Recent Posts - page 7
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My 10 Favorite Books Redux
When I just happened to be looking at a post I wrote 17 years ago (for reasons that I will explain below), I was surprised to realize that today’s list of my favorite books wouldn’t be very different from that… Read More ›
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Abigail on a pedestal
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Star Mangled Banner
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Is Runic Better than Roman?
Should we use the Runic alphabet (which we actually used to use, but that was almost a couple of millennia ago) rather than the Roman alphabet (which we currently use)? Of course we should! Let’s see why. Our Roman alphabet,… Read More ›
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Not on the Test
Recorded 16 years ago, but even more relevant today:
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Happy Ἐξελαύνω Day!
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If you need to get blood drawn for a routine medical exam…
go to the lab at the Atrius Health office in Braintree! (I highly recommend it. This is an unsolicited testimonial.) My experience there yesterday can be summarized in three words: fast, efficient, painless. (Those adjectives describe the Atrius lab, not… Read More ›
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Good Lieutenant by E.J. Copperman
Good Lieutenant is the sixth, the best, the most serious, and (alas) the last novel in Jeff Cohen’s Jersey Girl series of mysteries. But — wait, wait! important question here, I hear you cry — you said Jeff Cohen but… Read More ›
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Elon
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Tavolo
It’s been a long time since we’ve been to Tavolo, largely due to weather and not being able to drive after dark. The solution today was to go to brunch! They were serving the regular dinner menu along with their… Read More ›
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Abigail’s Dilemma
Abigail just received two presents to celebrate the monthiversary of her adoption. Now she can’t decide whether she prefers her new kitty bed (“So soft!” she exclaimed. “And it’s purple!”) or her new scratching post (“This gives me a view… Read More ›
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A close-up view of Neighborhood #4, Orchard Heights
And now we move on to another neighborhood in my model railroad layout, a.k.a. Rose City: Orchard Heights is — wait for it — the Rose City neighborhood with the highest altitude. What a surprise! But it no longer has… Read More ›
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Written in the South Pacific during World War II
This is a poem written by my dad in 1943 while he was serving in the U.S. Army in the South Pacific — not in Tahiti unfortunately, but in New Guinea in this case. During most of the war, however,… Read More ›
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Baskerville!
Four years ago I wrote a post about the Baskerville typeface, Of course my post had to be titled The Font of the Baskervilles; I had no choice. And now we have an entire book called Baskerville, subtitled The Biography… Read More ›
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The Law of Innocence
You’re wondering why Mickey Haller, the eponymous Lincoln Lawyer, would choose to represent himself. He even quotes the maxim that my father happens to have taught me when I was 11 years old or so: “He who represents himself has… Read More ›
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Abigail supervising her domain from on high
“Hmmm… I want to learn music theory,” says Abigail, “but I’m not sure how to do that. Maybe I can do it by sitting on top of the bookcase, right above some music books, while I gaze over my domain.”… Read More ›
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Bye bye Mark Z.
My Facebook account is going away, effective 24 hours from now. Find me on BlueSky at https://bsky.app/profile/ljdljd.bsky.social or by email at davidson.larry@gmail.com Bye bye Mark Z.
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City Unseen
City Unseen: New Visions of an Urban Planet is an amazing collection of 100 annotated images by Karen C. Seto and Meredith Reba. Is it a collection of artistic images, you ask, or is it a collection of maps? Art… Read More ›
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The Guest List
Despite having multiple viewpoint characters (a practice I’m not usually fond of), Lucy Foley’s The Guest List is both absorbing and easy to read. It is definitely the sort of book where you should not read reviews ahead of time,… Read More ›
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Abigail: A better photo
Featured Categories
Books ›
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First do no harm.
March 24, 2026
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At Midnight Comes the Cry
March 21, 2026
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Vance and Moore… back when both of them were younger
March 11, 2026
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The Dry
March 8, 2026
Dorchester/Boston ›
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Happy spring! Happy buck-a-shuck!
March 20, 2026
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A special brunch at Tavolo
March 1, 2026
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Milkweed
January 16, 2026
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This year’s traditional Christmas dinner
December 26, 2025
Food & Restaurants ›
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Thai Oishii
November 16, 2025
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Chinese food in Greater Boston, then and now
November 1, 2025
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Dumpling Kitchen
October 11, 2025
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Totto Ramen
July 23, 2025
Life ›
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Taunton vs. Colmar?
March 4, 2026
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Streets of Minneapolis
January 28, 2026
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They understand us across the pond.
January 11, 2026
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A note from Langston Hughes to my dad
January 10, 2026
Linguistics ›
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Picard: Welcome to the Sticks!
March 6, 2026
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Everything you wanted to know about the Great Vowel Shift but were afraid to ask
February 8, 2026
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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
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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Famous railway modellers
March 16, 2026
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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
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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
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



