Nail-biter and others
Peter Sokolowski of Merriam-Webster looks at words of the 2020 election.
Orange Crate Art
“Himes nailed it”
“Father Michael Himes nailed it when he said, ‘The purpose of an undergraduate education, particularly a Jesuit education, is a rigorous and sustained conversation about the most important questions relating to the human condition with the widest possible circle of the best possible conversation partners.’”
Items in a series
Mara Gay, speaking on The 11th Hour a few minutes ago, suggested that it’s necessary to now marginalize Donald Trump* and bring people back to “reality, science, kindness, and democracy.”
“5:00 p.m.”?
From This American Life, “Late Registration,” a story about Kanye West, Wisconsin, and the true meaning of “5:00 p.m.”
Barack Obama, writing by hand
“I still like writing things out in longhand, finding that a computer gives even my roughest drafts too smooth a gloss and lends half-baked thoughts the mask of tidiness.”
“Big with significance for someone”
From the second novel of The Cornish Trilogy, a moment in the growth of the artist’s mind.
COVID follies
In Illinois’s Region 6, things are bad. And yet — a nearby restaurant is offering an indoor Thanksgiving buffet.
“No Cap!”’
A 1946 ad for the Reynolds ballpoint pen.
Veterans Day
From a 1920 New York Times editorial. Then and now: the need to reinstate the United States “in the esteem of the world” by means of significant alliances.
Gillian Welch, Pessoa reader
“About a month ago, my eye was drawn to a book that has sat mostly unread on my shelf for some time, The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa. I picked it up and randomly read a passage of such beautiful poignancy, such exquisite human precision, that the wonderment of creative expression flooded me.”
The ballpoint pen
The BBC tells the story of the ballpoint pen.
A Vivaldi for our time
The Four Seasons Total Landscaping.
Just say no to interregnum
There is no throne. There is never not a president. And we don’t (yet) have a declaration of martial law.
Wirecutter ’s "best” pencils
Long story short: I don’t find Wirecutter particularly helpful or reliable on pencils.
Ellington at Fargo
Eighty years ago yesterday, the Duke Ellington Orchestra played a dance at the Crystal Ballroom, Fargo, North Dakota.
Joe and Kamala
After the psychopathy and sycophancy of the past four years, the sight of well-adjusted, apparently authentic humans prepared to assume positions of leadership is nothing less than giddying. They’re just like us, sort of, but with a great deal more courage.
Edged in black
“Mistah Trump* — he lost.”
Today’s Saturday Stumper
“Misses surfing, perhaps.”
Tweetstorm
Donald Trump*, spreader of disinformation, sower of discord, speaker at the headquarters of a landscaping company.
The best thing I’ve read today
Philip Kennicott, writing in The Washington Post about Trumpism as “a chronic condition of American public life,” “a lifestyle disease rooted in sedentary thinking.”
This way, please
Andrew Bates, speaking for the Biden campaign: “As we said on July 19th, the American people will decide this election. And the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House.”
Pluperfect
Today’s Zippy raises a question hitherto unasked in comics: What’s your favorite part of grammar?
Music to wait by
Mildred Bailey, “Georgia on My Mind.”
Son House and Buddy Guy
I went on a Son House kick yesterday and discovered that an episode of Camera Three with Son House and Buddy Guy is now available at YouTube.
A Naked City mail chute
That’s a pretty spiffy mailbox. Detective Arcaro, could you step away so we can get a good look? Please?
“I will arise and go now”
Donald Trump’s lunatic performance on Twitter this afternoon (“we hereby claim the State of Michigan”) makes me think he might be happiest in a country of his own.
Did I really have this conversation?
“Just so you know — the card reader at the first pump isn’t working. I tried two cards.” “How isn’t it working?” “It doesn’t read the cards.”
NPR, Son House, and Brünnhilde
I know what Son House meant when he sang that the minutes seem like hours, hours seem like days. So that’s one singer. But with Griffy and Zippy, I am waiting for Brünnhilde.
Today’s Zippy
That pose suggests George Bailey, doesn’t it?
“Yes, Nancy”
Today’s Nancy is sweet.