An Interesting Series of Commercials
In 1969, African-American students at Vassar College took over several administrative offices, demanding a department of Africana Studies, more black professors, and a special advisor to black students. Most of…
A Series of Commercials I Would Like to Kill
“Easy Mac–no brain required!” No brain required?!? This is supposed to be a good thing? You know the country’s in trouble when advertising is being that blatant about not wanting…
Irony
Apparently the Italian government is quite upset with the not-guilty decision of the court martial of the Captain William Ashby (accused of involuntary manslaughter–the plane he was flying cut through…
The Grammar of Time Travel
NEWS: The New Rambler has not disappeared; it’s just been lurking. That’s why it’s called an occasional periodical, you see. The web page has some new stuff on it and…
Clinton at the Movies
It frightens me greatly when I see the morning news and I haven’t actually slept yet, as it’s not usually something I intend to do. Insomnia aside, however, if I’m…
Hopelessly Midwestern
Administrator’s note: Since this is a retroactive blog, it is full of retro references, such as those to URLs below. These ramblings are now just a portion of the larger…
Isocrates
17 December 1998 The New Rambler will be on hiatus for some time now–probably until early or mid February–while I do various things such as moving to Minneapolis and trying…
Big Tobacco
2 December 1998 It’s been a bit hard to determine which dragon a solitary St. George should take on, when there seem to be dragons everywhere. –Robin McKinley, The Blue…
The Decline and Fall of the Infinitive
To plainly put it. . . So they’ve decided to abjectly give up, to like throw up their hands, to meekly toss in the towel, and whatever else one does…
Origins
Election Day 1998 The wizard, to tell the truth, never minded explaining his cleverness more than once. –J.R.R. Tolkien When I was younger, I had a theory that books never…