The official unofficial start of summer is coming, which means more than a few families are planning some road trips. And on those trips, you may be tempted to stop at a restaurant that isn’t as familiar, perhaps a regional chain. But did you realize some of these regional chains might have once had visions of national grandeur? Ernie Smith, in an article on Atlas Obscura, dives into the occasionally deep-friend origins of some of…
I’ve been looking more into urban planning for both story research and rabbit hole reasons and came across this video by the same folks who did some informative videos about cities I linked to a few years ago, so here you are: In some ways, I feel like this is draft research for an upcoming John Oliver segment, so no jokes or what do we do… because how bad or not is it? Your mileage…
It’s Friday, so let’s keep things light. Building on the post for Shakespeare’s birthday from two weeks ago, it’s worth remembering that writers, the folks who are supposed to be lovers of language will go ahead and just invent words. Without a permit! Why it’s outrageous! Possibly treaso- oh, who am I kidding? I run an outfit called Jabberwocky Audio Theater for crying out loud. I love nonce words. I’ll let Dr. Erica Brozovsky take…
While not being a chess junkie –yes, despite the ‘Bjorn’ connection— I nevertheless find learning various variants and cousins of chess to be interesting, from the traditional shogi to the fantastical tridimensional chess. One variant I haven’t played in an age is Hnefatafl or “Viking Chess” which, to my mind, is very thematic for an abstract game and enjoyably asymmetrical. So, to prepare you the next time some wandering Viking challenges you to a tabletop…
Amid the many pop culture phenomena Gen Xers were exposed to, one of the most pleasant for me were the Choose Your Own Adventure books. Appearing right at the end of the 70s and absolutely exploding in the 80s, not all the entries in the series were created equally, a fact that we young readers were well aware of as we recommended particular books over others. There were also certain endings that felt arbitrary or…
My last Roman history post appears to be from last August, but I admit I haven’t seen any Roman-related TV or movies since Gladiator II: Unexpected Sequel Boogaloo. So, if you, like me, want to check out some TV shows of films set in Roman times, here’s some insight as to what to pick: Granted, this might be especially for those of you who want to get your Roman war on. But if you just…
The last time I checked, scholars were not absolutely certain about Shakespeare’s birthday, though April 23rd is a contender. They are, however, quite certain of his death day, which is… also April 23rd. That seems fitting for Shakespeare in a thematic symmetry kind of way. Okay, I see a few John Webster fans raising their hand at the mention of Death, but stay with me and the Bard for a moment here. I’ve been a…
While I continue to spend less time on Facebook and more time on Bluesky (or reading or, gasp, walking in the outside world), there’s a couple elements of connectivity I find still useful. One is remembering birthdays, which I did used to do via a treeware calendar designed for the purpose (specifically one with artwork by international treasure Sandra Boynton). But let’s face it, some electronic and digital reminders help us. And so I often…
I’ve found myself looking up previous read books and old videos that speak to bigger pictures and “the vision thing” as we all continue to trundle through these interesting times. One video I revisited was a lecture Carl Sagan at his 60th birthday symposium at Cornell (he regrettably died just two years later). Evidently, the lecture was unavailable to the public at large for decades, but through a course of events, was recovered from its…