News of my World
A brief recounting of the Balkan getaway in February, 2025
Obsessions can be of lasting duration, as with my history of 47 pilgrimages to the European continent since 1985, or they can be more...
Archipelago Travels
Technically Challenged
“When the Doves Disappeared,” a novel by Sofi Oksanen
The novel is called When the Doves Disappeared, written by the Finnish/Estonian author Sofi Oksanen. The English translation was released in 2015. The publisher...
Miscellany
The cars hiss by my window (and rev, snort, shift, fart...
Every day on Spring Street in Nawbany, drivers race from one end of my city to the other, concerned only with their own pass-through convenience,...
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40 Years in Beer, Part Twenty-Three: Beery Copenhagen days and Oktoberfest nights in Munich
Previously: 40 Years in Beer, Part Twenty-Two: A placid traditional Danish lunch in Copenhagen, 1989.
Among my proudest moments as an American abroad was the...
40 Years in Beer, Part Twenty-Two: A placid traditional Danish lunch in Copenhagen, 1989
Previously: 40 Years in Beer, Part Twenty-One: Those legendary working beers with the FDJ in the GDR.
There was a faint glow, and an aura...
Sunday Summary for 12 September 2021, or, links to what I’ve been writing lately
I seem to have settled on biweekly writing updates, which serve the purpose well enough. The aim is unchanged: an every-other-Sunday compendium of links here...
Diary for 24 July 2021: Oversight of government entities? By the News and Tribune?
Let's begin by defining our terms for those just tuning in.
The News and Tribune (N&T) is a six-day (Monday through Saturday) daily newspaper serving...
Diary
Diary for 7 September 2021: Time to learn
I was awake early this morning, and started listening to WUOL 90.5, Louisville's classical station.
It took me back to the early 1980s, the period...
Diary for 27 July 2021: I really hate having to drive a car to...
The point of these "diary" entries is to write as the mood strikes me, in the moment.
The past few weeks I've made many, perhaps...
Diary: Is it the end? A new beginning? Anyone? Bueller?
During the next few days, I’ll be concluding the online publication of Food & Dining Magazine’s “lost” Spring 2026 print edition (Vol. 89).
The Spring...
Diary: It’s very disappointing when independent small business owners become science deniers
Recently at Pints&union we received a cyber complaint from a disgruntled customer.
To his credit, the patron made no effort to conceal his identity, which...
Battered, bruised, and crawling back onto the non-band wagon
"The Dutch blueprint for urban vitality isn’t about bicycles. It’s about refusing to sacrifice vast amounts of the public realm to the private car;...
Recipes for Chaos
40 Years in Beer, Part Thirteen: In 1987, it was almost...
Previously: 40 Years in Beer, Part Twelve: Those first ever draft Pilsner Urquells in Prague, 1987.
When Barrie and I arrived in Czechoslovakia, it became...
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Diary: Talking ‘bout my generation (subtitle: OK Boomer)
Recently a post by Chris Arnade (ar-NAHD-i) at X caught my eye.
I've written for the last decade about the educational divide in the US,...
Diary: Is it the end? A new beginning? Anyone? Bueller?
During the next few days, I’ll be concluding the online publication of Food & Dining Magazine’s “lost” Spring 2026 print edition (Vol. 89).
The Spring...
Diary: What’s next? Beats me, but I’ll think of something
Beginning today, I'll be posting piecemeal, online, the contents of Food & Dining Magazine's Spring 2026 (Vol. 89) print issue.
In the aftermath of John...
