Twitter Terms of Service
Do Twitter’s Terms of Service permit the threat of military attack? Do they permit the threat of war crimes?
Orange Crate Art
The Archive of Contemporary Music
The New York Times reports that Tribeca’s high rents mean that the Archive of Contemporary Music must find a new home. A resource of this depth must have a home.
Today’s Saturday Stumper
“Neon sign seen in Looney Tunes.”
Trump* and lies
The Washington Post reports that Donald Trump has made more than 15,000 “false or misleading claims” while in office. So when Trump says that Qassim Suleimani “was planning a very major attack,” there is no reason to believe what he says.
Close enough for tarantellas
A wonderful example of musical versatility, with Robert Johnson and Johnny Shines in New York and New Jersey.
State employees
In forty states, a basketball or football coach at a public university is the highest-paid public employee.
A school of somes
Today’s yesterday’s Nancy is a some-fest.
Don Larsen (1929–2020)
I’ve known Don Larsen’s name since boyhood.
Holiday wars
They’re saying “Happy New Year” again!
The days of my PDF
Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives, and of my PDF calendar.
New Year’s Eve 1919
Prohibition in 1919? Yes and no.
Domestic comedy
Too much Hallmark.
“Not part of my portfolio”
She’s complicit.
“Each morning”
Stefan Zweig: “All ethical labour by its example wakens in us truly precious energies, and each man becomes the better when he is capable of admiring with sincerity that which is inherently good.”
Word of the day: lackadaisical
To care and not to care: it seems that lackadaisical points in both directions.
Today’s Saturday Stumper
“Horsefeathers.”
Ben Leddy hosts The Rewind
Here’s the latest installment of WGBH’s The Rewind, “Marc Brown, Arthur, and the REAL Mr. Ratburn.”
Rocky mayo
We scrutinized the Hellman’s jar: “KNOWN AS BEST FOODS® WEST OF THE ROCKIES.” Okay, but what about in the Rockies? Which mayonnaise can you buy in, say, Bozeman, Montana? Is there a dividing line that runs through the Rocky Mountains? And if so, where? I found out.
Tom Waits awaits
Tom Waits’s 1978 Austin City Limits performance is online at PBS until January 19. This episode also appears to be airing on at least some PBS stations this week.
Cafés to banks
Stefan Zweig, writing about Paris in 1924.
“One puny blog post”
Nancy at work.
Some Christmas
Today’s Zippy is devoted to list-making. With a guest star.
Christmas 1919
From The New York Times: “Snow Quickly Removed. Three Thousand Street Cleaners Did a Speedy Christmas Job.”
Dalton Baldwin (1931–2019)
A New York Times obituary calls the pianist “an eminence among accompanists.”
Italy’s Sardines
“Organizers say their goal is to stop a far-right, anti-immigrant wave rising in Italian society and politics.”
Helicopter campuses
A new trend in surveillance, the use of Bluetooth to track college students’ class attendance and campus habits via their phones
Domestic comedy
“I can’t believe you walked past that multi-tool display.”
Today’s Ticonderoga
In today’s Zippy, cartoonist Conrad Nervig seeks a new career. Stand by for the Dixon Ticonderoga no. 2.
Scribbles & Ink
For kids and those who think like kids: Scribbles & Ink, an online game (or drawing environment, I’d call it) to go with the PBS Kids series of the same name.
Roz Chast, profiled
”Don’t you want to stay indoors where it’s safe, and read and draw?”