For the offended

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Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Bastille Day 2026

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Paris Opera House       During my visits to Paris — and I've only been there three times, I'm no Jack Clark — at some point, while a...
15 comments:
Monday, July 13, 2026

Is AI going to kill us all? Radio, when new, also seemed a menace

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     One hundred years ago last Friday — July 10, 1926 — at 40 minutes after midnight at a frantic South Side jazz age party, Al Katz and hi...
18 comments:
Sunday, July 12, 2026

"Bagel" and "Biden" have the same number of letters — could they make it any clearer?

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     My faith in humanity is such, that I can have trouble with extreme stupidity. I think: "They must be joking, right? This can't...
20 comments:
Saturday, July 11, 2026

Etymological field notes

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"Physiologie du Flaneur," by Louis Huart (Metropolitan Museum of Art)      I try not to admire Lee Bey too much. Out loud, in publ...
24 comments:
Friday, July 10, 2026

'The kids feel it' — summer camp has kids singing the blues

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Nyrobi, 17, left, listens to some tips for singing "I'd Rather Go Blind" at Blues Camp Chicago.      What is the blues? The bl...
10 comments:
Thursday, July 9, 2026

Flashback 1999: Deep background — Dig this: Foot by foot, tunnel moves ahead

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         The Deep Tunnel is a vast, 110-mile-long, 30-year-old, $3 billion-dollar project. It isn't yet completed, but already is provin...
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Wednesday, July 8, 2026

Sophie Cunningham finger paints a vivid picture of MAGA mindset

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      After this ran, a reader chided me for letting it run without a photo of the point itself, assuming it was a mistake. It wasn't. W...
17 comments: