Clockwatchers
This panel in today’s Olivia Jaimes’s Nancy brings back memories. In third grade I was accused of being a clockwatcher.
Orange Crate Art
"Orlovius was displeased”
A narrator thinks about how to begin a new chapter.
How to improve writing (no. 116)
The target of a plot is not at its center.
Costa, Guerriero, and Sued
Yamandu Costa, Brazilian guitar; Luís Guerreiro, Portuguese guitar; Martín Sued, bandoneon. July 3, 2021.
Cogito
I overthink, or at least I think I do; therefore, I am.
Recently updated
Another word of the year.
Evaluations
This is the twenty-seventh teaching dream I’ve had since retiring in 2015. In all but one, something has goes wrong.
At another rest stop
CAUTION WET FLOOR. They weren’t kidding. But there wasn’t a mop in sight.
Recently updated
The mystery of the name A. Leddy on a nameplate, solved.
Pence, comma
“You know I don’t think I have the authority to change the outcome”: and the absence of a comma has the authority to change everything.
The doctor is in
Peter Lorre makes his American debut as Dr. Gogol.
A pocket notebook sighting
From Mad Love.
[Deflating balloon sounds]
In Olivia Jaimes’s Nancy , a speech balloon breathes its last.
Typography of the young
“Italics make it look like the wind’s blowing.”
Misreading
RECORD BUYING BINGE
Recently updated
A word of the year from Merriam-Webster.
A. Leddy
A name on a nameplate in a movie.
Twelve movies
Pre-Code Divas and others.
Attention education
In The New York Times, three members of the Strother School of Radical Attention make a case for a new way of thinking about education.
Drake Lives
A Paul Drake imitator.
On Chauncey Street
Jackie Gleason and The Honeymooners.
Today’s Saturday Stumper
“Tower with the power.”
Towne Branch subdivision
I photographed this tree — I’m calling it the Towne Branch subdivision — in fall 2020 and again in 2022. In 2023 it continues to be popular with squirrel families.
A joke in the traditional manner
How do birds communicate with distant family and friends?
Thanksgiving 1923
“Pumpkin Pie Cooked With Crust on the Top Astonishes Americans at London Dinner.”
Five and ten and fifteen
A Kresge window with a turkey dinner.
Your work age
A quiz from The Washington Post: “How to tell your real work age.”
The Apostrophe Protection Society
It’s back.
Fn
For Mac users only: Adam Engst explains The Hidden Secrets of the Fn Key
Sluggo-head
Zippy meets a Sluggo-head with muffler-man pants in today’s Zippy.