In the not-too-distant past English used the pronoun “him” to refer to individuals of unspecified gender in phrases such as “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion.” This understandably annoys some people, who prefer “Everyone is entitled to his or … Continue reading
I recently saw some comments under a YouTube video asking why we don’t postpone going into space until we’ve solved our problems on Earth (which would be a pretty long postponement). This is a question people have asked for decades, … Continue reading
On May 31 Barnard Kemter, a 77-year-old retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, was delivering the keynote speech for a Memorial Day event at Markillie Cemetery in Hudson, Ohio, when his microphone went dead. After a moment’s pause he continued, using … Continue reading
Today is Juneteenth, named in honor of the 19th day of June 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger of the United States Army, newly arrived on Galveston Island, issued a declaration that the Emancipation Proclamation would be enforced in Texas. … Continue reading
Contrary to popular belief, “May you live in interesting times” isn’t actually a Chinese curse. And even if it were, I can easily think of a lot of interesting times in which the good outweighed the bad. So it doesn’t … Continue reading
The eternal debate on when decades start In the comic above, Ponytail accuses White Hat of being pedantic. Hah. I'll show you pedantic. The 21st century began on the first day of 2001. This has nothing whatsoever to do with … Continue reading
Found in a shop in the Philippines, courtesy of the website Engrish.com: by … Continue reading
The comic book characters Archie Andrews and his friends have been popular since the early 1940s, so most people reading this are likely familiar with Riverdale as home to the wholesome red-haired teenager Archie Andrews and his parents, classmates, and … Continue reading
The original Captain Marvel was the star of a comic published by Fawcett Comics starting in the 1940. The premise was clever: A wizard bestowed on a young boy the power to turn into a Superman-like superhero by exclaiming the … Continue reading
At the start of last week the latest report from the Social Security Trustees (link) was released, leading to predictable but misleading warnings that the system was going to "run dry." For example, the headline on this article from the … Continue reading