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Monthly Archives: January 2021

And I thought it was spring fever

Pale greenhouse basil bought from Trader Joe’s gets a boost from some rays before it goes into pesto. Where did all this energy come from? Why am I spending more time outdoors instead of in front of the computer doom-scrolling? At first I thought it was an ordinary case of spring fever, because January has […]

And the home of the brave

And brave we were. We lived through four years of crime, treason, lies, and trash-talk from some of the worst human beings ever born. We did what we could to limit the damage. And then we got rid of the bastard. I wish I knew who should get credit for this photo. If I can […]

Mincemeat pie

Mincemeat pie is not part of my heritage (Southern American), so I disclaim all expertise and experience having to do with it. Not only did I never have mincemeat pie as a child, I don’t remember ever hearing about it. As an adult, I was not curious about making it, just because the name is […]

One-pot cooking

I don’t often do one-pot cooking. But, when I do, I wonder why I don’t do more one-pot cooking. I have a certain bias, I suppose, toward at least three things on the plate and lots of dirty dishes. Earlier today I came across this recipe at the Washington Post. I went downstairs and made […]

Understanding 5G

Source: Apple A great many articles have been written about 5G. Few of those articles are technical enough to help you understand the arguments over 5G safety. In addition, few of those articles are technical enough to help you understand which 5G cell phone is right for you, and which 5G cellular provider (such as […]

Babylonia

Ancient Astronomy and Celestial Divination. Edited by N.M. Swerdlow. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1999. 378 pages. Babylonia: A Very Short Introduction. Trevor Bryce. Oxford University Press, 2016. 142 pages. I confess that I don’t find the history of Babylonia very interesting. But I think there’s a reason for that. It’s that we don’t […]

The English Game

“The English Game” is the most recent production from Julian Fellowes, who brought us “Downton Abbey.” It was produced by Netflix, premiered last March, and is available for streaming. The game is football, which we Americans call soccer. The themes, as with “Downton Abbey,” are class conflict, class reconciliation, and social change. The story begins […]

The return of sanity and decency

Though it happened only yesterday, volumes already have been written about the violent desecration of the U.S. Capitol. All sane and decent Americans understand what it means, so there is hardly anything that I can add. But I am reminding myself that, in spite of the obscenity of what we witnessed yesterday, and in spite […]