Miscellaneous Rambling
Wow, Sweden turns right. This would be like Keith Richards going Baptist. I didn't think any of the Scandinavian countries had a scintilla of virility or nationalist pride left. I would've expected a show of guts from Sweden about as much as I'd expect an embalmed corpse to dance. Strange days, indeed. The old saying (Confucian, I think) says, "May you not live in interesting days." That blessing, I fear, isn't for us, but I'm enjoying these things so far.
Detroit Lions opening day! New coach! High hopes! Well, not really. I think there's something rotten in the Lions system. I can't figure out what it is, but I've given up on them ever doing anything. I can't stop rooting for them, but I can stop watching them. I'll tune in tonight and see what happens, then suspect I'll lose interest as they fight valiantly to go 8-8.
Speaking of the NFL, I give them a whack in the current episode of The Weekly Eudemon. You can listen to it here.
Want to see some bad writing? Check out this Expedia piece about things to do in Boston. Rule of Thumb: Anytime someone uses the word "nosh," you can rest assured the writer is terrible. Not necessarily a terrible person (though . . .) but terrible at prose. The article also confuses "South End" with "Southie."
In the Weekly Eudemon podcast, I make reference to this George Orwell piece: "Politics and the English Language." I use the essay to criticize the use of a word like "nosh," which is neither fresh nor standard English. Writers needs to avoid that in-between area.
Random Blurb from the Notebooks: "[Federal land agents] bought choice parcels themselves or took kickbacks for sharing intelligence. To be sure, a land agent's life in frontier exile was rough, hectic, and tense. He might confront riots and threats. His paperwork backed up for months or years. But his was lucrative, powerful post, to which only the well-connected won appointment." Walter McDougall, Freedom Just Around the Corner: A New American History: 1585-1828, p. 460.
