Yearly Archives: 2004

A small heartening story

For work-related reasons (I was trying to avoid it) I plugged the name of the drummer with CSNY into Google this morning. Turns out that Dallas Taylor is still alive, and working as an addiction counsellor in Los Angeles, after … Continue reading Continue reading

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Lost in the supermarket

I’m suddenly tormented with lust for a digital camera. There is a family expedition to Tuscany next week; I don’t want to schlep a big SLR around and then spend Continue reading

Posted in Blather | 6 Comments

Dr Atkins gets to heaven

And the Angel Raphael explains to him the whole puzzling business: Time may come, when Men With Angels may participate, and find No inconvenient diet, nor too light fare; And from these corporal nutriments perhaps Your bodies may at last … Continue reading Continue reading

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what is wrong with this man’s brain?

There is a new bookshelf in my office, placed there in an attempt to stave off melancholy. The top shelf is furnished with books which had fossilised by my bedside — that being a place to which books are often … Continue reading Continue reading

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Approaches primate shyly

In about a month I am doing a couple of talks at the Bath literary festival (memo to self: write some material). One of them is about — I suppose — feminist interpretations of hominid evolution. In any case, it … Continue reading Continue reading

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Gloating

Posterity shall ne’er survey A nobler sight than this. Here lies the grave of Castlereagh: Stop, traveller, and piss. Michael Lind, in the Nation, has taken Byron’s exhortation to heart. Admittedly, the neocons had nothing in common with Lord Castlereagh, … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in War | 1 Comment

blabeshif

It is cruel and old-fashioned to laugh at machine translations. But whoever decided that their web site on florence could be translated more profitably by Google than by a professional human being deserves to be mocked. without further ado: Who … Continue reading Continue reading

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My marmoset, my muse

A rather mournful brain scientist said to me once that “The problem is that if you go looking for something in the brain then you are likely to find it.” IN this spirit I am delighted to discover that marmosets … Continue reading Continue reading

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itchy and scratchy

This is just incredibly tasteless and not in the least bit funny. However, since none of my readers will ever have experienced anything remotely similar, and this applies especially to the clerical ones, I thought I should link to it Continue reading

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obscure injoke

The last really big row I saw on the Well before I left was caused by a pompous imperialist American called Richard Bennett who also signed on his wife, [emendation: she was signed on before him] and used her account … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in Journalism | 1 Comment