
Recent Posts - page 2
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Don’t be misled by the name.
The Neponset Cafe is a small Japanese restaurant in Dorchester that primarily features ramen, despite the restaurant’s name—which comes from its location on Neponset Avenue, right next to Neponset Circle. (Don’t confuse it with a very different Neponset Cafe across… Read More ›
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My next challenge: (re)reading Ulysses!
Perhaps the title to this post is misleading: is it strictly correct for me to say that I am “re”reading Ulysses? Well, in a way. I like to claim that I’ve already read it one and a half times, because… Read More ›
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Revisiting Brasserie
In honor of Star Wars Day, Barbara and I returned to Brasserie for our third visit yesterday. OK, I lied. It wasn’t really for Star Wars Day (but still: May the Fourth be with you). It was for another holiday… Read More ›
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A Pop History of Asian Americans from the Nineties to Now
The title of this post is the subtitle of the book, even though it describes it perfectly. The much more cryptic title is simply Rise. This is not the kind of book you read cover-to-cover. It’s more the type you… Read More ›
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Are contractions bad? In a way, but not for the obvious reason.
Oh my. Edwin Battistella begins a recent post in the OUP blog with this sentence: A few years ago, a student dropped a linguistics course I was teaching because the textbook used contractions. Yikes, can that be true? Apparently so…. Read More ›
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Gulp. Are there (were there?) special math problems given only to Jews?
Yes, unfortunately there is (or was?) such a thing. The special problems were, of course, more difficult than the regular math problems. Much more difficult. I learned about this from Tanya Khovanova’s Math Blog, where she explains “how during entrance… Read More ›
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“Yes, it’s my real name. Shut up!”
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 ›
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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 ›
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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 ›
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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 ›
Featured Categories
Books ›
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Index, A History of the
May 20, 2022
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So you wake up one morning, blind in one eye, and soon you learn that you have a 20% chance of going blind in the other eye too…
May 13, 2022
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A quiz: why can’t you read this?
May 11, 2022
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“God created the integers…”
May 9, 2022
Dorchester/Boston ›
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Irises
May 21, 2022
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Don’t be misled by the name.
May 7, 2022
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Revisiting Brasserie
May 5, 2022
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Looking forward to a local cat café
April 27, 2022
Food & Restaurants ›
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Mangia, mangia al Tavolo!
April 6, 2022
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New menu at Ashmont Grill!
March 29, 2022
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Just Thai
March 25, 2022
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More deliciosity from AG
March 7, 2022
Life ›
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Stephen Sondheim’s Putting it Together
May 16, 2022
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Gulp. Are there (were there?) special math problems given only to Jews?
May 1, 2022
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“Yes, it’s my real name. Shut up!”
April 29, 2022
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What could possibly shock a German?
April 19, 2022
Linguistics ›
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A “more perfect language”?
May 23, 2022
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Are contractions bad? In a way, but not for the obvious reason.
May 2, 2022
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Go hang a salami, I’m a lasagna hog.
April 23, 2022
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Learning Ukrainian: progress report #5
April 16, 2022
Math ›
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Math helps you flourish—but not in the obvious way!
April 21, 2022
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Can you multiply 2573 by 389?
March 22, 2022
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Why teach gerrymandering? And why teach it in a math course in particular?
March 16, 2022
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The Complete Guide to Absolutely Everything* (*abridged)
March 14, 2022
Model Railroading ›
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“The Therapeutic Value of Model Railroading”
May 25, 2022
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Rod Stewart, Neil Young, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, Ringo Starr. What do they all have in common?
March 24, 2022
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That long-awaited model railroad update: finally a progress report!
December 28, 2021
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All aboard! MRR at the MoS
December 21, 2021
Movies & (occasionally) TV ›
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Licorice Pizza
May 22, 2022
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The Conversation, a 1974 movie
April 14, 2022
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What are we? “Jewish Americans” or “American Jews”?
April 8, 2022
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This is one movie that is better than the book, right? Wrong.
March 6, 2022
Teaching & Learning ›
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Seventeenth anniversary of my very first blog post!
May 18, 2022
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Learning to read aloud fluidly in a new alphabet
April 12, 2022
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Learning Ukrainian: progress report #4
March 27, 2022
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Learning Ukrainian: progress report #3
March 19, 2022
Technology ›
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Following 22 podcasts…
April 4, 2022
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More chaos! More CatNet!
March 21, 2022
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German is hereby completed!
February 26, 2022
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Who knew?? Iterating Dorchester takes you to philosophy!
February 16, 2022
Travel ›
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After reading The Paradise Affair by Bill Pronzini, I don’t want to visit Hawaii!
September 18, 2021
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(Re)Born in the USA: An Englishman’s love letter to his chosen home, by Roger Bennett
September 2, 2021
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Visiting all 2563 train stations in the UK!
August 25, 2021
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“Why haven’t I ever been to Petra?”
January 6, 2021
Weston ›
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Parachutes, by Kelly Yang
September 8, 2021
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Zoe Rosenthal is not Lawful Good, by Nancy Werlin
August 31, 2021
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No, it’s not Lupin. It’s Hannah LeBaron’s Adventure Cats!
July 29, 2021
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Should “exam schools” exist?
July 1, 2021