In recent months I’ve been desultorily exploring ChatGPT, for better or for worse. In the following examples you might want to note GPT’s impressive use of English syntax and vocabulary, combined with an impressive amount of lying/inaccurate facts: Finally, as… Read More ›
Month: May 2023
Just Thai Kitchen keeps getting better and better…
Now with more local competition, Just Thai Kitchen is even better and has a greatly enlarged menu. No way to try everything! Barbara and I decided to get delivery from there last night. We chose three old favorites and two… Read More ›
Scots
Scots. No, I don’t mean the people from Scotland. I mean the language; “Scots” is a singular noun, not a plural. And yes, it is from Scotland—but it most definitely is not Gaelic. Give up? TIL that Scotland has four… Read More ›
Piper
Piper, a homeless cat who hangs out in our neighborhood, likes to dream that he’s in the jungle:
Tavolo: Pizza Ieri
Normally we have a full Italian dinner whenever we go to Tavolo, but yesterday was Taco Tuesday, so Barbara and I decided to just have a simple meal of a margherita pizza and a kale Caesar salad without kale. (You… Read More ›
Trace Elements
How, you’re probably wondering, could the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) possibly relate to a novel about Venice? OK, I admit that you’re probably wondering no such thing. But I’m going to tell you anyway. Of course water is the… Read More ›
She is often considered the first female mathematician.
Who am I talking about? Hypatia of Alexandria, of course. In March of 415 C.E. “she was murdered by a mob of Christians” (for some strange value of “Christians”) according to a well-sourced article in Wikipedia. To see why they… Read More ›
Ukulele of Death
Yes, it’s spelled “ukulele,” not “ukelele.” As those clickbait posts on Facebook would say, almost 90% of adults spell this word wrong! A second issue is not so easily resolved. Many of us like labels and taxonomies—not as a tool… Read More ›
Still no haggis for me, thanks.
Eight months ago I reviewed The Haven, and today was our return visit. You’re wondering, I’m sure, about three things: whether anything has changed, whether I relented and had haggis this time, and whether there was any bagpipe music. The… Read More ›
What’s math got to do with it? Alaska’s new voting system would be good for Massachusetts…perhaps.
Because of its small population—despite being the largest state in area—Alaska gets to elect only one member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Until last year it used the traditional system: a separate primary for each party chooses one finalist… Read More ›
Secrets Typed in Blood
As the third, most recent, and best-so-far novel in Stephen Spotswood’s great Pentecost and Parker series, Secrets Typed in Blood is an outstanding detective novel that takes place in the year of my birth. I reviewed the two previous books… Read More ›
Brunch at Via Cannuccia
To follow our first excellent experience—dinner on April 20—Barbara and I joined our friend Meredith for brunch yesterday at Via Cannuccia. Like the dinner, brunch was first-rate. From Stefano’s wonderful home-made pastries, we each had a shy brioche roll with… Read More ›
Flicka says it’s her turn.
“It’s not fair,” says Flicka. “Why does my brother get all the pictures?” So here’s one of Flicka. You can see her stripèd nose, but not her extra toes:
“JP” stands for…
For some of us, JP means Jamaica Plain. For others of us, it’s the country code for Japan—as in URLs ending in “.jp” and other related uses. For everyone, and for both of the above reasons, it’s appropriately in the… Read More ›
Virtual abutters
“Virtual Abutters Meeting” was the headline on the notice. My first reaction was to ask myself “What’s a virtual abutter?” And then I realized that I had misparsed the headline. “Virtual,” it turned out, really modified “meeting,” not “abutters.” Also,… Read More ›
Two truths and a lie
Your task, of course, is to figure out which of the three is the lie. Yesterday, you see, was a special occasion. (No, not my birthday. And that’s no lie.) As a result, Barbara and I decided to indulge in… Read More ›
Teachers deserve better.
“Teachers deserve better. They deserve more trust and respect, and less standardized testing, smaller class sizes, and yes, larger paychecks.” So says author Alexandra Robbins in The Teachers: A Year Inside America’s Most Vulnerable, Important Profession. A well-known long-time New… Read More ›
A language-learning proposal
Continuing to sing the praises of the under-appreciated Helen DeWitt, I must tell you about her language-learning proposal. For a bit of context, I will first tell you about a brief conversational exchange I had with my ninth-graders at Weston… Read More ›