Skip to content

Monthly Archives: August 2016

After the election, then what?

While forty-some percent of the American population — right-wingers, all — are now completely detached from reality and are having a dangerous and terrifying psychotic episode right out in public, those of us with a grip on reality are doing what we always do: We are trying to understand what the devil is going on. […]

Eat, eat, and be merry. And eat.

Next year, a total eclipse

Wikimedia — Click on map for higher resolution Next year, most of us in the U.S. will have a chance to see a total eclipse of the sun without traveling too far. The eclipse will be Aug. 21, 2017. Here’s a web site with all the details: eclipse2017.org I think I’ve already figured out where […]

A couple of book reports

The old translation and the new Plato: The Complete Works. Edited by John M. Cooper, Hackett Publishing, 1997. 1838 pages. For years, my only volume of Plato was the translation by Benjamin Jowett, first published in 1871. I bought the volume in a used bookstore. It seemed like a good find at the time. From […]

Political insanity and religious insanity

Televangelist Kenneth Copeland While the 2016 presidential election puts on full display the political insanity of much of the American population — not to mention the insanity of the Republican Party — let’s not fail to point out another insanity that is just as prevalent: religious insanity. Let’s also note how closely the two are […]

Hawk, on foot

The most recent dump from the game camera caught a young buck in broad daylight — no surprises there, though I’ve never seen a buck near the house. The camera also caught a hawk walking in the woods like a chicken. I have no idea what caught its interest on the ground.

Tomato sandwiches, all home made

The garden is producing beautiful tomatoes in generous quantities. Who can resist tomato sandwiches? Though I bought a loaf of bread for the ceremonial first tomato sandwich of the summer, I just couldn’t eat any more bad bread. This is organic sandwich bread made from a recipe in Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, the […]

The penalty for stealing eggs: Move down to the river

Every summer, black snakes stake out the territory near the chicken house and steal eggs. When Ken is here, they don’t get away with it. This snake was the second egg-stealing snake that Ken has caught this summer and moved to the river. He catches ’em, puts ’em in a bucket, and releases them down […]

What planet did you say you’re from?

Click on images for high-resolution version. Ken met a praying mantis in the garden and invited it down to the house for lunch and portraits.

The crazy is bottom up, not top down

Charlotte Observer I have no idea what Fox-watchers and Limbaugh listeners are being told — probably the usual stuff about Benghazi and whatever it takes at the moment to keep Republicans angry, disinformed, and motivated to vote. But it’s pretty clear now that the mainstream media have fully realized that Donald Trump is a dangerous […]