Bits past, present, and future
Opportunity abounds for historical perspective to triumph! At least in tiny cliques of the historically informed here and there, where the sages cluck their tongues and reiterate endlessly, “Here we go again!” I refer to presidential election politics, “of course.”
The marvelous journalistic media assure we shall have our daily presentist mixed doses of [...]
From “Goodbye to All That,” by Steve Wasserman www.cjr.org/cover_story/goodbye_to_all_that_1.php
– on troubling changes in the culture of literacy:
The “most troubling crisis is the sea change in the culture of literacy itself, the degree to which our overwhelmingly fast and visually furious culture renders serious reading increasingly irrelevant, hollowing out the habits of attention indispensable for absorbing [...]
Have you noticed some signs of our frantic times? Who hasn’t? Consider, for example, the ways we speak — I mean the way many people are speaking these days in the broadcast media. Where have the verbs gone? Living and thriving the participles (and occasional gerunds) . . . I mean [...]
Spring on the Plains! and the Red River Valley. Well, not just yet, but soon. The weekend’s winds kicked up some 3-4 foot troughs on Texoma Saturday. They brought some more of New Mexico, West Texas, and western Oklahoma eastward, too, so there must have been a bit of dust-storming westward. [...]
per-
(A prefix; connotes modification, intensification, as in perfection . . .)
My Dear, if I say you are gorgeous:
You knock my eyes out!
What if I say Hey, Per-gorgeousness?
Have I eyes enough to last? I hope so.
From the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia we learn of three historical Saints Valentine, martyrs all in the second century; a bishop, a priest of Rome, and a Christian, possibly a priest, in North Africa. Medieval folk associated the Feast Day of St. Valentine, February 14, with the pairing of birds and from there with [...]
On the way to Thanksgiving, one’s thoughts turn to . . . turkey! And other good things to eat, of course, and the importance of learning to see the glass as–not half full–but full to overflowing! My cup runneth over . . . .
Now, a bit of questionable inspiration–a limerick:
A variegated bird is [...]
Going by the first day of a season, summer is the second season in the year. If duration counts, then winter is the first, spring the second, and summer the third. How do most people list the seasons — spring, summer, fall, winter, or do they start with winter?