Miscellaneous

Have a good Memorial Day, everyone. Most of you realize I've grown increasingly skeptical of our nation's involvement in foreign affairs, but that doesn't detract from the sacrifice made by millions of young men over the years.

My Mary Garden:

Man, this cold weather is killing me. Full-blown frost advisory last night. Statistically speaking, there is only a 10% chance of frost after the average last frost date, and we got hit ten days after the average last frost date (the average last frost date for Kalamazoo, Michigan, is May

Background: When I was the editor of Gilbert Magazine [http://www.chesterton.org/explore-the-acs/gilbertmagazine/], I was responsible for the "Tremendous Trifles" column. It was occasionally hard to find a sufficient amount of interesting GKC material to fill the page, so John Peterson sent me a file full

Random Thoughts from Vacation That's the King of Rock-n-Roll and me. It's not the real Elvis; just a picture. Comparably-priced hotels: Super 8 and Days Inn. Super 8: Good. Days Inn: Bad (unless you like it when the bathroom of your room smells like urine, the

Whirlwind trip to the upper South, the Mississippi Delta region. We started at the Abbey of Gethsemani [http://www.monks.org/] Wednesday evening. Caught Compline, then left for our hotel in Cave City. Mammoth Cave Thursday morning, then Memphis for its barbecue festival Thursday night. Hurricanes were pretty strong; so

"To finish off what we do often means taking care of minor details, of the little things. This demands an effort, demands sacrifice, and when we offer it, it is pleasing to God. Taking care of the details for love of God does not diminish the soul. It ennobles

Miscellaneous Passages "True freedom comes only to a lucid mind unbound by conventional wisdom and suspicious of received opinions." Joseph Epstein, on the thought of George Santayana "[H]umanitarians have an intense hatred of mankind as it is." Santayana "Santayana says that, as we approach

Tonight is the much-anticipated release of the new "Star Trek" movie. It's expected to make $100 million this weekend. That's a lot, but imagine how much it would make if the people buying tickets were going with dates. Most "Star Trek" fans

Miscellaneous Passages . . . . . . with a little commentary: "To consort with the crowd is harmful; there is no person who does not make some vice attractive to us, or stamp it upon us, or taint us unconsciously therewith. . . . I come home more greedy, more ambitious, more voluptuous, and even more cruel