I was clearing out my office again. Again? Well, whatever. I had boxes of books to go through, books I didn’t recognize. One was a thin Penguin paperback, minus covers, with first-person accounts from all sorts of people who had known Shakespeare. How had I missed that book? There were also boxes of videotapes. What was I supposed to do with all this stuff?
I had an idea — just put things on the floor outside my office. Then I remembered there was a rule against doing so, something about blocking the hallways.
Related reading
All OCA dream posts (Pinboard)
[No doubt influenced by the news — refugees and humanitarian corridors.]
Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Boxes
Monday, March 14, 2022
Jam session
In today’s yesterday’s Nancy, it is night, and Nancy and Sluggo stroll by the light of a crescent moon to what must be 52nd Street, or an equivalent. I love the shocked expressions with which the kids meet this sign. We then see them running back home before returning, striding purposefully, with spoons in their hands and napkins around their necks.
But Sluggo should know the real meaning of “jam session”: on May 4, 1949 he called (in bold) for Nancy to “put on a bebop record.”
Related reading
All OCA Nancy posts (Pinboard)
[I just realized that Ernie Bushmiller’s characters have five fingers per hand, and not the usual cartoon four. Realism!]
Foggy days
From Greater Good (UC Berkeley): five ways to clear a foggy brain.
No. 1 is especially helpful now: “Become more intentional about consuming news.”
(Found via Recomendo.)
Source?
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”: on NPR this morning, I heard this statement attributed to Rachel Carson. Wait a minute, said I. Isn’t that from Margaret Mead?
Possibly. The statement does not appear in the most recent editions (2002, 2012) of Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations. Quote Investigator finds “no substantive support for competing ascriptions” and tentatively ascribes it to Mead.
Sunday, March 13, 2022
Outtakes (6)
Diners, American and Queen.
Trade publications from the ’40s show Union Rebuilt Machinery at 318-322 Lafayette Street, Manhattan. The lot number for the first photo is likely 25. Searching for block=522 AND lot=25 in the Municipal Archives returns the address 155 Crosby Street and photographs with the brick wall and the URM advertisement. I can find no non-outtake with a clear view of the American Diner.
Google Maps shows an enormous Calvin Klein advertisement covering the wall. And no diner, of course.
See also the Tiny Diner.
More diners, not from the outtakes, to come.
Related posts
Outtakes (1) : Outtakes (2) : Outtakes (3): Outakes (4) : Outtakes (5) : More photographs from the NYC Municipal Archives
Saturday, March 12, 2022
AFT for Ukraine
From an American Federation of Teachers e-mail:
We’ve been coordinating with the teachers’ unions in countries that border Ukraine, including Poland, Romania and Slovakia. Through our Disaster Relief Fund, we’re going to send money to these unions’ relief efforts. They’re setting up welcome programs in public schools for the children who have fled the Russian invasion. In Poland they’re even caring for refugees in their offices, but so far, they haven’t received any funds from the government to support the refugees. Eventually we hope to be able to send support to the teachers in Ukraine to reopen their schools after Russia is forced out.Here’s the link.
Every dollar we raise will go straight to relief efforts, without us taking away any overhead fees. Any money you can give today will directly help efforts to support the refugees.
Block that metaphor
Bryan Garner noticed this New York Times headline about Nikki Haley: “Haley Threads a Needle Between Trump’s Coattails and His Wrath.”
Block that metaphor!
But on second thought, it might be better to let that metaphor stand. Let Nikki Haley thread that needle, or try to, down between the coattails and wrath. It must be awful there. As the poet said,
Between the coattailsRelated reading
And the wrath
Falls the Needle.
(Hey, watch it!)
All OCA metaphor posts (Pinboard)
[That headline appears in print. Online, the headline is more sober: “With Trump in Her State, Haley Finds Some Political Distance (Gently).”]
Today’s Saturday Stumper
Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper, by Greg Johnson, made me think of Magic Eye. Remember? You were supposed to stare at a rectangle of swirling colors and see an image therein. The image always remained hidden for me, and that how I felt looking at this puzzle: staring and staring and never seeing what I was supposed to see. But finally I did.
Many clue-and-answer pairs of note:
2-D, five letters, “Stock market purchase.” Elaine will like this one.
4-D, eight letters, “It’s for those who don’t give a darn.” NEWSOCKS?
7-D, three letters, “Keys to quality care.” A nice tip of the hat.
20-A, seven letters, “They hold world records.” Clever.
22-A, seven letters, “Crucians live there.” I think playing Worldle helped me see the answer.
30-D, four letters, “Locale in ‘Homer’s Odyssey’ (1990).” LOL. A nice treat to bring into class.
31-A, eight letters, “Start of a scale model.” The west-central section of the puzzle gave me fits, and this clue was one reason why. I thought it must have something to do with ratios. And then I realized that I needed to spell something differently.
32-D, four letters, “Diagnostician’s denouement.” Say what? It’s the west-central section again, with alliteration coming at the expense of meaning.
42-A, twelve letters, “One in a grade school organization.” PTAPRESIDENT?
43-D, six letters, “Chiller of the ’30s.” DRACUL?
45-D, six letters, “Word from the Greek for ‘ship.’” Yes, of course.
57-A, five letters, “Smashing, in show biz.” I’m glad I know some Variety lingo.
My favorite clues in this puzzle:
26-A, twelve letters, “Purple Crayola color.” Yes, I have the Big Box (ninety-six crayons), and I got this answer right away.
And 37-D, eight letters, “Parenthetical trio.” For dowdy reasons.
No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.
Shining star, or dim bulb?
“She’s one of the shining stars representing Illinois because of her leadership, intelligence and courage”: thus an Illinois congressional candidate touts his endorsement from Mary Miller. The title of the article offers a helpful reminder: “GOP congressional candidate touts endorsement from Hitler-quoting lawmaker” (Daily Herald ).
Related reading
All OCA Mary Miller posts
Friday, March 11, 2022
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