Recent Posts - page 64
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Something Wonderful
You need the subtitle. The full name of the book is Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway Revolution, which gives you a pretty good picture of the subject of the book. As I grew up in the ’60s, I was… Read More ›
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Heavenly Creatures
Wow! Just saw this 1994 film — what took me so long? — and now Heavenly Creatures will clearly be added to the list of my top ten all-time favorite movies (though I’m not yet sure which entry it will displace)…. Read More ›
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A small job
As you can see, we badly needed a new ceiling in our guest room. We also needed a ceiling light, not to mention a fan. And while we were at it, we also needed a new ceiling and new light… Read More ›
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Learning in depth: high school SCOTUS blog
If you didn’t listen to the NPR report Why a High High Schooler Started Covering The Supreme Court, on this morning’s Weekend Edition Sunday, you should definitely do so! Do it right now, before you forget. OK, now that you’re… Read More ›
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Singular “they”
I am not on Twitter. If I were, I would have to re-retweet this tweet, originally from Kory Stamper, already retweeted by Gretchen McCullogh: She’s a little less temperate than I am, but… yeah. And do read her book —… Read More ›
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Awesome!
I can’t help keeping track. Four restaurant meals ago, at the Menotomy Grill, our young server said “Awesome!” four times during our meal. I foolishly thought that would be some kind of record. Lower Mills Tavern was better: just two… Read More ›
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A college that I did not get into
Four days ago, I wrote a post about an episode of This American Life titled “How I Got Into College.” Actually, my post just contained a couple of small quotations, and I pointed out that they had nothing to do with how I got… Read More ›
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How to succeed in high-school math by paying attention to stereotypes.
At the high-school level, a student can’t be expected to understand the concepts behind the math; you’re just expected to be able to do the math. So says a commenter from Old Field, NY, objecting to a wonderful article in… Read More ›
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This American Life: “How I Got into College”
No, this post is not about how I got into college — it’s the title of last week’s episode of This American Life, which I have just been listening to. I’m not going to write about the bulk of the episode here; I’ll save… Read More ›
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This is a democracy. Whoever gets the most votes wins… right?
Here we are, one day after primary elections in Massachusetts, and we see that whoever got the most votes in each race won. Right? Well, it’s not so simple. In the first place, one tenet of democracy is majority rule,… Read More ›
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All or Nothing
Culture. Literature. Memoirs…. Are they all based on Folklore and Mythology? A classmate of mine majored in that field — or should I say it was his “field of concentration” rather than “majored”? I always thought it was surprisingly specific as a… Read More ›
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Vote!
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A Penny for Your Thoughts
“A penny for your thoughts.” Does anyone say that anymore? Probably not. Part of being retired is that I get to do more sitting and thinking than usual. (“Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits,” to quote… Read More ›
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The Magicians
No, not the television show, which I’ve never seen. Just the eponymous novel it’s based on. And no, I haven’t yet read the two subsequent novels in Lev Grossman’s trilogy, so there’s nothing about either of them here either. You’ll… Read More ›
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Wear Red for Ed
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Is attention to detail important?
You probably haven’t heard of Mark Rooney. He’s running for a seat on the Governor’s Council against long-time incumbent Chris Iannella — who may also be unknown to you, even though his family has been in Boston politics for many… Read More ›
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Did you know that Boston is 53% non-white?
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Arrival
It has been nearly two years since I’ve seen Arrival, so why am I just now getting around to writing about it? I have no idea why, but it just happened that way. Anyway, I couldn’t resist this movie, partly (largely?) because… Read More ›
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The Industry, Visit #3
Third time’s the charm, right? That’s what they say. Well, this was something of the reverse situation. Night before last was the third time that Barbara and I had dinner at The Industry. I had already written enthusiastic reviews of the… Read More ›
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What happened to our rear window?
We walked out to the driveway this morning, and this is what the rear window of our car looked like. How did that happen? We do have a large spruce tree that hangs over the car, but no large… Read More ›
Featured Categories
Books ›
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A note from Langston Hughes to my dad
January 10, 2026
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Enough is enuf.
January 8, 2026
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Friends with words
January 4, 2026
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Language city: The fight to preserve endangered mother tongues in New York
November 26, 2025
Dorchester/Boston ›
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Milkweed
January 16, 2026
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This year’s traditional Christmas dinner
December 26, 2025
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Thai Oishii
November 16, 2025
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Chinese food in Greater Boston, then and now
November 1, 2025
Food & Restaurants ›
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Dumpling Kitchen
October 11, 2025
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Totto Ramen
July 23, 2025
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Special anniversary dinner at Tavolo
June 25, 2025
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Milkweed in Dot
June 10, 2025
Life ›
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They understand us across the pond.
January 11, 2026
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Where are you dining today?
December 25, 2025
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A Chanukah carol (in Yiddish)
December 21, 2025
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“So you want a model railroad” — a well-known… okay… not-so-well-known Warner Bros. film from 1955
November 22, 2025
Linguistics ›
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Who’s better at understanding written English — you or some random teen in South Korea?
January 22, 2026
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Will the real John McWhorter please stand up? (No, no, that’s not the real one; that’s the AI John McWhorter!)
January 18, 2026
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Is Modern Hebrew a conlang?
January 6, 2026
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Claude predicts the future of English.
December 24, 2025
Math ›
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Very sad news
October 17, 2025
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The metric system has gotten an update!
July 14, 2025
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As Tom Lehrer says, that’s mathematics!
July 9, 2025
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The Plinko Bounce
June 28, 2025
Model Railroading ›
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Three cheers for Jason Jensen — not only a model railroader but also a true American artist!
November 17, 2025
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No need for instructions?
June 4, 2025
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A close-up view of Neighborhood #5, Newtown
March 28, 2025
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A close-up view of Neighborhood #4, Orchard Heights
February 20, 2025
Movies & (occasionally) TV ›
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The new Springsteen bio-pic
November 11, 2025
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Breaking Silence: a truly outstanding documentary!
July 29, 2025
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The Social Network
May 11, 2025
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Dylan
January 8, 2025
Teaching & Learning ›
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Triple threat: Carl Sagan, critical thinking, and an exam
October 13, 2025
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Truly these are oldies but goodies — songs from… wait for it… two millennia ago!
September 28, 2025
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Measles and polio down in the schoolyard
September 8, 2025
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A former student’s PhD defense
August 15, 2025
Technology ›
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Not the other Wes Moore
June 22, 2025
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Bye bye Mark Z.
February 6, 2025
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Posts you may have missed
March 15, 2024
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I’m back!
February 28, 2024
Travel ›
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Written in the South Pacific during World War II
February 17, 2025
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Globle
February 15, 2023
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No pirates. And it’s not in Penzance. But it’s nearby: It’s Death in Cornwall.
August 9, 2022
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Miriam and Alan explore Scotland.
July 6, 2022
Weston ›
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“Dear parents of math geniuses…,” writes Tanya Khovanova
December 6, 2022
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How can girls succeed at the highest level of high-school debate?
November 20, 2022
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Reading Latin and Ancient Greek for fun and profit. For what? Fun? Yes, fun. Really. And the profit was purely intellectual, not financial.
October 19, 2022
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Trust what you read! (On second thought…)
September 2, 2022


