Here is the greatest comic book ever made in the history of the universe. The very existence of this artifact justifies the medium of comic books, validates the career of Bob Hope, and raises the artistry of Leonardo to a new level. This is what the internets are for, this is why the Library of Congress has an archive, this is why printing was invented, this is why there wa...
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Hold up your shield, brother Knight, and ward off that stiff wind that threatens to push us over. This rugged terrain beneath our feet makes for tough going, but we must stay at our post with our weapons at the ready and our unfashionable noseguards in place. Whatever happens, don't let the enemy see you smile or frown. In fact, keep your mouth a perfectly straight line.
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I mean literally, what is the thing that got inside of this California poet?
Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962) is not read much anymore, but I predict his work will make a big comeback in the next decade. I somewhat grudgingly admit that he stands out as one of California's most accomplished poets, in fact one of the most important poets in American history. He was very popu...
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Or How Statism Leads to Obsession with Meaningless Local Control
Some places disappoint when you actually get to them . . . 221B Baker Street was Sherlock Holmes fictional address and all the Victorian charm you believe you will find there is equally mythic. There is no Baker Street if by that you mean the place where the game is afoot and Mrs. Hudson waits to serve you tea...
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Or Can a Nation Remain Great that Cannot Master Flush Toilets and Electricity?
Britain is such a wonderful place to visit that it seems a pity to begin with a complaint, but it always strikes me just how absurdly terrible flush toilets and electricity are in Britain. Both seem to be treated as new developments jury rigged into buildings so that they can be removed if the who...
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I am teaching this week (and in July and August) at Wheatstone Academy. I am excited about the opportunity to work with students who are interested in developing a coherent view of the world in an exciting and rigorous setting.
What I like about Wheatstone is that they are not like some ministries that are seen as places just to get the “great big book of pat answers” ...
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In Europe the news is blissfully unaware of any nuance to American politics . . . the general level of analysis seems to be that Bush is a moron because he has a Southern accent, or that one cannot find anyone of the right sort of American who like him (so he must be bad), or (I kid you not) that the War in Iraq is the greatest disaster to Western diplomacy, ever, but that it ...
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The heart of Paris beats, but it is irregular like an aging man with arrhythmia and too much caffeine.
Most of the children one sees appear to be of immigrants. The most excitement I saw on the streets came from side walk merchants. The city seems tired . . . as if it is going through the motions of being Paris, merely undead rather than alive . . . more like the museum t...
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Ambrose Bierce (born 1842, date of death an unsolved mystery) had a wit that could eat its way through anything. So universally sardonic was his imagination that there was nothing he couldn't make fun of, and he proved it by making fun of the dictionary and all the words in it. For his Devil's Dictionary project, he wrote bitter, triple-negative spoofs of everything from let...
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Psalm 46:10 says: "Be still, and know that I am God."
Perhaps you know a song with these words. You may even have a coffee cup with them on it, perfect for those laid back (but with caffeine mandatory!) quiet times. Perhaps you've seen images that try to capture the feeling evoked by the words:
A holy hush descends and these words call us back to a place of stillne...
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I was just opining that the day of gigantic national parks had passed, that there are no new Yosemites to be set aside, and that today's John Muirs would be well advised to find a new strategy. I should also have said that there aren't any more Teddy Roosevelts to do the setting aside. If I'd said that, I 'd have been even more thoroughly wrong.
President Bush just creat...
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John Muir (1838-1914) deserves the title of "founder of the conservation movement." He found his voice at a strategic time in American history and was remarkably effective at getting land preserved. He invented a whole range of rhetorical strategies which captured the public imagination and persuaded politicians to take action. When Muir made a case for saving old growth r...
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