You probably don’t believe it’s his real name, so check out the first chapter of Randy Rainbow’s memoir, Playing with Myself. He even includes a photo of his birth certificate (but Republicans will probably claim that it’s a fake—just like… Read More ›
Month: April 2022
Looking forward to a local cat café
What’s wrong with you, Boston? Tokyo has 100 cat cafés; Boston has zero! But that may be changing—for the better, of course, since we couldn’t have fewer than zero. Richard Auffrey, better known as The Passionate Foodie, recently wrote about… Read More ›
Re-read a whodunit (even though you already know who done it because you’ve read it before)!
Why, you ask, should I re-read a whodunit when I already know who done it because I’ve read it before!? The quick answer, which I mentioned in an answer to a completely different question in a completely different context two… Read More ›
Go hang a salami, I’m a lasagna hog.
Say what? If you don’t get it, just read it backwards! Yes, it’s a palindrome. And I just watched a movie about people who write palindromes: The Palindromists. “How nerdy can you get!”, you exclaim. “And which syllable has the… Read More ›
Math helps you flourish—but not in the obvious way!
My good friend and colleague Leah Gordon often likes the same books that I do. From time to time we make recommendations to each other. One of these is Francis Su’s Mathematics for Human Flourishing, which I have just finished… Read More ›
What could possibly shock a German?
You may think the answer is “nothing.” Except maybe a failure to follow the rules. But you would be wrong. By this point you are probably familiar with Felicia Hofner, a.k.a. “Feli from Germany.” After six years in Cincinnati her… Read More ›
Learning Ukrainian: progress report #5
The lessons are starting to become uninspired/uninspiring. My guess is that Duolingo had to rapidly hire some Ukrainian speakers and no one had the time to write thoughtful, well-vetted lessons. So we get sentence after sentence with only small variations… Read More ›
The Conversation, a 1974 movie
The Conversation is supposedly a great film. Everyone says so. It has mystery, suspense, interesting technology, and excellent acting. So why was I just meh about it? Well, it’s half a century old, so it may just be that it… Read More ›
Learning to read aloud fluidly in a new alphabet
As you know, I’ve been learning Ukrainian through Duolingo for about six weeks now. I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I am progressing. The bad news is that Duolingo doesn’t give me enough context!… Read More ›