Eric Scheske

Thaddeus Russell: > Anyone who believes that advertisers control consumers need only be told a few names: Tucker, Henry J., Ford, Edsel, Mercury Park Lane, Studebaker, Wagonaire, Lincoln Blackwood, AMC Marlin, Buick Reatta, and Eagle Premier. These were among many automobiles that were marketed strenuously by their manufacturers but quickly

Great summary of a loathsome man and his legacy: > Alfred Kinsey was a moral revolutionary in scientist's clothing. The science was bad, even bogus; the man himself may now be forgotten; but the revolution came to stay, with a vengeance. Kinsey's message–fornicate early, fornicate

Cracked me up: > When Trevor-Roper attacked R. H. Tawney's theory of the progressive bourgeois giving rise to the Puritan revolution in England, one of the editors of the journal to which he sent his attack wrote to his coeditor: “I find it difficult to decide whether

On T.S. Eliot's alleged anti-Semitism: > But might it be allowed that one can write or say anti-Semitic things without being an anti-Semite? Eliot is guilty of the former, but does not, I think, stand guilty of the latter. There is no record of

"[A]s the wise have always known, a “dead” language breathes life into a timeless liturgy. It is indeed part of the same permanent paradox that real life is to be found in death. In the “dead” Latin is to be found the unchanging death and resurrection of the

'A God all mercy is a God unjust' (Edward Young, 'Night', iv, Night Thoughts, The Complaint). Found in The Virgin Eye. The dear reader can draw whatever connection he wants to the monotone mantra of today's Jesuits.

Interesting nugget I learned from Brooklyn Bartender: Laird's (or "Laird & Company") was the first licensed American distillery. The brandy manufacturer still has "License # 1," issued in 1780.

Perhaps one of the best opening passages to an article in 2017: > In a world of change and flux, it is reassuring to know that some things remain the same. Take, for example, the motion passed by the Church of England General Synod, calling for a liturgy to help

Miscellaneous Rambling Slow blogging winds blowing. It's the Fun and Sun time of year. Netflix now has the current BBC "Father Brown" series. I'm pretty stoked. Recommended: War for the Planet of the Apes. Perhaps the best movie I've seen this year.

"Almost the entire developed world is mired in deathbed demography from which no functioning society has ever recovered. Meanwhile, there is a demographic tsunami underway from the non-functioning parts of the world, manifest in the ceaseless flotilla of boats crossing the Mediterranean every single day (and nothing to