Hmm

 

Jeans and More Jeans

The New York Times: Linguist John McWhorter on the Sidney Sweeney jeans ad.

Generational Differences and Giving Wow Service

 Althouse: Small talk at Trader Joe's.

A sweet company.

Getting Closer

 

A Very Complicated Task

On my list: I need to make some complicated things very simple and understandable without eliminating the important.

[Photo by Aaron Burden at Unsplash]

Perk Up

 

Check out Nicholas Bate's reasons to be cheerful.

Right on target (and also check out his novels!)

[Photo by Max Berger at Unsplash]

Hmm

 

The Weird Dream We Share

 

My Substack explains.

In the Pipeline

 

In the Background and the Foreground

 

Deserves More Attention Than the Fall of Rome

 We have just suffered such a defeat as no one would have believed possible. On whom or on what should the blame be laid? On the French system of parliamentary government, say our generals; on the rank and file of the fighting services, on the English, on the fifth column - - in short, on any and everybody but themselves.

- From Strange Defeat by Marc Bloch, an analysis of the fall of France in 1940

Underrated

 

Dennis Hopper steals the show.

Whole Lot of Rethinking Going On

 

Treatment and Not Benign Neglect

President Trump has signed an executive order to curb homelessness. The involuntary commitment of the mentally ill will be a major step forward.

Waiting for the UK to Bounce Back

 

Who's in the Room?

 

I offer some cautionary notes in my Substack column.

When Cap Guns Were Cool

 2019: Phil Spangenberger of True West magazine examines the cap gun days of the "Fanner 50" and other parts of a young boy's arsenal.

I Recall the Horn Button in the Turn Signal

 

Find Something Beautiful Today

 

[Photo by Barna Bartis at Unsplash]

The Good Old Days

 

Comes Out in September. Definitely on My List.

 

If Only We Had a Press Corps

"It positioned Steele Dossier conclusions as mainstream news, set up Trump to be investigated by his own incoming FBI Director, and made sure the incoming administration did not see dissenting intelligence about Russian meddling."

- Matt Taibbi in Explaining Russiagate: Why the December 9th, 2016 Meeting Mattered

John Brennan, Political Hit Man

 Jonathan Turley reviews the machinations of John Brennan and the Obama White House.

The news media played a major role in perpetuating the smear.

Strategy

 

One of Huxley's Warnings

 The soul of wit may become the very body of untruth. However elegant and memorable, brevity can never, in the nature of things, do justice to all the facts of a complex situation. On such a theme one can be brief only by omission and simplification. Omission and simplification help us to understand - but help us, in many cases, to understand the wrong thing, for our comprehension may be only of the abbreviator's neatly formulated notions, not of the vast, ramifying reality from which these notions have been so arbitrarily abstracted.

- Aldous Huxley in Brave New World Revisited

I am carefully reading Brave New World Revisited with a particular interest in what his views might have been on artificial intelligence. I could ask AI for that, but for some odd reason prefer to go to the original source.

Trivia point: On the same sad day in November 1963 that John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Aldous Huxley and C. S. Lewis died.

Another Upbeat Russian Story

 

Time to Re-Read

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

- The Hobbit or There and Back Again by J.R. R. Tolkien

Keep in Mind

 If you are the smartest person in the room, find a new room.

- Legendary Fire Chief Alan Brunacini

First Paragraph

 Sunday morning, Ordell took Louis to watch the white-power demonstration in downtown Palm Beach.

- From Rum Punch: A Novel by Elmore Leonard

Life in Another Time

Cultural Offering is posting excerpts from some family journals.

Nothing flashy (so far) but fascinating stuff.

2022 VW Ad

 

New Loyalty Oaths?

The National Association of Scholars report on the use of DEI statements in American university job listings.

Tips for Writers: Aim for the Basics

My Substack essay on tips for writers is here.

[Photo by Aaron Burden at Unsplash]

Bigger Than Watergate

 Paul Sperry at RealClearInvestigations on how the Obama administration turned an unverifiable report into a political weapon.

Big Will

 

Westerns: A Reading List

 

Most of the following western novels are often listed as classics. Since I have put the ones that I've read in bold, you can see that I am way behind.

• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry 
• The Wonderful Country by Tom Lea
• The Virginian by Owen Wister
• The Travels of Jamie McPheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor
• Laughing Boy by Oliver La Farge
• Hombre by Elmore Leonard
• Take of Valor by Vardis Fisher
• Outlawed by Anna North
• The Outrider by Luke Short
• Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey
• The Sackett Brand by Louis L'Amour
• True Grit by Charles Portis
• The Sisters Brothers by Patrick de Witt
•  Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
• Valdez is Coming by Elmore Leonard
• Desperadoes by Ron Hansen
• The Hell Bent Kid by Charles O. Locke
• Welcome to Hard Times  by E.L. Doctorow
• The Way West by A.B. Guthrie
• The Big Sky by A.B. Guthrie
• The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
• Shane by Jack Shaefer
• Hondo by Louis L'Amour
• The Searchers by Alan Le May
• Butcher's Crossing by John Williams
• Little Big Man by Thomas Berger
• The Time It Never Rained by Elmer Kelton
• Flashman and the Redskins by George MacDonald Fraser
• Centennial by James Michener
• The Shootist by Glen Swarthout
• The Son by Philipp Meyer
• El Paso by Winston Groom
• The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu by Tom Lin
• Gone to Texas by Asa Earl Carter
• News of the World by Paulette Jiles
• Monte Walsh by Jack Shaefer
• The Revenant by Michael Punke
• Wild Times by Brian Garfield

[Photo by Cayetano Gil at Unsplash]

Buster Keaton: Stunningly Great

 

The Argentina Miracle

 The Free Press: Niall Ferguson on the success of Argentine president Javier Milei.

Reading and Writing

 

It all comes back to the basics.

Back soon.

Films About Work: A Series

 

Assassinations, the Moon Landing, and a White Bronco

Get ready for flashbacks: My Substack column on televised events that everyone watched.

[Photo by History in HD at Unsplash]

I May Enroll

Jordan Peterson has started an on-line academy that looks like a bargain. 

Impressive subjects and faculty.

Remember the famous Faber College motto: "Knowledge is Good."

Frederick the Great Meets Bach

 

From the French Mini-Series on Mozart

 

Just Arrived

 

Read the Book First

 

First Paragraph

 Every time they got a call from the leper hospital to pick up a body Jack Delaney would feel himself coming down with the flu or something. Leo Mullen, his boss, was finally calling it to Jack's attention. 'You notice that? They phone, usually it's one of the sisters, and a while later you get kind of a moan in your voice. 'Oh man, I don't know what's the matter with me. I feel kind of punk.'"

- From Bandits by Elmore Leonard

Yes!

 

Puppet Arts

 If you want a distinctive major, the University of Connecticut has one that's hard to beat.

Find Something Beautiful Today

[Photo by Tomasz Zielonka at Unsplash]

First Paragraph

 In the middle of the last century, in the lifetime of men and women with whom the author has spoken, there was to be seen, walking or riding the London streets, a most distinguished-looking old man. Wherever he went, everyone stopped and saluted him as though he were a king. As men uncovered, he would lift a stiff forefinger to the brim of a tall grey hat. The gesture was never omitted and never varied. He was always immaculately dressed, in spotless white trousers and a skin-tight, single-breasted blue frock coat. His hair was silvery, his eyes bright and piercing, his figure lithe and upright as a boy's, save for the shoulders which were bent with age, his finely chiseled features and long Roman beak like an eagle's. To the early Victorians he seemed as much a landmark as St. Paul's or his own gigantic statue - cocked-hat, cloak, world-famous charger - riding above the triumphal arch opposite to his house at Hyde Park Corner. Everyone called him The Duke, as though, there was only one. For, so long as Wellington lived, for most Englishmen there was only one.

- From The Great Duke by Arthur Bryant (1972)

Important Announcement: Tomorrow Is the Birthday of The Rigg

 

Eternal Vigilance

 Wall Street Journal: Joel Engel on some important lessons from the Thirties.

Memorable Moments with National Public Radio

 

When Evil Met

 

Plans versus Planning

Want to get things done? My Substack contains points to consider.

[Photo by Jess Bailey at Unsplash]

Medical Perspective

The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work.

- Robert Frost

Excellent Reading

 I like the shelf at Cultural Offering.

Crank It Up

 

Hmm

 

Highly Recommended

 

Times Have Changed

 We have no discipline in this bureaucracy. We never fire anybody. We never reprimand anybody. We never demote anybody. We always promote the sons-of-bitches that kick us in the ass.

- President Richard Nixon, quoted in The Plot That Failed: Nixon and the Administrative Presidency by Richard P. Nathan

For Ice Cream Lovers

 The chefs who have been recommending Jeni's Ice Cream are correct.

I have not tried all of the flavors but the Darkest Chocolate and the Salted Peanut Butter with Chocolate Flakes are extraordinary.

Consider this a public service.

The Fall of NPR

The Free Press: Former NPR editor Uri Berliner adds his perspective on National Public Radio's Independence Day.

Pandering Update

 AI Overview

In the UK, the government announced on Thursday, July 17, 2025, that it will lower the voting age from 18 to 16 before the next national election

. This move is part of broader reforms aimed at increasing democratic participation. 

While Parliament's vote on specific legislation enabling this change has not yet taken place, the ruling Labour Party had pledged to lower the voting age before its election in July 2024. The changes will be implemented through a new Elections Bill, which needs parliamentary approval. The next general election is due by the summer of 2029 at the latest. 

First Paragraph

The night Vincent was shot he saw it coming. The guy approached out of the streetlight on the corner of Meridian and Sixteenth, South Beach, and reached Vincent as he was walking from his car to his apartment building. It was early, a few minutes past nine.

- From Glitz by Elmore Leonard

Worth Periodic Viewing

 

Breakfast Meeting

Topics included the rarity of common sense; how organizations unknowingly engage in self-sabotage; the elements of executive selection decisions; how to translate experience in a smaller organization to a larger one; building ties to the community; discovering the core culture of an organization; and making crisis-sensitive policy adaptations.

If we didn't drink all of the coffee on the block, we made a noble attempt.

[Photo by Jakub Zerdzicki at Unsplash]

Study Management in Lebanon

 Want some adventure? 

Check out the Strategic and Crisis Management Boot Camp which is taught in Lebanon by Carlos Ghosn, former head of Nissan, Renault, and Mitsubishi.

"Good and careful workers."

Cultural Offering has the link to Shelby Foote's journals.

Finding "good and careful" repair and remodeling people nowadays has become a challenge.

When you find them, hang onto them.

The Manhattan Statement on Higher Education

 "Now, the truth is undeniable. Beginning with the George Floyd riot and culminating in the celebration of the Hamas terror campaign, the institutions of higher education finally ripped off the mask and revealed their animating spirit: racialism, ideology, chaos."

Read the entire Statement here.

National Propaganda Radio

 Matt Taibbi on the way National Public Radio treats America like a foreign nation. An excerpt:

"It should have run forever. National Public Radio ruined the enterprise, turning the country's signature public news shows into an endless partisan therapy session, a Nine Perfect Strangers retreat for high-income audiences micro-dosing on Marx and Kendi."

Off the Grid

 

Bear with me. Techie changes.

[Photo by Field Cottage at Unsplash]

The Screeners

If you think that Ivy League grads with woke degrees are going to have a collision with the real world, keep in mind that there are many institutions and businesses that will gladly embrace them.

Who do you think is doing the initial screening in the major book publishing houses and similar offices?

The Big Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska

I have been to many zoos but somehow missed this gigantic one.

It is now on my list.

Kick Back

 

Chris Lynch has a summer reading list.

[Photo by roberto zuniga at Unsplash]

Chesterton: An Acquaintance to Make

There are two ways of getting home; and one of them is to stay there. The other is to walk round the whole world til we come back to the same place; and I tried to trace such a journey in a story I once wrote. It is, however, a relief to turn from that topic to another story that I never wrote. Like every book I never wrote, it is by far the best book that I have ever written.

- G. K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man

Sweet

 

Let's Make Transition Memos a Tradition

 

My Substack calls for a new tradition in the workplace.

[Photo by Jon Tyson at Unsplash]

First Paragraph

The Captain told me Hacken and Begg were handling the job. I caught them leaving the detectives' assembly room. Begg was a freckled heavyweight, as friendly as a Saint Bernard puppy, but less intelligent. Lanky detective-sergeant Hacken, not so playful, carried the team's brains behind his worried hatchet face.

- From The Main Death, a short story in The Continental Op by Dashiell Hammett 

Films About Work: A Series

 

Dark Chocolate and Nicholas Bate

 Those of us who have followed the civilized life of the prolific Nicholas Bate (check out his novels) will not be surprised to find that he is also a fan of dark chocolate.

Bastille Day

 

Go storm something.

[Photo by Julio Wolf at Unsplash]

First Paragraph

The news had come hundreds of miles to sit waiting for days in a mislaid phone. And there it lingered like a moth in a box, weightless, and aching for the light.

- From Nobody Walks by Mick Herron

Find Something Beautiful Today

[Photo by Luca Micheli at Unsplash]

On Epstein

This manager to this mystery fund is like a captain who supposedly has one of the world’s largest mega yachts…that somehow isn’t registered or flagged. It leaves no wake. No shipyard built it or serviced it. It has no crew. No harbor master has ever seen it.

- Eric Weinstein

Crank It Up

 

First Paragraph

 From Waterloo Station to the small country town of Ramsgard in Dorset is a journey of not more than three or four hours, but having by good luck found a compartment to himself, Wolf Solent was able to indulge in such an orgy of concentrated thought, that these three or four hours lengthened themselves out into something beyond all human measurement.

- From Wolf Solent: A Novel by John Cowper Powys

Wanted: A Beethoven-Bach-Handel Cruise

Monica Harris examines the new stance that Carnival has taken regarding behavior on cruises.

Basic courtesy should cover a lot of it.

First Paragraph

For more than a century after the discovery in the early 1700s of the headwaters of the Niger river in the highlands of northwest Africa, the consensus among European geographers was that it flowed north, ducked under the Sahara desert, and emptied into the Mediterranean Sea. A minority faction believed it flowed east into darkest Africa and joined the Congo river. No one could be sure because Africa was impenetrable and dangerous.

- From The Case for Colonialism by Bruce Gilley

Substack Articles from the Past Week

 

Wild Workplaces!

Will Human-Like Actors Replace Real Ones?

Big Billy

 

Murray on Optimism

 

Promising

 

The "When You're in the Used Bookstore" List

 Recommended purchases:

1. Lost Horizon by James Hilton
2. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
3. The Wayward Bus by John Steinbeck
4. Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
5. The Wonderful Country by Tom Lea
6. The Wall by John Hersey
7. The Balkan Trilogy (Fortunes of War) by Olivia Manning
8. I Was Dancing by Edwin O'Connor 
9. Erasure by Percival Everett
10. The Sand Pebbles by Richard McKenna
11. The Virginian by Owen Wister
12. Laughing Boy by Oliver La Farge
13. Black Robe by Brian Moore
14. The Year of Jubilo by Howard Bahr
15. Stormy Weather by Carl Hiaasen

Sorely Needed

 

Consultants Alert

The Free Press: Joe Nocera on "The Consulting Crash is Coming!"

Which is probably true and long overdue.

Those of us who are in small firms get paid far less than the mega-firms, but we're a much smaller target.

We also give more bang for the buck.

Years ago, Avis CEO Robert Townsend nailed it with his take on management consultants:

"The effective ones are the one-man shows. The institutional ones are disastrous. They waste time, cost money, demoralize and distract your best people, and don't solve problems. They are people who borrow your watch to tell you what time it is and then walk off with it."

Cautionary note: Any large firm is likely to have stars as well as toads and weasels. Determine which type you're dealing with.

Truck Driver and Family

 

Wild Workplaces!

Here is my Substack evidence that every workplace is a stage.

[Photo by Headway at Unsplash]

For Your Summer Vacation Plans

 

Losing the Libraries

 Mitigating Chaos points to an article on the decline of libraries that is spot-on.

I know of at least one library I no longer frequent because it has become the equivalent of a homeless shelter/panhandler hang-out.

Should there be shelters? Absolutely. 

And there should be libraries.

Each has a primary role.

First Paragraph

 This one is over a woman, Kubu thought, watching the silent faces around the body.

- From "An Issue of Women and Money" in Detective Kubu Investigates by Michael Stanley

The Battle for The Soul of America

 

Why AM Radio Will Never Die

James Lileks makes the case for AM radio.

[Photo by Maximilian Hofer at Unsplash]

Keep an Eye on Hollywood

 

My Substack is up: Will Human-Like Actors Replace Real Ones?

[Photo by Barry Weatherall at Unsplash]

The Clash Within Civilizations

Under the prior regime, the West’s self-hatred had reached a point of self-cancellation. According to the vast international network of government bureaucrats, media, and nonprofits, Western countries have no right to control who comes across their borders from allegedly oppressed lands. Irreversible demographic and cultural change is not a byproduct of open borders; it is their goal.

Read all of Heather Mac Donald's speech in The New Criterion.

The Clowns Among Us

 But the new conformists who had captured the cultural high ground needed - as they had from the first - the illusion that they were rebels against something, that they were in fact a brave guerrilla band still fighting for the cause in some remote sierra.  Just as the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro still called his government-controlled radio station 'Rebel Radio', and dressed in beautifully tailored jungle fatigues long after he was past pensionable age, they liked to think they were still revolutionaries.

- Peter Hitchens, The Abolition of Britain: From Winston Churchill to Princess Diana (2000)

Mediterraneo

 

American Spoon

The Hammock Papers notes some important products and then closes with a holiday tip.

Phoebe B. Harden, RIP

 

Her remarkable story is here. 

A reminder that most of the great people in the world are not celebrities.

A life well-lived.

Douglas Murray on Moral Decline

 

Just In

 

The Ideological Assembly Lines

Universities didn’t accidentally produce socialists while teaching legitimate scholarship. They built ideological assembly lines disguised as academic departments. This subversion began many years ago, long before university education became largely unaffordable. This was a time when students were grounded in math, science, English, history, civics, and geography. These were real disciplines — tools for building knowledge, not dismantling it, in the pursuance of truth.

Read the rest of Ayaan Hirsi Ali on our slanted university system.

I Could Watch This Film Every Week

 

Find Something Beautiful Today

 

[Photo by Simon Hurry at Unsplash]

On the Parade in Maine

 

Sippican Cottage covered the Independence Day parade in true Sippican fashion.

In other words, great.

Sorely Needed

 

Mitigating Chaos also has redemption.

Crank It Up

 The Hammock Papers has "Finlandia."

That Should Encourage Refined Conversations

"The 15-drink daily limit is now being enforced." - Carnival Cruise Lines 

Hmm

 

No Question About It

 A Layman's Blog knows one of your secrets.

In the Back of the Room

A Large Regular has an amazing achievement story. 

More Page Time

 Nicholas Bate: read more, scroll less.

Art Major's Movie

 

Some Recent Substacks

 

• Beware of Fake Action
• The Not-So-Odd Habits of Writers
• A Novel Way to Learn About People
• Fight the Wolves!
• Some Novels for the Young (And Not So Young)
• Lurking Beneath the Surface of Organizations
• The Price of Anti-Social Media

[Photo by Domino Studio at Unsplash]

The Split Apple

City Journal: Robert Henderson on the elites and the mayor's race in New York City.

Crank It Up

 

Americana

 

Americana

 

Americana

 

Americana

 

The Promise of Living

 

Independence Day: Would You Have Signed?

 I wrote this several years ago and post it each 4th of July:

The document is on the table. 

Although some of your colleagues are making jokes, each one knows that the signature places the signer's head in a hangman's noose. To sign means you will be regarded as a traitor by the nation that has held your loyalty since birth. Your livelihood may be destroyed and your family doomed to a life of isolation and poverty. Many of your friends and associates will be under suspicion. Others will shun you. Your side, which has feeble and poorly-trained forces, will be fighting the greatest military power in the world. Despite all of the grand talk, the odds of success are small. Even if your side is successful, your new nation will be vulnerable to internal disputes and attacks from predatory powers. This theory of self-government, however attractive, might not work.

It's your turn. Will you sign? 

Back By Popular Demand

 

We are Blessed

 

[Photo by Max Sulik at Unsplash]

Behind Schedule

 

Beware of Fake Action

This Substack essay should be read while watching the news.

[Photo by Artem Maltsev at Unsplash]

[Note: I deeply appreciate those of you who subscribe, whether via a free or paid subscription. The paid subscribers are especially appreciated whenever I review my book bills.]

In The Stack

 

JSX

Avoiding the large airport hassle.

This looks promising.

Promising

 

Round Up the Usual Suspects

 New York Post: Political corruption in the Obama CIA.

On My List

 

Strange But Good

 

Yes or No

 Patrick Rhone with a career story containing a warning of the person who is likely to say no.

Follow Your Dreams?

 Go to A Large Regular.

Click on the link "Modern Education."

Discover a page that should be posted on university bulletin boards.

Turning Points

 

With which of the following would you rather interact?

1. A human bank teller or an ATM?
2. A human grocery store cashier or automated self-check-out lanes?
3. A human customer service representative or a chatbot?
4. A human cab or Uber driver or a driverless car?
5. A human clothing store sales rep or a kiosk?
6. A human airline check-in representative or an automatic one?
7. A human barber or an automatic one?

And will we have all of those choices in five years?

[Photo by Julian at Unsplash]

The Sixties

 

Lest We Forget

 Communism is as crude an attempt to explain society and the individual as if a surgeon were to perform his delicate operations with a meat ax. All that is subtle in human psychology and in the structure of society (which is even more complex), all of this is reduced to crude economic processes. This whole created being - man - is reduced to matter. It is characteristic that Communism is so devoid of arguments that it has none to advance against its opponents in our Communist countries. It lacks arguments and hence there is the club, the prison, the concentration camp, and insane asylums with forced confinement.

- Alexander Solzhenitsyn, July 9, 1975, speech at an AFL-CIO luncheon in New York City

The Lia Thomas Case

The University of Pennsylvania has reached an agreement with the US Department of Education regarding the University's permitting men to compete against female swimmers.

A big win for women's rights.

Old Friends

Coffee with some old friends this morning. The oldest is in his late eighties and still going strong. Since he has had a fascinating life, we encouraged him to dictate his memoirs.

Asked for his earliest memory, he recalled standing near his father outside their house in rural California when a neighbor across a ravine began shooting at them.

It was a great morning.

Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg

 

Great Ads: A Series

 

Heads Up, HR

 Check out this case update. 

Employers should be carefully examining the use of HR-related software to determine which job candidates are rejected for interviews.

This could lead to a massive wave of litigation against employers. 

I've seen too many instances where an across-the-board criterion raises potential discrimination problems.

Aside from that, they often don't make sense. 

Screening takes time and attention. The thought that you can rush through it with a nifty software program is scary.

It may also become very expensive.

Second Life

You can rent and buy virtual property on Second Life.

Large companies advertise there. Sweden opened an embassy.

How much will this resemble the future?

[Photo by Dmitry Ganin at Unsplash]

First Paragraph

 The Deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed sub-category. He's got esprit up to here. Right now, he is preparing to carry out his third mission of the night. His uniform is black as activated charcoal, filtering the very light out of the air. A bullet will bounce off its arachnofiber weave like a wren hitting a patio door, but excess perspiration wafts through it like a breeze through a freshly napalmed forest. Where his body has bony extremities, the suit has sintered armorgel: feels like gritty jello, protects like a stack of telephone books.

- From Snowcrash: A Novel by Neal Stephenson

If I Were to Pick a Perfect Scene in a Film