Recent Posts - page 63

  • Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald 

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    Meh. That’s my main reaction to Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, the dark film that I saw yesterday. Admittedly, there’s a lot to like about it — but there’s nothing to love. It’s certainly weaker than the previous nine films… Read More ›

  • Dreaming of a white Dorchester?

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    I’m truly embarrassed to have served on the board of directors of an organization that can commit a faux pas like this, especially in the current political climate. Here is this year’s annual Christmas holiday card from the Dorchester Historical… Read More ›

  • How some people talk to teachers

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    Excerpts from a recent article in McSweeney’s, “If people talked to other professionals the way they talk to teachers”: “Ah, a zookeeper. So, you just babysit the animals all day?” – – – “My colon never acts this way at… Read More ›

  • Hyperpolyglots/Babel No More

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    “What do you call someone who speaks three languages?” “Trilingual.” “And what do you call someone who speaks two languages?” “Bilingual.” “And what do you call someone who speaks only one language?” “American.” OK, it’s a stereotype, but — sadly… Read More ›

  • Matching mats

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    Douglas and I now have matching purple exercise mats — matching purple, that is, even if they have very different dimensions. Douglas, of course, thinks that his is a sleeping mat, not an exercise mat.          … Read More ›

  • The Breakers

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    The Breakers is a rather low-key episode in Marcia Muller’s long-running Sharon McCone series. In general there are two types of long-running series: those where the characters remain static and familiar, and those where the characters change and develop. Sharon… Read More ›

  • Recommended podcasts

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    The downside of giving up the commute from Dorchester to Weston is that I don’t listen to as many podcasts as I used to. (Sure, I can — and sometimes do — listen to them at home, but it’s not… Read More ›

  • MR@MoS

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    Disappointing. That’s all I can say. The Museum of Science had announced a special one-day members-only preview of their new model railroad exhibit, so of course I had to go. “What does it have to do with science?” asked Barbara…. Read More ›

  • O Canada!

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    Exactly one week ago I wrote about the podcast Word Bomb, describing the first eight episodes. Now the ninth episode has come out, and I feel compelled to address one point: how Canadian is Word Bomb? The official description of Episode #9… Read More ›

  • The Last Place You Look

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    Kristen Lepionka grew up mostly in a public library and could often be found in the adult mystery section well before she was out of middle school… She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her partner and two cats. That’s what the… Read More ›

  • It’s academic.

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    Passport to Murder; Death by Committee; The Black Hour. My imagined Final Jeopardy clue says “This is is what all three titles have in common.” …  … OK, enough suspense: the answer is “What are three titles of recent academic… Read More ›

  • Noise and the City

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    I thank my former student, Sury Dewa Ayu, for this link to Erica Walker’s website Noise and the City, which examines how urban noise affects public health in various Boston neighborhoods. Here’s Erica’s own blurb about the site: Erica Walker is a doctoral… Read More ›

  • Orange cat on purple blanket

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    William points out that he looks good on the purple blanket:

  • Word Bomb

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    Fat, doxx, like, trigger, moist, they, partner, renoviction —  what do these eight words have in common? The answer is that they are the topics of the first eight episodes of Word Bomb, a new podcast from Canada. Unlike most of… Read More ›

  • An Enemy of the People

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    Your president just called CNN “the enemy of the people.” This, of course, is far from the first time that he has referred to the press by this phrase. (Marvin Kalb just published an entire book on the subject, straightforwardly… Read More ›

  • Moral hazard?

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    “You learn something new every day of your life,” my dad used to say to me. He was right, of course. A week ago I learned a concept that is, apparently, familiar to economists and philosophers but was for some… Read More ›

  • Entitlement, Part Two

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    This is a follow-up to yesterday’s post in the form of three items that could have been in it, but the post was already long enough without them: First of all, I am bothered by the complainer’s use of an anonymous… Read More ›

  • Entitled at Weston? Or overworked?

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    As we all have learned over the past two years, our Dear Leader’s strategy is to blame others for his own shortcomings, to accuse his enemies of those characteristics that are really his own character flaws, to claim to speak… Read More ›

  • Magicians

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    Finally I’ve finished reading the third book of the Magicians trilogy: The Magician’s Land. (Earlier I reviewed the first two books, The Magicians and The Magician King, so it’s time to complete the picture.) The question — whether overt or… Read More ›

  • Martin Badoian, RIP

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    I am saddened to report that Martin Badoian died on Friday at age 90. Marty taught at Canton High School until he was 89! He is best known for coaching the amazingly successful math team at Canton and for founding… Read More ›