Author Archives: WorldWideWeber

Teatime

Many pages into Daniel Dennett’s latest opus, I’ve Been Thinking—by turns informative, entertaining, and maddening (“an engaging, vexing memoir with a humility bypass,” as the Guardian headline writer puts it)—one encounters a passage answering to the first two adjectives above, … Continue reading

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Mathemagic

The following puzzle appeared in the October/November 2023 issue of the AARP member magazine. What’s next? Each number after the first is derived in the same way from the previous number. What is the number that logically follows 66? 1, … Continue reading

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Beastie

As part of our continuing series on the Wonderful World of Bugs, I invite you to take a look at this scary-looking thing that I felt crawling on my neck on May 10: I had no idea what it was. But, once again: … Continue reading

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Squelch

From the New York Times today I learned about the controversy involving Rebecca Journey’s course “The Problem of Whiteness” at the University of Chicago (my alma mater). Like many, if not most, modern controversies, this one begins with a misunderstanding … Continue reading

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Unhappy

The headline for a New York Times op-ed piece: “There is No Happy Ending to America’s Trump Problem.” Stop the presses! Fixing the biggest mistake in U.S. history will not be easy or painless! Who’d’a thunk? The task at hand … Continue reading

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Tired

You may be tired of Covid, but Covid is not tired of you. Let that sink in. And think about how so many big proud hominids are letting a microscopic bit of pseudo-life outsmart them.

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Christofascism

One year to the day after musing about the diet of fireflies, I am awash in bitter thoughts in the aftermath of Roe v. Wade being overturned by the U.S. Supreme Catholic Court. Yes, just days before, the USSCC threw … Continue reading

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Fireflummoxed

As I was having a beer on our front steps after my daily bike ride, a lightning bug landed on a leaf in a pot of mint on one of the steps. It stayed there for some time (it may … Continue reading

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Dreamwork

Last night, in the midst of typically inchoate and unrememberable dreams, I came up with two crossword clues that I somehow did remember: 1. _ _ _ _ Tsar did not place this atop Kremlin tower 2. _ _ _ … Continue reading

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Hydrosonic

Months ago, Trump elicited guffaws in the non-Trumpist press and social media when he bragged about an amazing new “hydrosonic missile” purportedly under development. In the intervening time he has repeated the phrase—today, for instance: Note how he uses both … Continue reading

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