‘Hunter was not only a national treasure, but the conscience of this little village.’… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Uncle Duke Does a Hemingway
Feb 21st, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHunter S Thompson has killed himself with a shotgun to the head.… Read the rest
Outrage Responds to Livingstone’s Dodgy Dossier
Feb 21st, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOutrage refutes Livingstone’s defense of his relations with reactionary cleric.… Read the rest
Ken Is One Sorry Mayor
Feb 21st, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIn the name of anti-racism, Livingstone perpetuates stereotype of Muslim as woman-hating queer-basher. … Read the rest
Old Red
Feb 20th, 2005 8:32 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe promised more on Janet Browne’s Darwin biography. A couple of sentences down on the same page (page 141, to be exact):
… Read the restAnd when Sedgwick arrived he tried to entertain him in an appropriately geological fashion by telling him of the gravel pits near Shrewsbury. But Darwin’s story of the labourer who found a tropical shell in the gravel brought only a peal of laughter and the remark that this could not be true. If the shell were genuinely embedded there, said Sedgwick, it would overthrow everything that was known about the superficial deposits of the Midland counties…Recounting the story later, Darwin remembered being astonished that Sedgwick was not more delighted by his strange fact. ‘Nothing before had ever made
What Summers Said
Feb 20th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDon’t you wish you’d been there?… Read the rest
Another Church, Another Sex Scandal
Feb 20th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhat do you expect from people accountable only to a supernatural being?… Read the rest
Malraux et la Gloire
Feb 20th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWriter, action hero, politician, world-class fantasist. … Read the rest
Practice
Feb 19th, 2005 10:07 pm | By Ophelia BensonTime to say a few words in praise of lateral reading. I’m a great fan of lateral reading – not just via links but also in books. You know how that goes – you read an essay which sends you to a book which sends you to two more books and you find connections you didn’t know about. This is why (at last it can be revealed) I know absolutely nothing about anything in any depth: because I read laterally rather than vertically. I’ve never read an entire book from beginning to end in my life, but I’ve read two pages of a million or so. But never mind – I comfort myself with Johnson’s retort when Elphinston said ‘What, … Read the rest
History Can Get Buried and Forgotten
Feb 19th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Tulsa riot almost did.… Read the rest
Women in Science Feel Underencouraged
Feb 19th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMany scientists consider encouragement a major factor in seeking promotion.… Read the rest
Bloggers: Truth-tellers or Vigilantes?
Feb 19th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMainstream media clueless? Bloggers a pseudo-journalist lynch mob?… Read the rest
James Buchan Reviews Book on Al-Jazeera
Feb 18th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIf honour trumps liberty and comfort, al-Jazeera may be less a force for democracy than for Arab nationalism.… Read the rest
Getting to Auschwitz Punctually
Feb 18th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDeborah Lipstadt on the surrealism, embarrassment, cold, and memories at the death camp.… Read the rest
Confronting a Fashionable View of Empire
Feb 18th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNow widely asserted that British public culture was deeply ‘imperialized,’ but was it?… Read the rest
The Victorians and Shakespeare
Feb 18th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCrucial question: who owned Shakespeare, the elite or the people?… Read the rest
Why E P Thompson Mattered and Matters
Feb 18th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Political loyalties and antipathies were always central to his reception.’… Read the rest
Circling Skeptics
Feb 17th, 2005 6:17 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe second meeting of the Skeptics’ Circle has taken place at Orac’s site. The first, at St. Nates’, was two weeks ago. And the archive site with schedule of future meetings is here. As St. Nate said –
But we are not content to rest on our laurels! I want this Circle to endure and to keep getting better and more popular. I want to expand our membership! The blogosphere still remains a cesspool of the paranormal, pseudoscience, and quackery! We’ve had one success–a good start–but we must not let up now!
Go, Skeptics! (Also skeptics – you go too.)… Read the rest
Is Sectarianism a Myth or a Problem?
Feb 17th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAnd do Rangers and Celtics games defuse tensions or stoke them?… Read the rest
Fun in Florida
Feb 17th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWith those zany folks who believe in ‘the Rapture’.… Read the rest