t the one above, and if you have bothered to read this far, here is the link to the article that got my attention. Clicks Count “Sexual extravagance can be deadly: study” might grab anyone’s attention or is it just me?  Well anyway, the article, badly written as it is, must not have been written by someone steeped in scientific reporting, as confusing as it seemed to me, errors … Continue reading Time to Clam Up? Or Differences Between Male and Female Ostracods Result in an Increased Risk of Extinction?

FaceBook (FB) has swiftly encountered the obvious limits on censoring free speech with its recent attempt to cite as “fake news” an obviously satirical news item posted on Babylon Bee (BB) but shared on FB through the BB’s FB account. That FB flagged this item shows its “spurious news” detection system has distinct shortcomings and even more sadly, no sense of humor. Here is the BB story: Spin, Spin, Spin The Spin Cycle Set to Music (Thanks Wagner!) Now for the Snopes.Com judgement that I am sure took its venerable researchers but a moment to conclude that the BB story … Continue reading Swift to Judgement?

Public address systems are not uncommon in Japan and are regularly used. Whether it is a notice about a lost purse in the Harajuku District of Tokyo, or a fire in a rural community on Kyushu, public address systems are used often. In rural Kyushu I have even been awakened at 6 a.m. to the sound of an announcement which, as I later discovered, had little immediate import. Anyway, the public address systems in Japan are not just decorative. For the 2017 launches of North Korean missiles which flew over parts of Japan (particularly the northern island of Hokkaido), the … Continue reading Siren Song of 2017