Hopefully the 3-Legged Kind

Posted on May 13, 2023 by JE

The typo of the day is stool (where I intended stood). It changed the meaning of the sentence a little.

Posted in Typo of the Day, writing | Comments Off on Hopefully the 3-Legged Kind

Mercilessly Great

Posted on May 12, 2023 by JE

Not much new here, as I am writing heavily on two new projects, and gearing up to teach a summer course. But here’s some of the stuff I’ve been writing to: Calibro 35, this completely crazy, retro-funk, soundtrackulous band from Milan. Their Bandcamp stuff is worth checking out, but I don’t seem to be able to embed it like a YouTube video, so:

Posted in music, writing | Tagged | Comments Off on Mercilessly Great

Cure for the Summertime Blues

Posted on May 8, 2023 by JE

I’ve been somewhat dreading my summer course without realizing why. Today, as I was starting to set it up, I figured that out. The last time I taught a full course online was during COVID lockdown, and the process is haunted by memories of those claustrophobic/agoraphobic days. And the last time I taught during summer (even further back), I had some of the most persistently unpleasant interactions with students I’ve ever had in 30-some years of teaching at the college level.

A twofold problem with a twofold solution: remind myself that the future is not the past, and crank up the summer tunes. It’s working so far.

originally from Mann’s album Do the Bossa Nova (1963)
Meet the new bossa nova, same as the old bossa nova.
Posted in academia, music | Tagged , | Comments Off on Cure for the Summertime Blues

Outline or Straight-Out Lying?

Posted on May 8, 2023 by JE

Whenever I’m writing anything substantial, there comes a moment where I look at the outline and am reminded of this old Sidney Harris cartoon.

If it’s a fantasy novel, frequently what’s required is an actual miracle. Those are the easy ones.

A drawing of two mathematicians looking at a blackboard filled with mathematical formulae. The older mathematician is pointing at a place on the blackboard that reads THEN A MIRACLE OCCURS. The caption is, "I think you should be more explicit here in Step 2."
Posted in academia, books, cartoon, fantasy, writing | Comments Off on Outline or Straight-Out Lying?

Small and/or Fuzzy

Posted on May 8, 2023 by JE

D adopted a new friend. It’s a little too soon for me, but her canine pal left us almost 2 years ago; she’s been pretty patient.

So: meet Reuben Sandwich, PhD. Dr. Sandwich is five years old. His research interests include food, smells, and squirrels. He is currently on parole for a series of attacks on chickens. His works include A Topology of Smells, It’s Always Snacktime Somewhere, and his controversial prison memoir Why I Hate Chickens and So Can You!, all available on Arfable.com.

left: JE and Reuben Sandwich; right: Reuben solo
Posted in dogs | Tagged | Comments Off on Small and/or Fuzzy

Hungry Heart

Posted on May 7, 2023 by JE

Typo of the day is hamelt, for an intended Hamlet. Clearly I should not have skipped lunch.

photo of a grilled ham, cheese, and egg sandwich on a white plate with a slice of dill pickel
image snerged from here
Posted in art, food, Myth & Legend, Typo of the Day, words | Tagged | Comments Off on Hungry Heart

WTF?

Posted on May 6, 2023 by JE

I’m looking around online for editions of the Hrafnistumannasǫgur—which is a perfectly normal thing to do on Friday night; I don’t care what the kids down at the sock hop say—and I found a pretty decent edition for the third and maybe most famous saga in the series, Ǫrvar-Odds saga. It was apparently the Ph.D. dissertation of a Dutch guy named Richard Boer in the 19th C. Leaving the Boer War and cruel puns about academic bores out of it, I was most struck by the guy who oversaw the dissertation, that magnificus rector (Everything Is Better With Latin!™), that hoogleeraar (which I know is hoog “high” plus leeraar “teacher”, but which my brain persists in reading as HOOGLE HAR), Doctor A. P. Fokker. Truly a magnificent Fokker, as I’m sure we can all agree.

ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT TER VERKRIJGING VAN DEN GRAAD VAN DOCTOR IN DE NEDERLANDSGHE LETTERKUNDE, AAN DE RIJKS-UNIVERSITEIT TE GRONINGEN, OP GEZAG VAN DEN RECTOR MAGNIFICUS Dr. A. P. FOKKER HOOGLEEHAAR IN DE FACULTEIT DER GENEESKUNDE, TEGEN DE BEDENKINGEN DER FACULTEIT IN HET OPENBAAR TE VERDEDIGEN, op Vrijdag den 28 September 1888 des namiddags te 3 uren DOOR RICHARD CONSTANT BOER, GEBOREN TE WARNSVELD.
title page of Boer’s edition of Ǫrvar-Odds saga
Posted in academia, language, Myth & Legend, words | Tagged , | Comments Off on WTF?

Four Dead in Ohio

Posted on May 4, 2023 by JE

May 4, 1970

see the caption
A unit of the National Guard, armed with live ammunition, moves against students protesting the Vietnam war at Kent State University, May 4, 1970.
Four students were murdered that day when the guardsmen fired into the crowd.
Photo and more info on the massacres of students in that terrible spring at The Zinn Education Project.
Posted in academia, history, music, politics | Comments Off on Four Dead in Ohio

Grades Are In…

Posted on April 30, 2023 by JE

and the doctor is out!

Posted in academia, music | Tagged , | Comments Off on Grades Are In…

Early Bloomer

Posted on April 30, 2023 by JE

One of the weirder characters in the saga I’m reading is a guy named Vagn Ákason, a sort of medieval Neoptolemus. He killed 3 men by the time he was 9. When he was 12, he commanded two pirate ships and 120 men. (Jómsvíkinga Saga 22)

I hope he’s fictional. Apparently the blooming marriage of Áka and Þórgunn was fertile ground for the breeding of psychotic child-warriors.

Posted in Myth & Legend | Tagged , | Comments Off on Early Bloomer