Reasonable people everywhere are excited about conservapedia.com, the new conservative alternative to Wikipedia. You see, Wikipedia does things like use “BCE” and “CE” instead of “BC” and “AD,” plus they allow you to spell socialize “socialise,” which is clearly unpatriotic. Sure it’s fun to find the egregious misspellings and the simplistic entries. It’s like shooting […]
It rained last night, and then dipped below freezing. This scallop pattern of crystals was the roof of my car this morning.
In the low morning sun it looked much more iridescent than this, but I was in a hurry and had to settle for a cellphone photo.
OK, there’s already plenty to read in left Blogystan about the upcoming Fox News comedy series that’s supposed to take on “The Daily Show,” “The Half Hour News Hour.” It’s long been a truism that explaining comedy is simply not funny. On the other hand, explaining non-comedy can be a blast. The guys at Kung Fu […]
I’ve been pretty busy the last few weeks with rehearsals and concerts, and haven’t had time to post much. So without further ado, here are some MP3s of the latest Broadway Bach Ensemble concert. These are max-quality MP3s, so the files are fairly large; but be patient, good quality takes time. Brahms First Symphony First Movement […]
Like the late Ms. Ivins, my wife is an alumna of Smith College, and they all have emotional ties with each other. She passed on an item from the Smith Alumnae Association Quarterly. You can read the whole thing here, and I recommend it. But here’s a quick section tht I’d heard before but never goes out of style — whatever the snake happens to stand for in real life. On the whole it’s a fine example of her work:
“Unknown to many people, my friend John Henry had a career in law enforcement at one point as he was a Texas Ranger. Captain of the Texas Rangers. He was seven at the time. And his friend Boots Cooper was the sheriff. The two of them did a lot of serious law enforcement out behind the Faulk place in south Austin.
“And one day Mrs. Faulk asked those boys to go down to the henhouse and get a chicken snake out of the henhouse for her. So they rode their bikes down there and tethered their brooms. Went in and hunted through the nests on the bottom shelf and did not find that snake. Then they had to stand on tiptoe to see over the edge of the top shelf, and they did find a snake.
“I myself have never been nose-to-nose with a chicken snake, but I’ve always taken John Henry’s word for it that it will just scare the living hell out of you. And it did. It scared both those boys so bad they both tried to exit the henhouse at the same time doing considerable damage to both themselves and the henhouse door.
“Mrs. Faulk, watching this from the porch, got to laughing so hard. And they came back up there, and she said, ‘Boys, what is wrong with you? You know perfectly well a chicken snake cannot hurt you, will not hurt you.’ That’s when Boots Cooper said something fairly immortal. He said, ‘Yes, ma’am, but there are some things that’ll scare you so bad that you’ll hurt yourself.’”
If you need a way to while away the hours before the Super Bowl, come on up to Broadway Presbyterian Church, Broadway and 114th Street, to hear The Broadway Bach Ensemble play a couple of Brahms’ Firsts — the first Piano Concerto and the First Symphony. Come to think of it, we’re also doing the Hungarian Dance No. 1, so that’s three firsts. Dan Epstein joins us as soloist, Diane Wittry conducts. Showtime is 2 p.m., and it’s free!
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