We had to put our cat down after eighteen years this week. His kidneys finally gave out on him. He was an excellent cat, a terrible mouser, and did as much to raise our boys and teach them responsibility and compassion as we did. Pets should live forever.
On a happier note, I hope my US readers enjoyed the extra hour of sleep this weekend. Except those of you in Arizona and most of Indiana. You already live the perfect time zone life ….
Monopoly Power is Crushing the Soul of America (chrismurphyct.com): Monopolies aren’t just an economic poison.
The Not-So-Great Defector Bake Off Is Ill-Tempered For Chocolate Week | Defector: If these posts were all Defector did, it would still be worth the price of admission. Baking is hard.
The Great Reordering | Washington Monthly: I would not have put my money on Joe Biden being a transformative president in 2020, but it now does seem possible.
Why I Get Sick Selling A Curriculum To Homeschool Parents | HuffPost HuffPost Personal: This is mostly a personal essay, but it does highlight how warped homeschooling curriculums are and how little oversight the education these children receive actually gets.
I spy with my Cold War satellite eye… nearly 400 Roman forts in the Middle East | Ars Technica: Technology is neat.
The Life Of That Unhappy Bobby Knight Is Brought To An End | Defector: Bobby Knight was not complicated. He was a bully who happened to have a great basketball mind. The problem is, too many people bought the bullshit belief that the bullying was part of the basketball. It amuses me that no one seems to ask why Knight never tried to coach at the NBA level when the answer is pretty simple: his bullying would not have been accepted by the men at that level. He could only get away with it with boys, and only for so long.
Lester del Rey invented the fantasy genre in book publishing. (slate.com): Revealing article about how two people essentially built the SFF publishing world as I knew it as a kid (I think the article gives a bit too short a shrift to Judy Lynn del-Rey).
Thoughts on "Now and Then" | Patreon: Excellent piece on the new Beatles song and why McCartney keep coming back to this specific well.