I am reviving our Book of the Month in a less pedantic and exhaustive format. We’ll put up a list of books in the probable order in which we shall take them up. I’ll post an introduction. We can have as much or little commentary as readers wish to provide, though I do ask everyone who is reading one of the books to put up a brief comment to that effect.
A few weeks ago, I posted a brief and trivial comment on pizza, which set off a longer discussion that ended up in private messaging on the question of artificial intelligence. I have edited, revised, condensed. I begin with the initial post.
False world, good night! since thou hast brought
That hour upon my morn of age;
Henceforth I quit thee from my thought,
My part is ended on thy stage.
It’s that time again: Election USA. As we enter the new election cycle, we can look forward to the customary effusions of democratic rhetoric. The socialists known as Democrats, while deploring the American past, will tell us, in language hallowed by the Clintons and Obamas, that we have moved beyond patriarchy, superstition, and the irrational preference for personal liberty—the prejudices of the poor savages who cling to their guns and religion.
Pisa helped the maritime cities in Southern Italy to resist Saracen attacks. As early as 828 Pisan vessels were raiding North Africa and in 871 they defended Salerno Her ships fought them in Calabria in the 10th century and drove the infidels out of Reggio in Calabria.
The death of Simpson brought it all back for a moment, and I recall how uncomfortable felt when I gave people my “take” on the murders. Now it is your turn.
One day last week I stopped to buy some spring onions, now in season, from a farmer selling them by the roadside. They have sizeable bulbs, which is the part the Italians eat, discarding the tops. It’s a common sight here.
If the most popular legend of its founding had any validity, Pisa would have been originally a Greek colony, founded by people from Elis in the Peloponnesus, who named it after their own Pisa, the nearest town to the site of the Olympic Games.
A new movie I might see is “Civil War.” Texas, Florida and California supposedly secede together and fight the rest of the ex-USA. Most people are thinking, No way nutty California would join with sensible Florida and Texas. But that’s just the moviemakers gaining free publicity.
A slightly revised version. To avoid any misunderstanding, the speaker is the eternal spirit of Simon Magus.
