Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it. – Jonathan Swift, preface to The Battle of the
I hate tailgaters. They are the bane of my existence. I generally stay in the slow lane when I am on the New York State Thruway, ground zero for tailgating. However, even though I drive at a steady, modest pace, there are those who are just too slow. So sometimes
What do we actually mean when we say "elite"? It’s a word bandied about but weakly defined. I would say it’s someone who has status, ensconced fairly high up in one of our many human hierarchies. Money helps, but it isn’t necessary—status within a
People Are Finally Reading The Odyssey—After 3000 Years. Christopher Nolan and Matt Damon got people to do what teachers never could. —Wall Street Journal Headline, July 18, 2026 Things are getting really crazy. That alone is not a news flash, but what is new is that it’s crazy
Tom, with a bouquet of flowers, got in his autonomous vehicle (AV) to visit his girlfriend across town. As is customary in the AV world, he went into the back seat. Blessed with a constitution that can read in a car without mild queasiness, he opened his book—still a
The villain was delighted—the Six Million Dollar Man was retiring. Although the human hybrid was biologically 85 years old, the technological adjustments had kept him young, and he still appeared as vibrant and vigorous as ever. It’s just that the government retirement perks were too good to pass
A meme that has gained some currency lately is “words are violence.” I find this a corrosive and highly destructive concept. To put it pedantically, the reality is that words are words and violence is violence. Words and violence are two absolutely different things; mixing them up is a terrible
Jon met Jerry at their favorite watering hole, Clement’s bar. It was an unusual day to say the least. Jon only heard about the “incident” in confusing snippets, too disjointed to make sense of. Jerry, a police officer, looked more tired than usual, his eyes sunken, his mouth in
So it’s the day after July 4th. The Declaration of Independence is all signed, the revolution is won, and it’s now “Sam Adams Time.” They can take a pause and relax because the job is done. Popular imagination, fueled by John Trumbull’s apocrvaphyl painting, often envisions an
When I was a child, at the end of a visit to the family doctor, the doctor would open his drawer and there would be a box of lollipops. I would always ask for the “green one,” which meant the lime-flavored lollipop. It was this association between the color
In my book, there is a discussion of something called The Whatever Axiom: On the poster [in my office] was a pseudo-equation that we in the office called The Whatever Axiom: We all knew that cynical statement that if a lie is told often enough, it becomes the truth.
I was at a wedding a while back, and during the reception, I was seated with the peers of the newly betrothed. I often enjoy the opportunity to converse with the younger set and was looking forward to enjoying the reception. At the table, amongst others, were Joshua and Bryanna—