Clinton had a humorist on staff, who wrote of his experiences in this Washington Monthly article. I took for granted that the endgame of these ritual humor dinners was to ingratiate oneself to the audience–in this case, the press–and that…
Category: Cool links
A folding screen
For electronic newpapers that can be downloaded from a cellphone. Also adaptable for surfaces like car dashboards (and coming soon: the ability to surf the Web in the shower. I’ve always hated the surfing time lost to personal hygiene. After…
Solitude, a century of it
Maud blogs on one of my favorite novels, “100 Years of Solitude.”
Cool links by the bucketful
MediaMayhem blogs on news of a reputed FBI mob snitch whose death was ruled suicide awhile back. You have to scroll down to get to the juicy stuff, but it’s worth the trouble. Speaking of trouble, Brian over at The…
The Red Baron’s last flight
It wasn’t Snoopy who took him out; most likely it was ground fire, according to this summary at kuro5hin.org. A long read but a fascinating look at aerial combat during World War I.
The ‘Christmas Truce’
It really happened, snopes.com says. A spontaneous ceace fire erupted, gifts were exchanged, good cheer was spread about. Then a couple days later the previously scheduled bloodbath resumed.
Papa’s Christmas Eve
?Father,? the children said. There was no answer. He?s there, all right, they thought. ?Father,? they said, and banged on their beds. ?What do you want?? I asked. ?We have visions of sugarplums,? the children said. ?Go to sleep,? said…
Adventures at the Encyclopia of Television
Here’s an A-to-Z listing of essays about television shows. It must be OK, because it has this really swell page on Star Trek, though I did get a bit outraged at the “G” page: “Get Smart” but no “Gilligans Island?”…
For last-minute shoppers
Sheila Lennon shares links to a hoard of holiday gift suggestions.
The physics of Santa
Snopes.com points to a commentary which concludes, “If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he’s dead now.”