Miscellaneous

A long-time TDE reader sent me this story about public urination in Put-in Bay [http://www.sanduskyregister.com/article/4654636]. I told him it might prompt me to re-run my essay on public urination. He said he'd never seen it. I searched the Internet, and

From Reddit: "TIL that the 1889 World's Fair in Paris, famous for the construction and unveiling of the Eiffel Tower, had a "Negro Zoo" with 400 black people in cages as one of the attractions."

The Subtleties of Reading I'm pretty sure this is something I've always known, but only at a semi-conscious level: > W.H. Auden "suggested that the book one reads should somehow be at odds with the place in which it's read. . . [N]

H.I.F. The decay in Detroit has basically turned it into an archeological site. There's so much in this formerly beautiful and rich city that is buried beneath the graffiti and waste. Sample: "Detroit's former Michigan Theater must surely be the only Italian Renaissance-

Years ago, I read Edward T. Oakes' Pattern of Redemption, The Theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar. I'm told it might be the best introduction to the thought of the greatest theologian of the twentieth century (among Protestants, Karl Barth would contend for the title; Barth and

Well, since we have people who believe in the Norse gods and believe in the religion of the Jedi, I suppose this is real, and I'm confident the real point behind its "belief" (atheism) is very real: > TIL that there is religion called "Googlism&

Can anyone provide me with proof that Evelyn Waugh is in heaven? It'd make me feel a helluva lot better. There's something oddly comfortable, reading about a guy like Waugh. Joseph Epstein is a fan of Waugh's and wrote some admiring, though candid, biographical

Humorous, Informative, or Frustrating Some may have noticed that TDE has gone back to its roots: multiple postings during the day. This won't necessarily be a regular occurrence, but it will happen often. Throughout the day, I run across things that I find humorous, interesting, or frustrating. I

From Reddit's Today I Learned: "TIL Sugarcane is the world's largest crop. In 2010, it was cultivated on about 23.8 million hectares, in more than 90 countries, with a worldwide harvest of 1.69 billion tons." Link [http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/

"A North Carolina woman stabbed her roommate's ex-boyfriend because she claimed he wouldn't stop playing Eagles music. He's OK, but apparently she stabbed him with those steely knives but she just couldn't kill the beast." And Ferguson: "Right