Respects

This is the 953rd anniversary of the day on which William set sail to conquer the British Isles, September 27, 1066.

I grudgingly applaud the move. Residual self-interest tips me.

Robert Hunter (June 23, 1941-Septermber 23, 2019)

There is a road, no simple highway
Between the dawn and the dark of night
And if you go, no one may follow
That path is for your steps alone

Robert Hunter

John Cohen (August 2, 1932 – September 16, 2019)

He, "Uncle John" Cohen, wasn't necessarily that Uncle John, but still.

Does He Seem Fit?

Candidate Castro made what proves to be a baseless charge against Joe Biden in tonight's debate. Clearly it served as a test of how capably Joe Biden might respond to baseless charges against him, the number of which can only increase, by an elemental law of politics, as the campaign continues.

Seattle Sunset

September,  2019

He Really IS That Guy Down There At The End Of The Bar

Trumps' Plan To Destroy Hurricanes resurfaces a really old, really bad idea that he likely just discovered and now won't stop going on about.

It's Not Easy Being Green

The purpose of owning Greenland is to finally surround Canada with America at last, from Greenland in the Arctic East to Alaska in the Arctic West above and then all the way around to the contiguous 48 below, surrounded. Then let the Canucks try something. Just let them.

Bridge Stays

Sundial Bridge By Santiago Calatrava, August 2012

I Know What You Mean, You Know What I Mean?

Bromberg Interruptus

"In fact, it is often the people that they so strongly oppose that are actually the Elite."

Liberal Hollywood is Racist at the highest level, and with great Anger and Hate! They like to call themselves “Elite,” but they are not Elite. In fact, it is often the people that they so strongly oppose that are actually the Elite. The movie coming out is made in order to inflame and cause chaos. They create their own violence, and then try to blame others. They are the true Racists, and are very bad for our Country!

—Says Area Man

Because August on the Misses Miller River

Art Neville (December 17, 1937 – July 22, 2019)

Musicological Note

Here's a recent conversation (accessible for the next few weeks) on Tom Mazzollini's long-running Blues By The Bay radio program about Paul Oliver and Mack McCormick and their great, unfinished project meant to document the rise and spread of African American vernacular musics in Texas. It is now available, for a price, in the recently published Blues Comes To Texas.

Hearing Chris Strachwitz (who has never been too far wrong about American vernacular music) enthuse about this book is all the convincing I need.

Did Epstein Ever Put The Make On Ivanka?

It would be irresponsible not to speculate. She was just the right age.

Critics Corner

World War II did not lead to a wave of great literature, especially given its overwhelming importance in the twentieth century. But it sure led to a wave of great film.

Eric Loomis, Lawyers, Guns & Money

Loomis is right. In spite of attempts by commenters to compile a list of great WWII literature, there was no wave of great literature conveying those events equivalent to the wave of great film produced over the course of the past sixty years.

A list, even a big list, is not a wave.

Nevertheless I searched in vain for a comment mentioning Gravity's Rainbow, which is great and literature and seems to be about WWII, more or less, as I recall. Strange that it doesn't immediately come to mind.

João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira (June 10, 1931-July 6, 2019)

Van Morrison Almost

Independence Day

Name That Camp

A History of Concentration Camps in the US

Mandatory Quadrennial Color Calibration

Azaleas, 2015

Econ Wan Oh One

What will one pound be worth, post-Brexit, should Britain chose to stiff the EU for the costs it must bear for removing itself from the union? Asking for a friend.

The Future of the Future In End-Times Rhetoric

Jupiter is almost four times farther away from earth than the earth is from the sun. Neptune is about 28 times farther from earth than earth is from the sun. Neptune is far, far away. To arrive in good order at Neptune would be a prodigious achievement on the part of humanity. Who's to say it's achievable?

I find myself, even in my senescence, leaning pro-Neptune.

Of Which The Moon Is A Part

"I'll take, The sky seen from Mars for $4000, Alex," he said.

"No, I'm sorry, that would be, The Solar System … ah, wait, we have a judges' ruling that the Moon is unquestionably a part of the sky seen from Mars, so we'll allow that answer as well. Congratulations for playing Make Sense of THIS!"

Dr. John, November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019

Betterment

…

When men of science envisage a possibility of this kind, they are prone to a type of fallacy which is common also in other directions. They imagine that a reform inaugurated by men of science would be administered as men of science would wish, by men similar in outlook to those who have advocated it. In like manner women who advocated votes for women used to imagine that the woman voter of the future would resemble the ardent feminist who won her the vote; and socialist leaders imagine that a socialist State would be administered by idealistic reformers like themselves. These are, of course, delusions; a reform, once achieved, is handed over to the average citizen.

—Bertrand Russell, ICARUS or The Future of Science, 1924

And the average citizen, distracted by more immediate concerns, willingly passes administration of the reformed matter over to all the same people who cared enough to fight over the reform in the first place.

Yes, If You Were Asking, That's A War Crime

Duncan Hunter figures he killed hundreds of civilians in Fallujah.