"Why the Past 14 Years Have Felt So Insane"

Rogue Highway explains how society was affected by The Great Blurring.

Thought provoking. Most great changes don't arrive with trumpets.

[Photo by Luiz Gonzaga at Unsplash]

First Paragraph of a Major Book

For thousands of years, human civilizations did something unimaginable by modern standards: They set rules to limit the power of their technologies. In the Hebrew Bible, God commands the Israelites to build an altar for worship but forbids them from using stonecutting tools in its construction. Classical Greek philosophers warned that new inventions would bear costs equal to their power. Socrates tells the story of an ancient king who laments that the advent of writing will make men lose their faculty of memory and become ignorant. Plato looked down on the "base mechanic arts" of technology for weakening the body and enfeebling the soul.

Master List Follow-Up

In the wake of the usual income tax preparation madness, I sat down to update my Master List.

Prompted by Nicholas Bate's blog post, I quickly discovered that there had been some detours into separate lists.

I expected a one-page Master List but wound up with three-pages.

The largest portion, of course, is the Important but Not Urgent category from the Eisenhower Quadrants.

Self-Published and Then

Collin Hansen on "The Great American Novel That Almost Wasn't."

The Best of Hollywood Stories

 

First Paragraph

The white men in jackets and ties were obviously out of their element. Normally, at this time of day, they would be preparing to leave home or office for a couple of drinks, lunch and maybe a card game at their clubs. Now, on December 19, 1991, they shifted in their seats, returning hostile glares from black men and women in the packed basement of New Orleans City Hall. The city council was meeting in spartan surroundings while its regular chambers were being renovated, but the physical discomforts were nothing compared to the general psychic unease as everyone waited for the great debate on an ordinance to desegregate Mardi Gras parades and gentlemen's clubs. 

From Lords of Misrule: Mardis Gras and the Politics of Race in New Orleans by James Gill

[This was recommended to me by an old friend who, when Mardi Gras rolls around, can always be found throwing beads from a float. I may join him some year.]

Why Keep a Master List?

 

Nicholas Bate, whose productivity shows that he a Master of Lists, tells us why keeping one makes a huge difference.

[I use Dingbat journals for most of my lists simply because they possess a certain beauty.]

Once Upon a Time in a White House Receiving Line

History's small moments can be revealing.

[Photo by Eric Prouzet at Unsplash]

First Paragraph

I wasn't trying to play the victim until the world taught me what a powerful grift it is. Believe it or not, all I wanted was to be successful. To hustle like my Pops but to keep my life and freedom in the process. My desperate chase for your approval was really all about that. I needed that approval in order to be considered successful. I needed it to feel like my life mattered.

- From Victim: A Novel by Andrew Boryga

Glory Road

 

Have recently been reading Glory Road before bedtime. Bruce Catton was far more than a great historian. There is a poetry in his prose.