George Packer, writing in the February 27 New Yorker:
An authoritarian and erratic leader, a chaotic Presidency, a supine legislature, a resistant permanent bureaucracy, street demonstrations, fear abroad: this is what illiberal regimes look like. If Trump were more rational and more competent, he might have a chance of destroying our democracy.
Here is a breathtakingly beautiful performance by Blossom Dearie: “They Say It’s Spring” (Bob Haymes–Marty Clark). Blossom Dearie, piano and vocal; Herb Ellis, guitar; Ray Brown, bass; Jo Jones, drums. Recorded September 1957. From the album Give Him the Ooh-La-La (Verve, 1958).
I’m still making my way through my dad’s CDs: Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, Ivie Anderson, Louis Armstrong, Fred Astaire, Mildred Bailey, Count Basie, Tony Bennett, Art Blakey, Ruby Braff and Ellis Larkins, Clifford Brown, Dave Brubeck, Joe Bushkin, Hoagy Carmichael, Betty Carter, Ray Charles, Charlie Christian, Rosemary Clooney, Nat “King” Cole, John Coltrane, Bing Crosby, Miles Davis, Doris Day, and now, Blossom Dearie. One shelf down, seven to go — which might suggest that a fairly even distribution through the alphabet. But not so: Frank Sinatra, Art Tatum, and Mel Tormé take up two of the seven shelves.
I wish I could tell my dad how much I love this song. My guess is that he loved it too.
Also from my dad’s CDs
Mildred Bailey : Tony Bennett : Charlie Christian
Carlo Rovelli says that “for now, this is what we know of matter”:
A handful of types of elementary particles, which vibrate and fluctuate constantly between existence and non-existence and swarm in space even when it seems that there is nothing there, combine together to infinity like the letters of a cosmic alphabet to tell the immense history of galaxies, of the innumerable stars, of sunlight, of mountains, woods and fields of grain, of the smiling faces of the young at parties, and of the night sky studded with stars.Seven Brief Lessons on Physics is a wonderful book for elementary particles like me.
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, trans. Simon Carnell and Erica Segre (London: Penguin, 2016).
Behold “library hand,” or a simulation thereof. It’s penmanship for librarians writing out catalogue cards. Sometimes (still) seen on the spines of older library books. Thanks to Gunther at Lexikaliker for passing on this link (by way of Boing Boing).
I made the sample above with Dewey Library Hand, a free font that emulates one variety of library hand.
Related reading
All OCA handwriting posts (Pinboard)
A catalogue-card generator (Typed, not handwritten)
From the Gilmore Girls episode “Lorelai’s First Cotillion” (October 10, 2006). The ever-driven Paris Geller steps in to correct an SAT tutor who has told a tutee that “It’s a good sentence, but you want to make sure never to end with a preposition”:
“If she ended the sentence with a preposition, how could it have been a good sentence? It sounds like a terrible sentence.”Now that’s clever writing. Paris would do well to read Bryan Garner. From Garner’s Modern English Usage:
“Well, I just . . .”
“You were just coddling her. You wanna prop her up on your knee and burp her? Maybe buy her a pony? I’m not paying you to make her feel better about her incompetence. If she can’t construct a proper sentence, how is she gonna pass the essay section of the SAT?”
“Well . . .”
“That was rhetorical! Carry on.”
The spurious rule about not ending sentences with prepositions is a remnant of Latin grammar, in which a preposition was the one word that a writer could not end a sentence with. But Latin grammar should never straitjacket English grammar.Notice that Garner goes out of his way to violate the spurious rule. (He could have written “the one word that could not end a sentence.”) Also from GMEU:
Perfectly natural-sounding sentences end with prepositions, particularly when a verb with a preposition-particle appears at the end (as in follow up or ask for).And as in carry on.
[In a movie theater.]
“It’s so dark in here.”
Related reading
All OCA “overheard” posts (Pinboard)
William Deresiewicz:
It is not the proponents of a liberal arts education who are the elitists; it is those who would reserve it for a lucky few. If you think the humanities have any value, whether as a doorway to enlightenment or just as cultural capital, then they are valuable for everyone and should belong to everyone.I’m reminded of something I wrote in a 2015 post: “The idea that the humanities are for ‘rich kids’ is one that any humanist must reject.”
Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life (New York: Free Press, 2014).
The Dry Look. Jean Naté. Sea and Ski. In The New York Times, Wendy MacLeod writes about “Name Brand Nostalgia.”
I’ll add three: Bromo-Seltzer. Hai Karate. Stridex.
David Owens’s “The Dime Store Floor,” about the smells of childhood, is worth mentioning here. Listerine. Mentholatum. Old Spice.
Related reading
All OCA dowdy-world posts (Pinboard)
[Henry, February 17, 2017.]
Henry last stopped in for shoe repairs in August 2012 and October 2015. He must be harder on his shoes now. These two panels appear to be more or less recycled from August 2012. I don’t mind: there are shoe booths involved.
Does anyone else remember sitting in such a booth waiting for new heels or soles? My memory of the experience probably has something to do with the powerfully strange smell of the shoe-repair shop: chemicals, leather, and perhaps a dash of feet.
Related reading
All OCA Henry posts (Pinboard)
[Peanuts, February 17, 1970.]
In truth, Lucy was speaking of Snoopy, who was just promoted to Head Beagle.
Related reading
All OCA Peanuts posts (Pinboard)
