What people might not know about me is that my favorite aesthetic is that of a hypermodern corporate boardroom. Glass, chrome, rectangles, geometric spaces, clean lines. It gives me pleasurable explosions in the brain.

We have an annex built in this style on campus. It’s reserved for events of larger groups. If somebody could let me in this space every day for 15 minutes, I’d be the most productive bastard on campus. Which might be the reason why nobody wants me there because I’m already too hyper.

My ideal house is a hypermodern style located among huge, old trees. The problem is, I can find the two things separately but not together.

Northern conservatism. . . is a party which never conserves anything. Its history has been that it demurs to each aggression of the progressive party, and aims to save its credit by a respectable amount of growling, but always acquiesces at last in the innovation. What was the resisted novelty of yesterday is today one of the accepted principles of conservatism; it is now conservative only in affecting to resist the next innovation, which will tomorrow be forced upon its timidity and will be succeeded by some third revolution; to be denounced and then adopted in its turn. American conservatism is merely the shadow that follows Radicalism as it moves forward towards perdition. 

Robert Louis Dabney, 1871.

Alex Berenson’s Pandemia is temporarily $2.99 on Kindle. Get yours here and find out for yourself what the hype is about. Beautifully written, enlightening, and filled with important information. Yes, it’s better to have a paper copy in case it gets banned but at $2.99 a digital version is a great alternative for those who can’t afford the hardback.

Oh, just get it already.

What can one give a very active, pretty woman who has 4 young dogs, 4 grown kids and 4,5 grandchildren for her 70th birthday? What’s an appropriate, meaningful gift?

This is somebody I care about deeply. We have the opposite political beliefs on everything but this has had zero impact on how we feel about each other.

Yes, thank you. This is absolutely all that needs to be done about COVID. Declare it over and let us be.

Still never voting for a Democrat ever again, of course, but I’m glad to see there’s at least one who isn’t completely stupid.

A local church is advertising an upcoming performance by “a bras quintet.” I fear the spectators will not find what the ad seems to promise.

Do you know those posters in pediatricians’ offices suggesting that you shouldn’t pelt small children with rapid-fire questions? “What happened at school today? What did you learn? How much outdoor time did you get? What was for lunch? Who did you play with?” A kid clams up and answers “I don’t know” in the best-case scenario, and throws a tantrum in the worst.

But you still want to know! Here’s a trick I invented to find everything out without asking.

On the way from school, Klara and I play Little Penguin. There’s a little penguin who wants to go to her school but he’s scared and confused and thinks all sorts of funny things about how school works.

“Little Penguin says that during lunch everybody puts lunch boxes on their heads! And that at math you learn to play basketball!”

Klara laughs and is eager to explain to the Little Penguin what actually happens during the math lesson, at choir practice, or at lunch. And I don’t ask a single question.

Speaking about neoliberalism, Mark Edwards writes thrillers that are all based on a single premise: any contact with another human being is fraught with danger. Anybody can turn out to be a psychopath out to destroy you: a neighbor, a girlfriend, a coworker, a passerby. Talk to another human, treat anybody with kindness, and your life will be over.

The Devil’s Work is about co-workers from hell. The novel was published several years ago, but it would make for a perfect lockdown reading. All books by Edwards are perfect for a lockdown. Instead of wasting billions on Pfizer swill, governments should have ordered copies of Edwards’ books and sent them to everybody. Then people wouldn’t want to leave lockdowns ever again.

Great book, extremely enjoyable, extra spooky. In short, it’s perfect neoliberal fun.

Alexa interprets “Away in a Manger” as “Willie the Manager.” Even its speech recognition is neoliberal.

The Amazon warehouse that was destroyed by the tornado is a smoldering ruin. I don’t know how they build in a tornado-prone area to end up with such a flimsy structure. I also find it shocking that they didn’t evacuate when we all knew that tornadoes were coming. I hope people sue. It’s a terrible calamity.

As people are picking out their New Year’s resolutions, I highly recommend resolving to take two months off any print and television news. Close your eyes and scroll through if you catch a glimpse on social media. Mute anybody in your feed who is likely to link to any news. Turn away from the screen, squint, recite poetry in your mind to drown it out.

The photo is from a Christmas event earlier today and unrelated to the news. I’m trying to make my excellent suggestion more eye-catching.