03/02/2023: The Most Rarefied Presidential List
The ranking of presidents provides hours of enjoyment for professionals and hobbyists alike. This ranking is perhaps the greatest of all:
“…soon, remains of George Washington, Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy, and Dwight D. Eisenhower will join the DNA and cremated remains of many of the people who worked on Star Trek and be blasted into space for evermore.” (source)
I mean sure, FDR helped win WW II and fight the Great Depression but is he worthy of being sent into space?
I learned about this from the wonderful newsletter 1440.
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11/03/2023: Ray Bradbury punk rock graduation.
Ray Bradbury was so poor growing up that in order to dress up for his graduation he had to wear his uncle’s suit. His uncle had died recently. The suite was the one he wore when he died. His uncle was shot. The suit still had the bullet hole in it. I learned that from […]
06/07/2023: Presidential Restraint
Matt Yglesias has a piece in the New York Times under the headline: “It’s Great to Have a President Who Knows When to Shut Up.” My favorite topic: presidential restraint. I spent a lot of time on the topic in my book, and why it’s necessary for the job. (Chapter 23: Restraint). There is no greater […]
04/29/2023: The Magic of Music
My cocktail chatter from the recent Gabfest: My chatter is on the magical properties of music. To me, musicians are the closest we have to actual Wizards. They can conjure a feeling and then make another human soul have that feeling or launch another feeling. Writing does this too, of course, but it’s rare when […]
04/22/2023: Long Tail Interviews on Prime Time
We cover the latest on Prime Time every day, but we also conduct a number of interviews that last beyond the move to fish wrap(*). Here are some interviews from the first four days of this week: 1. Why the fighting in Sudan matters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16ffhTXOsAQ 2. Evan Gershkovich’s friend explains his condition in a Russian […]