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 ›
That’s the title of a seven-episode podcast about the attacks on J.K. Rowling from both the left and the right—originally from the right but now mostly from the left. Personally I think that both groups of critics are wrongheaded and… Read More ›
Jo Walton claims to be an optimist. So does Margaret Atwood. Keep that in mind while reading their dystopian novels. If you take the long view, you can see what they mean, but it’s all too easy to imagine that… Read More ›
This is my not-quite-annual “march forth” post wishing everyone a happy Exelauno Day. In case you’ve forgotten, here is my post from a year ago, which happens to be mostly about learning Ukrainian (!) but opens with remarks about Exelauno… Read More ›
Following in the recent tradition of Wordle and its many spinoffs, Globle is an online game that will let you test your knowledge of geography in an unconventional format. The instructions are simple. First your opponent (the computer) picks a… Read More ›
“Wait a minute!” you say. “Shouldn’t that be you are what you eat?” Well, yes, the familiar quotation is indeed “You are what you eat”—or “Der Mensch ist was er ißt” in the original German—but the two claims are closely… Read More ›
“Why do you want to mix our children with city blacks? We moved here to get away from that element.” So said a resident of Lincoln, Massachusetts. A white resident, needless to say. Shocking perhaps, but not surprising, even if… Read More ›
Chynah Tyler, member of the Great and General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, more commonly known by its informal name, the Massachusetts State Legislature, has published a fine article in Commonwealth Magazine. You should read it—not just because Chynah… Read More ›
Julie Golick posted the following observations to Facebook in 2018. In response to several requests, she then made the post shareable by all . Every year, I run into a discussion about how Christmas isn’t REALLY religious anymore and about… Read More ›
According to Wikipedia, film noir comprises “stylish crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations.” So, what then is Jewish Noir? Moving the medium from film to short stories, we get a series (two books so far) edited by… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 