Articles from 2023
694 articles · browse by month or scroll through the year.
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Postscript
Is opera an acquired taste?
I used to think so. But watch this baby’s reaction. Click here.
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Notes From My Journal
Happy Thoughts After Knee Replacement Surgery
If I’ve written anything in the past two weeks that offended you, I have a good excuse. I had knee replacement surgery on June 22. The operation was successful. It was performed by a surgeon who happened to go…
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News & Views
Hunter’s Inside Deal
Did Hunter Biden get a special deal in getting a “diversion” for his tax violations? There’s no doubt about it. As one tax expert stated in a Congressional deposition, this may be the first time in history…
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Worth Reading
In the Heart of the Sea — July 7, 2023
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex By Nathaniel Philbrick 302 pages Originally published May 8, 2000 Storytellers have used real-life events as inspiration going back to the beginning…
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Worth Watching
In the Heart of the Sea
In the Heart of the Sea Based on the book by Nathaniel Philbrick Directed by Ron Howard Starring Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy, Tom Holland, Ben Whishaw, and Brendan Gleeson Released in…
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Worth Considering
The COVID Response: What We Got Wrong — July 7, 2023
Another Finding That Contradicts the CDC Narrative Several of my friends (and perhaps hundreds of my readers) think my take on COVID is crazy, as in conspiratorial. Trusting the mainstream media implicitly…
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Fun and/or Interesting
The Most and Least Expensive Big Macs in the US
You won’t learn anything especially useful from this map, but you may find it interesting. I was surprised by some of the red dots. Click here.
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Postscript
And You Keep the Camera Running…
This is very funny. It’s Matt Damon talking about making The Departed with Jack Nicholson, and how Nicholson reinvents a short, shocking scene into one that’s slightly longer but much more gruesome. Damon…
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Notes From My Journal
Happy Independence Day!
We honor our country’s founders with a day of celebration each year that includes flags, marching bands, and fireworks. And we celebrate our homosexual, nonbinary, and trans communities with a full month of…
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Worth Quoting
John Adams, in a letter to his wife, Abigail, after signing the Declaration of Independence
“I am apt to believe that it [the signing] will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns…
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Worth Reading
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow By Yuval Noah Harari 448 pages Originally published in 2015 The first book of Harari’s that I read was Sapiens. I loved it. It’s one of those books that gives pleasure on…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Astronomy Photographer of the Year
The short list for the 2023 Astronomy Photographer of the Year has just been published. And, not surprisingly, this year’s selection is just as amazing as last year’s. Looking over the entries, I tried to…
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Worth Watching
Yizo Yizo
Yizo Yizo A TV series directed by Teboho Mahlatsi and Angus Gibson 3 seasons, 39 episodes Original release: Jan 27, 1999 to July 1, 2004 Currently streaming on Netflix I would not recommend this series to most…
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Worth Considering
John Durham's Deposition Reveals FBI's Russia Investigation Origins
More Enjoyable Than Depp vs. Heard. More Sinister than the Watergate Conspiracy. More Believable Than… Well, You’ll Either Believe It or You Won’t! If you are a reader of any city paper whose name includes the…
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Readers Write
High School Wrestling Champion's Heroic Rescue Inspires Readers
In response to the June 30 issue in which I linked to an inspiring story about a high school wrestling champ that saved a woman from an attempted kidnapping, GM wrote: “I enjoy when you highlight these stories…
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Postscript
Rancho Santana just snagged a few more awards…
One award that will be of interest for manly adventurers, and another for adventurous moms and daughters. Click here. And here.
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Notes From My Journal
Rising Above the Book-Banning Debate
The 100 Best Children’s Books of All Time Well-managed intellectual propaganda begins with the curation of children’s books. Educators understand that ideas formed in childhood, and especially ideas about how…
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Worth Quoting
Ray Bradbury On The Dangers Of Illiteracy
“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.” – Ray Bradbury
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News & Views
Take Away My Liberty, but Don’t Touch My Pronouns
[caption id="attachment_27194" align="alignnone" width="300"] Lee Aldrich [/caption] When you are convicted of felony murder in America, you lose a bunch of your rights, including your constitutional right to…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Have You Ever Seen…?
Have you ever seen a Belgian Malinois? A friend of mine brought his to the Swamp House at Paradise Palms. He threw a ball into the lake. The dog sprinted toward it like he was shot out of a cannon, and then…
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Readers Write
So, Where Do I Stand on the Transgender Issue?
Question from JL: “I’m having a little argument with a friend about your stance on the transgender movement and transgender people. Based on what you’ve written recently, which is never explicit, he thinks you…
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Postscript
Quaydarius Davis: He’s Got Moves
I don’t follow football. I played it in high school, but I prefer to watch basketball, because it’s so easy to see the amazing athleticism of the players without the pads and with fewer people on the field…
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Notes From My Journal
Why the Teachers Union Hates Poetry Recitals
There were two things my siblings and I were required to do on Sunday mornings. Go to church and recite a poem. The former was a rule adhered to by all the kids on my block. The poetry? My friends thought it…
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Worth Quoting
Salman Rushdie On Poetry's Revolutionary Power
“A poet’s work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.” – Salmon Rushdie
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Worth Watching
A Thousand and One
Written and directed by A.V. Rockwell Starring Teyana Taylor, Will Catlett, Josiah Cross, Aven Courtney, and Aaron Kingsley Adetola Premiered Jan. 22, 2023 (Sundance) Released in theaters (US) Mar. 31, 2023 A…
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Introducing...
Iam Tongi
Tongi, an unknown kid from Hawaii, won Season 21 of American Idol. His audition, just months after his father died – an emotional rendition of James Blunt’s “Monsters” – had the judges in tears. Challenge…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Test Your Knowledge of Famous Artists
The topic was promising. The first question was easy. I thought for sure I was going to get a perfect score. I was wrong. Click here to try your hand at it.
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Postscript
Bud Light's Marketing Strategy Before The Controversy
JF sent this as an example of how Bud Light promoted itself “before they got caught up in the culture wars.” Click here.
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Notes From My Journal
Memories of Maiduguri
“Never shall I forget his deep-throated laughter as he told me that ‘the rascals’ would kill him.” – Taki DZ wanted to travel to Maiduguri in Nigeria, where his father was a visiting scholar at the university…
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News & Views
Everyone Wants to Be a Victim in America Today – Even Skinny People!
It’s no longer cool to win a gold medal or graduate cum laude or start a successful business or climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. In today’s America, the only sure way to get attention is to figure out and complain about…
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Worth Considering
The COVID Response: What We Got Wrong — June 23, 2023
The NYT’s COVID Tracker Is Back! It seems that the NYT has resumed making updates to its COVID tracking pages. CA forwarded the first one to me, showing that there are still 684 deaths per week attributed to…
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Readers Write
More on the death of Cormac McCarthy
From AS… “Last night, in honor of Cormac McCarthy’s passing, D and I watched The Road. We both read the book years ago and didn’t remember most of the details. As the movie rolled, my memories of the book…
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Postscript
Two Decades of Practice Distilled Into Minutes
He says it took him 20 years of practice to get to this point. I believe it! Click here.
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Notes From My Journal
Father’s Day, Mother’s Day: What Does It Mean Anymore?
This weekend was Father’s Day. The Ford-Fitzgerald clan has nine fathers – five in my generation and four in the following one, of which three, along with spouses and offspring, were together at the Swamp…
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News & Views
Sleeping Man Shoots Himself in Self-Defense
I’m trying to decide what to make of this story… or what the Illinois DA was thinking. A 62-year-old man is facing firearms charges in Illinois after authorities say he accidentally shot himself in the leg in…
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Worth Watching
The (Rare) Cormac McCarthy Interviews
As I mentioned in my tribute to Cormac McCarthy in Friday’s issue, he was famously private, and turned down most of the interview requests that came his way. But between 1968 and 1980, when he was starting…
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Worth Reading
Your Next (First?) Cormac McCarthy Novel
Reading the mailbag responses from Friday’s issue, I was surprised that some readers had never read anything by McCarthy and asked me for suggestions. It’s difficult to do that because of how varied his books…
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Fun and/or Interesting
What Would You Like to Do That You Haven’t Yet Done?
G sent this in. It’s a short interview with Bill Murray. I hadn’t seen it before, and when I watched it, I was surprised. It’s thought-provoking, but also touching. This is Bill Murray speaking without his…
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Readers Write
From HB, in response to my book reviews in which I mention The Mules, my book club
“I recently read, or perhaps I reread (?), The Natural by Bernard Malamud, in good part because the movie with Robert Redford has always been one of my baseball favorites and the book popped up at a local book…
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Postscript
Big Girl. Big Moves
This is a clip featuring high school girls that felt bullied and spent a year learning to dance to regain their confidence. Front and center is an amazing performance by a girl that was bullied because she is…
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Notes From My Journal
Cormac McCarthy, RIP
Cormac McCarthy, RIP Cormac McCarthy is gone. Sad. I didn’t know him personally. I never even heard him speak Unlike most bestselling authors, McCarthy didn’t do book signings or media interviews to promote…
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Worth Considering
Totalitarianism: What, Exactly, Does It Mean?
“The essential characteristic of totalitarian governments is that 100% of the population lies 100% of the time.” Dr. Jordan B. Peterson That’s what Dr. Jordan B. Peterson said in this interview. (Or something…
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News & Views
Finally, Some Social Justice for Green Activists
From ArtNews: A Vatican court convicted two environmental activists of aggravated damage for gluing their hands to an ancient statue in a Vatican museum during a climate change protest last August. They were…
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Fun and/or Interesting
History Quiz: Important Inventions
The first question was so easy, I thought I might ace the others. No. I barely got half of them right! Try your hand at it here.
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Readers Write
From KM…
“Hey Mark, “I just had RS on my podcast today and you came up a couple of times... I wanted to send you a message to say thanks for the positive impact you’ve had on me… to say I enjoyed our talk…. I was just…
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Postscript
The Professor Returns To Breaking Ankles
It’s been a while since I saw The Professor in action. He’s back and still breaking ankles. Click here.
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Notes From My Journal
Pickleball. Where Did It Come From? How Long Will It Stay
The first time I saw a pickleball court was about five or six years ago. Half the size of a tennis court, it was clearly invented for older people. And then, when I saw the game being played, with the plastic…
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Fun and/or Interesting
No matter what you think of the PGA/LIV merger…
If you like golf, the following might amuse or edify you. PW, a Myrtle Beach friend, sent it. (I think he did the research himself.) Other than seeing my high school buddies once a year in Myrtle Beach, my…
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News & Views
Is it Just Me, or Is the Cold War Getting Warmer?
Am I the only one that fears the US is getting closer to a nuclear war with Russia? Or could it be that everyone else in America believes that a nuclear war is one that we can survive? Or even win? In some…
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Worth Reading
From the Smithsonian – a New Book: My Friend Anne Frank
Hannah Pick-Goslar, who died last year, was a childhood friend of Anne Frank. In 2021, she partnered with Dina Kraft, to write an autobiography of her life as a child in Germany and then in Amsterdam, where…
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