The Pain of OCD

Venn Diagram Tuesday

    True dis.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    The judge placed his hands on the ground.  He looked at his inquisitor.  “This is my claim,” he said.  “And yet everywhere upon it are pockets of autonomous life.  Autonomous.  In order for it to be mine nothing must be permitted to occur upon it save by my dispensation.” (…)

    “I don’t see what that has to do with catchin’ birds.”

    “The freedom of birds is an insult to me.  I’d have them all in zoos.”

    “That would be a hell of a zoo.”

    The judge smiled.  Yes,” he said.  “Even so.”

    (from Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy)

 

    7*/10.  The full review is here.

.

Science Sunday

   Oh, we chemists are a droll bunch.

Masks vs Guns

    Food for thought.

Science Rules

    I might quibble about Evolution being listed as a fact, but I admit that it is by far the most likely explanation for diversity of the species.

 

Bi

    A handy way to tell if you're Bi.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “I don’t get it.  How come you haven’t grown older?”

    “I have grown older, just like everyone.”

    “You don’t look any older,” she said, staring.

    “Put it down to healthy living,” I said.

    “And good food,” added Mrs. Goodfellow.

    “And good genes,” I continued.

    “No,” said Kathy, screwing up her face.  “Mom looks like an old lady and you don’t.”

    “That’s because he’s not a lady,” I said, helpfully.

    She glared.

    (from Inspector Hobbes and the Gold Diggers by Wilkie Martin)

    8*/10.  The complete review is here.

.

Word for the Day

    My goal is to find an excuse to use this word tomorrow.

One-Liners Saturday

Art Appreciation Friday

Black Lives Matter

    George Floyd was murdered.  Pure and simple.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    A battering on the brass knocker announced the belated arrival of Foxen Ellsworth-Howard, and the first thing he said on entering was “It’s shracking freezing in here!”

    Shrack was an extremely nasty word, first coined to describe a particularly immoral act that had become possible with twenty-second-century technology.  Ellsworth-Howard’s friends winced slightly, but only slightly.

    (from The Life of the World to Come by Kage Baker)

 

    6½*/10.  The complete review is here.

.

Philosophy Tuesday

Meditation Monday

Tower of Babel - The *Real* Story

Saturday Pun Day

    It took me way too long to "get" this.

Friday Latin Lesson

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “We have two scenes,” he said.  “We’ve got the splat around back here on the side.  And then the room the guy was using.  That’s the top floor, room seventy-nine.”

    It was the routine way of police officers to dehumanize the daily horrors that came with the job.  Jumpers were called splats.

    (from The Drop by Michael Connelly)

 

    8½*/10.  The complete review is here.

.

Interviews

Weekly Calvin and Hobbes Moment

Ten Years After Covid

Thought for the Day

Heard Mentality

Book Excerpt for the Day

    He seized it with both hands, with extraordinary violence, and tried to tear it off his own body, and, failing, punched it in an access of rage.

    “Easy!” I said.  “Be calm!  Take it easy!  I wouldn’t punch that leg like that.”

    “And why not?” he asked, irritably, belligerently.

    “Because it’s your leg,” I answered.  “Don’t you know your own leg?”

    He gazed at me with a look compounded of stupefaction, incredulity, terror and amusement, not unmixed with a jocular sort of suspicion.  “Ah Doc!”, he said.  “You’re fooling me!  You’re in cahoots with that nurse – you shouldn’t kid patients like this!”

    (from The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks)

 

    9*/10.  The complete review is here.

.

Social Distancing Works!

Tuesday Grammar Check

    I agree with the correction.

Mask Motivation

    Great idea!

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “You’re aware, I take it, that we have prior permission to name the planet.  I want to hear suggestions.” (…)

    “We can name it anything?” she asked.

    “Just about,” Thompson responded, then, reflecting on the little trap that she had set for him, looked at me and added, “Uh oh.”

    “So, we could name the planet ‘Larry’ if we wanted?” Diana asked.

    “As far as I am aware, there are no other planets named Larry,” Thompson replied, willing to play along.

    (from Orb by Gary Tarulli)

 

    7*/10.  The complete review is here.

.

Bookshelf Envy Saturday.

Friday Linguistics Lesson

Wednesday Writing Tip

Bilingual Tuesday

Science Monday

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “Maybe you can’t read so good.  You see that tape there, says crime scene and such?”

    “The bright yellow and black stuff?” I asked.

    “That’s it exactly.”

    “Yep.”

    “Well, that’s what we police use when we have a crime scene and we don’t want nosy private investigators stomping all over it in their big boots and contaminating everything,” he drawled.

    “What if I promise to walk on tippy toe?”

    “Then I promise I will stop bouncing you off walls just as soon as I think you’re not resisting arrest,” he said in a cheerful tone.

    (from Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher)

 

    8*/10.  The complete review is here.

.

Science Friday

Finicky

    Our Lulu qualifies as "persnickety".

Geography Wednesday

Book Excerpt for the Day

    The professor wore a white dinner-jacket, his hair was white, he had white morning stubble on his chin, and he carried a revolver in his hand which he pointed at Wormold.  Wormold saw that the woman behind him was very young and very pretty.  She stooped and turned off the gramophone.

    “Forgive me for calling on you at this hour,” Wormold said.  He had no idea how he should begin, and he was disquieted by the revolver.  Professors ought not to carry revolvers.

    (from Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene)

 

    6*/10.  The complete review is here.

.

It fits like a glove

    Penti-Lingual Monday.