The Ironist
Differing Perspectives
Le Mot Juste : Words Matter
The story is told by his son Dylan of a memorable exchange between Dylan’s father, the Canadian writer William Bell, famous for his novel Forbidden City, and Dylan’s sister Megan. Megan had been reprimanded for some unspecified childish misdemeanour or other, and had...
Forgotten Horror is a Sin
The Real Cost of War My father’s Combat Report, after responding to a raid on Teignmouth, England, in which six were killed, many injured, and 183 homes and a school were destroyed. „Absturz in See,“ the note said, “ditched in the sea“. Someone wanted the truth to be...
Forgotten Heroes #4 – Antonov von Anchovy
Many people know the great-grandson of Antonov von Anchovy, the popular musician Bonjovy, who, despite promising to be there for the family, proved to be livin’ on a prayer, and ran from his family after being wild in the streets, hunted and wanted dead or alive. It...
Forgotten Heroes #3 – Rudolf Rutabaga
“Carpe rutabaga folia!” - Horace, Odes 1.11 (The cruel mocking of rutabagas by carving them into Jack O’Lanterns, practiced in Ireland and Scotland) Rutabagas, and their cousins, white, red, and purple-top turnips, are a generous-hearted, kind and forgiving root...
Forgotten Heroes #2 – Juana the Tamale
Today we tell another sad tale of famous foods and vegetables left to compost. Juana was a Soladera Tamal of the Mexican Revolution, 1910 – 1920, and her Herculean strength and invincibility so frightened her enemies that they erased all memory of her – even changing...
Forgotten Heroes #1 – Pusillanimous Parsnip
Parsnips were so valuable Emperor Tiberius permitted Germania to provide parsnips as tribute starting in AD 4. Major languages adopted words from parsnips.
Smile!
We need more humor. It is hard keeping paper money dry when you live in the water. That is why I always kept my lari¹ in coins. Coins don’t get soggy. I think that is why American sturgeons switched to credit cards and then many got themselves into so problems with...
Ramblings #1 – At the Limehouse Cut
William Morris, Eleanor Marx, George Bernard Shaw et al. gave speeches nearby I am sitting on a wooden bench by the Limehouse Cut, the oldest canal in London, built in 1770. It is a Sunday morning, and there are only a few passers-by on Commercial Road that crosses...
We Need More Insouciance
Flt. Lieut. Peter Guy Scotchmer next to his damaged Typhoon after returning from an attack on an E-boat. Today, we read and hear not only about wars in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and of impending wars, but of riots and the threats of riots in many countries....