A little while ago I ran down the Presidents and made a list of the first thing that came to mind for each one. Here's the resulting list: Biden - SenileTrump - LoudObama - WimpBush Jr. - "Freedom on the march"Clinton - SmarmBush Sr. - Oh yeah, him.Reagan - 'Murica!Carter - MalaiseFord - FootballNixon - … Continue reading President’s Day List
Author: DBreitenbeck
Overdog
A short boxing story is now up at Noble Cobra Magazine for your reading pleasure. “Touch gloves.” Manfred ‘Mad Dog’ Dodgson took one more appraising look at his opponent as they touched. Shorter than him by a couple inches; less reach. Five years older than him, though, which might mean less stamina. Glossy black skin … Continue reading Overdog
Friday Flotsam: ‘Short Circuit’, Sick, More Economics, and Lent
1. My tastes have been skewed in a 1980s direction lately. This week's movie night was Short Circuit (at least most of it; the copy I watched had a section missing that I couldn't find elsewhere, between when the jerk boyfriend shows up and the fight with the other three drones), about a military robot … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: ‘Short Circuit’, Sick, More Economics, and Lent
Poetry – “The Land of Nod”
From breakfast on through all the dayAt home among my friends I stay;But every night I go abroadAfar into the land of Nod. All by myself I have to go,With none to tell me what to do—All alone beside the streamsAnd up the mountain-sides of dreams. The strangest things are there for me,Both things to … Continue reading Poetry – “The Land of Nod”
Friday Flotsam: History, Economics, and RIP Carl Weathers
1. From my Classical History course this week, I learned that during the First Punic War a certain Roman consul wanted to attack the Carthaginian fleet, but the augurs warned him that it would be a disaster. The sacred chickens weren't eating, and that was a bad omen. The consul replied, "They won't eat? Let … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: History, Economics, and RIP Carl Weathers
Wednesday Politics: On America’s Military Record and Its Consequences
"America has never lost and will never lose a war" says Patton in the opening speech of the classic film. This, of course, rang sadly ironic to audiences in 1970 as the Vietnam War wound down, and is even more so today, though as someone pointed out, even at the time it required Patton to … Continue reading Wednesday Politics: On America’s Military Record and Its Consequences
Poem – “A Land Without Ruins”
"A land without ruins is a land without memories --a land without memories is a land without history.A land that wears a laurel crown may be fair to see;but twine a few sad cypress leaves around the brow of any land,and be that land barren, beautiless and bleak, it becomes lovelyin its consecrated coronet of … Continue reading Poem – “A Land Without Ruins”
Friday Flotsam: US History, Nintendo Games, and Dialogue
1. My US History classes this week have been entirely consumed by summarizing the course of the Civil War, and we've only gotten to the end of 1863. That's after about two weeks of going over the lead-up to the war. There is just so much to go over, even from my relatively superficial knowledge … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: US History, Nintendo Games, and Dialogue
Poem – “Nemesis”
Thro’ the ghoul-guarded gateways of slumber,Past the wan-moon’d abysses of night,I have liv’d o’er my lives without number,I have sounded all things with my sight;And I struggle and shriek ere the daybreak, being driven to madness with fright. I have whirl’d with the earth at the dawning,When the sky was a vaporous flame;I have seen … Continue reading Poem – “Nemesis”
Friday Flotsam: Poe and the Flavors of Decades
1. I revisited Edgar Allan Poe's The Man of the Crowd this week. It's a very short read, and a fine, less-prominent example of the author's particular touch. Poe, so it seems to me, excels most at manifesting human darkness; the twisted nature of mankind taking form in his figures and incidents. In this case, … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Poe and the Flavors of Decades
Serpent's Den 