Yesterday evening, Barbara and I drove over to Somerville for a post-solstice/pre-New-Years holiday dinner with my sister and niece. Unfortunately their housemate, Bones, didn’t get enough to eat over the holiday.
Month: December 2015
Linguistics? What’s that?
“A linguist is a person who speaks a lot of languages.” Not. But that’s what you hear from the general (uninformed) public. People are willing — many even eager — to become informed, but they’ve never heard of linguistics as… Read More ›
The Question of the Unfamiliar Husband
One week ago I reviewed The Question of the Missing Head, by E. J. Copperman and Jeff Cohen. I liked it. The sequel, The Question of the Unfamiliar Husband, is even stronger. On the whole it’s what you’d expect in a traditional second novel in… Read More ›
Languages of the UK
English, Scots, British Sign Language, Welsh, Gaelic, Irish, Cornish, Manx, Angloromani and Shelta What is the common bond here? Obviously they’re all languages that are currently in use in the UK. Well…no…it’s not that obvious. You probably haven’t heard of Angloromani… Read More ›
Thank you, Mr. Wegman.
Barbara and I had an excellent dinner last night. We prepared all of it from ingredients bought earlier in the day at the Wegman’s in Chestnut Hill. Thank you, Mr. Wegman! Your sherry, lobster tails, stuffed mushrooms, green beans, and shiraz were all delicious…. Read More ›
That’s Not English
It’s entertaining, it’s charming, it’s informative, but…ultimately it’s disappointing. Every chapter shows great promise…and then it suddenly ends before that promise could be fulfilled. That’s Not English: Britishisms, Americanisms, and What Our English Says About Us, by Erin Moore, is a book… Read More ›
Math is forever.
You can never take a holiday from math. Read this brief but wonderful paragraph from distinguished physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson (retired but still flourishing at age 92!): It’s the beauty of mathematics, as opposed to physics, that it’s forever. I published my… Read More ›
Hitchcock/Truffaut
If you’re a film buff (as I am not), you will want to see Hitchcock/Truffaut, currently playing in Kendall Square, Cambridge. I went with a couple of friends who are film buffs, as I had assumed (correctly) that they would enjoy this documentary about the… Read More ›
The Question of the Missing Head
The Question of the Missing Head is the first in an unusual series of mysteries by E. J. Copperman and Jeff Cohen. What’s so unusual, you ask? It’s that the detective has Asperger’s Syndrome, which plays a significant role in… Read More ›
What’s wrong with periods?
I know why apostrophes are a bad idea, but periods???? Here I am listening to All Things Considered on WGBH, and I hear this report about ending text messages with periods: …Researchers at Binghampton University have found that ending your… Read More ›
MOOCs
Two headlines from different publications: No Rich Child Left Behind, and Enriching the Rich: Why MOOCs are not improving education Weston High faculty creates online courses for the world Are these headlines saying the same thing in different words? Not really…. Read More ›
This Book is Overdue
“This book is overdue,” I observed as I handed the book to the librarian in order to check it out. It had been on the Hold shelf, as I had requested it earlier, so it still had the request slip… Read More ›
The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection
As the 13th book in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith, The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection is one of the stronger contenders for Best in Series. But it might not be your cup of rooibos. Is… Read More ›
The food never arrived!
Oh noes! I waited and waited…they even sent me a receipt by email…but the food never arrived! Then I realized that I hadn’t ordered delivery for lunch…and such an odd menu…maybe they confused Dorchester, MA, with its namesake, Dorchester, England…. Read More ›
224, etc.
Twenty-five years ago you could count the number of good restaurants in Dorchester on the fingers of one hand (even if you had broken two fingers). Today it would take both hands and a foot…more likely two feet. The first… Read More ›
The Jewels of Paradise
Venice! Thrice before [ooh…how often do you get to use the word “thrice”?] in this blog I’ve reviewed books by Donna Leon: Blood from a Stone on March 4, 2007; The Girl of his Dreams on November 27, 2008; and The Golden Egg on September… Read More ›
Dirty Old Boston, On the Dot Books, chain stores, and the Dot2Dot Cafe
Dorchester does have a bookstore! A very small one, but a bookstore nonetheless — and it’s neither a Barnes & Noble nor a Borders. No, wait…Borders is no more…is Barnes & Noble the only remaining brick-and-mortar chain bookstore? They’re also online,… Read More ›
Congratulations to the Math Team!
Congratulations to the Weston High School Math Team for their fine performance at this afternoon’s Massachusetts Math League meet! After trekking to the wilds of Acton, the team garnered a total of 111 points. Senior Akiva Gordon was in top place,… Read More ›
Bruno and the Carol Singers
Normally I wouldn’t even bother to review this slight and forgettable volume by Martin Walker, but it provides such a nice “compare and contrast” opportunity that I can’t resist. Immediately after reading The Children Return, I turned to Bruno and the Carol Singers, another… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 