Posted by emmaddetten
Author: Alan Vanneman
Alan Vanneman, not a reliable guide to Eastern Europe
OK, I’m not. In my last foray east of the Elbe, I hoped/opined that Vladimir Putin’s muscle-flexing re “break-away” Ukraine was just that. Little did I know that Vlad would pull a Bush (or an Obama) and decide that war is fun. Like them both, he’s discovered that the ultima ratio regnum1 is chockfull of…
Brief Lives
I have a new book out, Brief Lives, available here, both as a ebook and a print on demand paperback. Brief Lives is a collection of 32 short stories, many of them quite short, only a few pages, but some of them run on for a dozen or more. An “Afterwords” includes (usually) brief descriptions…
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here. All cartoons here. or here “Is that a gay thing?” “As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t mind changing yours. Of course, I’d have to give you a good spanking first.” “Nice quads! But the gluts could do with some work!” “Oh, you know, the usual—excessive use of precious nicknames, a Chablis…
James Thurber, A Reader’s Guide, Part 18
INTRODUCTION This is the 18th episode of “James Thurber, A Reader’s Guide,” a rambling consideration of Thurber’s works, examining his life and work in some detail. Generally, these appear every Friday. The links to the first part and the most recent part are given below. Part 18 discusses Thurber’s career as the Thirties drew to…
Department of Unintentional Irony/Hypocrisy/Stupidity Department: Kyla Wazana Tompkins, not thinking importantly
You’re Anna North and you have to write an “Op-Talk” for the New York Times called “If You Read This, You Might Never Drink a Latte Again” So how the hell are you going to fill up a column with that? If you’re smart, you’ll talk to Kyla Wazana Tompkins, a professor of English and…
Why is Obama so unpopular?
It’s official: President Obama is the people’s choice for the worst president since WWII. And his popularity is dropping faster than runoff in the Dead Sea.1 The first part is easy to explain. Any Democratic president is going to be picked as the “worst” president because Republicans hate Democratic presidents so much. Some fringe Republicans…
Piotr Wyleżoł Trio—”Skippy”
Piotr Wyleżoł, piano, Michał Barański, bass, and Pedro Segundo, drums, Appearing at Ronnie Scott’s Oct. 12, 2012. Posted by Piotr Wyleżoł
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here. All cartoons here. “Let it be said that the battle against global warming began today at 9 AM in this very room.” “Do I despise them? No. Do I think them capable of far more than they are giving? Yes.” “Some day they will be free as we are free. But not…
Can Henry M. Paulson, Jr. predict the future?
Several weeks ago,1 former Wall Street big shot and Treasury Sec Henry Paulson held forth on the urgent need for action on climate change, predicting “a future with more severe storms, deeper droughts, longer fire seasons and rising seas that imperil coastal cities” if we, and the rest of the world, fail to take dramatic…