As I mentioned recently, Christmas Day happens to also be the birthday of Rod Serling, creator of the iconic mid-20th Century television program “The Twilight Zone.” According to the Writer’s Almanac, “Serling believed it was the writer’s job to ‘menace the public …
Tag: Writer’s Almanac
W. H. Auden: Writers Should “Talk Their Own Language”
According to the Writer’s Almanac, Tuesday was the birthday of: American short-story author Grace Paley. She grew up in an immigrant neighborhood in the Bronx, where she was surrounded by a wide variety of languages. Her own parents spoke Yiddish and Russian …
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Climate Science Is Embattled
According to the Writer’s Almanac, last Saturday was: …the birthday of nonfiction author Bill Bryson who published in 2010, “Seeing Further: The Story of Science, Discovery, and the Genius of the Royal Society,” a collection of articles and essays celebrating the Royal Society‘s 350th …
Voters Want a Level Playing Field for Renewable Energy
The Writer’s Almanac reminds us that it’s the birthday of the French thinker and historian Alexis de Tocqueville whose visits to the fledgling U.S. in the early 19th Century culminated in his famous book, Democracy in America. According to the …
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Looking Critically at Our Energy Policy
Today’s the birthday of the beat poet Allen Ginsberg. According to the Writer’s Almanac, when he was 17 and in his freshman year at Columbia University, Ginsberg was introduced to Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, whom Ginsberg later said …
Tagged with: Allen Ginsberg, beat poets, energy policy, Jack Kerouac, Socrates, William S. Burroughs, Writer's Almanac
Energy Policy: Dealing with the Facts As They Really Are
I just read the Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac and noted that it’s the birthday of May Swenson, an author of the 20th Century who once wrote to a friend, “Not to need illusion—to dare to see and say how things really …
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Lessons from Machiavelli
It’s the 543rd birthday of Machiavelli who, according to the Writer’s Almanac, wrote that: morality was irrelevant when it came to running a state, and that leaders should be willing to perform evil acts when it became necessary to hold …
Locally Grown and the Green Kitchen
With all our recent discussions on aeroponics and locally grown food, I’m delighted to note that, according to the Writer’s Almanac, it’s the birthday of chef and author Alice Waters. Waters is best known for her books on the use of …
A Daily Quiz for Your Amusement and Edification
I have two quick rituals that I enjoy with my morning coffee. I know I’ve mentioned Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac, which is five minutes extremely well spent. The other is the SAT Question of the Day, which I came …
What Would Real Globalization Look Like?
Those who have taken my recommendation and start every morning with Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac know that four years ago today, on Arthur C. Clarke’s 90th birthday, he: … recorded a video in which he says goodbye to his friends …
