Recent Posts - page 89

  • South Station model railroad exhibit

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    Fortunately I decided to take the T, so I didn’t have to figure out where to park in the vicinity of South Station, which is featuring a brand-new model railroad exhibit this winter. Actually, they’re toy trains, not model trains,… Read More ›

  • The whole nine yards

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    It isn’t often that you see an article about linguistics in the New York Times — and on the front page of the Arts section to boot! But that’s what happened yesterday, in a piece about the etymology of the expression… Read More ›

  • Champagne for Caesar

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    Recently saw Champagne for Caesar, a 1950 comedy starring Ronald Colman, Celeste Holm (best known in certain obscure circles as Ted Nelson’s mother), Vincent Price, Barbara Britton, and Art Linkletter (yes, that Art Linkletter). The whole movie is very funny, and I don’t… Read More ›

  • Some ways Jews are different from Christians

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    David Weinberger wrote a fascinating post yesterday in Joho The Blog: “Some ways Jews are different from Christians.” It’s worth reading carefully. He gives permission to repost, so I’m going to quote extensively from it: Jews are a people You are a… Read More ›

  • The Hobbit

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    I went to see The Hobbit the afternoon of Erev Christmas, expecting it to be crowded as the theatre had warned me to buy tickets well in advance…but it turned out to be 90% empty. Maybe it had something to do with… Read More ›

  • Can't tell what street you're on?

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    New England is famous for its lack of street signs — even though things have gotten much better in the past 25 years. Sometimes you can tell what the cross-street is, but you drive for blocks to discover what street you’re on…. Read More ›

  • The Math Team right before vacation

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    What do geeks do to blow off a little steam after the last math team practice before vacation? Here’s what they wrote on the board: You might want to notice what’s written in Chinese and Hindi (what a surprise), the… Read More ›

  • Credit Recovery

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    “Credit recovery” is another appalling consequence of No Child Left Behind. Although I know that it’s not politically correct to characterize it this way, that’s how I see it. Let’s see what it is and how its cheerleaders write about… Read More ›

  • Faithful Place and Broken Harbor

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    It sounds like an old chewing gum commercial: Do you want to double your reading pleasure? Then check out two more beautifully written psychological thrillers by Tana French. Technically, I suppose, they are murder mysteries in the police-procedural sub-genre, but… Read More ›

  • Annabelle's

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    The late lamented CF Donovan’s, in the Savin Hill neighborhood of Dorchester, closed its doors for good just over three years ago. Barbara and I had always enjoyed eating there — not for its gourmet food, but for the standard… Read More ›

  • A bad sign

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    I fear that 88 Wharf, which I reviewed three years ago, is going downhill. The rumor is that it’s about to go out of business. I don’t know whether that is really true, but the subject line of their recent… Read More ›

  • Soup and suans

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    Changsho may or not be the best Chinese restaurant in Cambridge, but it definitely has the best hot-and-sour soup. Mary Chung may or may not be the best Chinese restaurant in Cambridge, but it definitely has the best suan la… Read More ›

  • Camry electronics

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    After our eight-year-old Ford Taurus bit the dust, Barbara and I bought a 2012 Toyota Camry. I love the car, and I’m still learning its ins and outs. In particular, I have been pleasantly surprised by its electronic capabilities, especially in… Read More ›

  • Privilege

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    I suppose I’m biased. But bias or no, Privilege is must reading for anyone interested in the intersection of education, schools, and the American class structure. The full title of Shamus Rahman Khan’s sociological study is Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent… Read More ›

  • The Woman Who Died a Lot

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    Unless you’ve been reading this blog for at least the past six and a half years, you probably don’t realize that I’m a fan of Jasper Fforde. See my posts of 11/1/11, 11/30/06, and 8/8/06 for more information, but here… Read More ›

  • Popsicles, law, and language

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    Companies have to protect their trademarks, of course. There are even a few well-known examples where trademarks were lost because they weren’t protected — Wikipedia cites aspirin, dry ice, escalator, kerosene, laundromat, linoleum, phonograph, thermos, videotape, and zipper — so… Read More ›

  • XO

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    XO is the latest novel by Jeffery Deaver, two of whose books I previously reviewed — on August 27, 2006, and on November 23, 2009 — although I’ve read many more of his books than those two. In fact, I suspect that… Read More ›

  • Playtime

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    I’m not quite sure what I think of this 1967 Jacques Tati movie, which I just saw for the first time. It’s a bit slow, a bit French, and a lot jarring. The set is supposed to look like Paris,… Read More ›

  • Persistence

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    NPR aired a fascinating report this morning in its Your Health segment of Morning Edition: “A Struggle For Smarts? How Eastern And Western Cultures Tackle Learning,” reported by Alix Spiegel. Everyone knows the stereotype of the successful Asian student, and there’s… Read More ›

  • The Dead Puppy Theorem

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    (a + b)2 = a2 + b2. Right? “No, of course not,” you say. Or maybe you say “Yes, of course.” If you say yes, you’re making the same mistake that 42% of high-school students make. I just invented that statistic on the spot,… Read More ›