Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
If you've scrolled down the page, you've probably seen the link to "TopCrétien" on the sidebar, or at the bottom of the "static" part of the site. It's been there for about the last six years, on every page on the site. The Francophone world has always been a fascination of mine since prep school. …
Continue reading "TopCrétien: Great News From Tough Mission Fields"
Or at least that's the way it looks: On the heels of Treasury Secretary Geithner's apparent designation of China as a currency manipulator at his confirmation hearing last week, President Obama called President Hu over the weekend to try and calm the waters. We at this time have no more information beyond confirmation of the …
Not me, for one. But Damian Thompson obviously does: The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has decided to recommend the Traditional Anglican Communion be accorded a personal prelature akin to Opus Dei, if talks between the TAC and the Vatican aimed at unity succeed, it is understood. The TAC is a growing …
Continue reading "Pope Offers “Personal Prelature” for the TAC. Who’d Have Thunk It?"
This, from one of the artists featured on the Music Pages: Click here for his music on this site.
...the Cold War would have ended a lot sooner: In the early 1970's, when the Brezhnev era seemed most full of promise, an elderly Frenchman travelled from Moscow to Khabarovsk on the Trans-Siberian railway. After only a few hours at the eastern end of the line he boarded the train again for the long journey …
Continue reading "If We Had Really Known This About the Old Soviet Union…"
Which is, more or less, what Barack Obama told Sen Jon Kyl (R-AR) yesterday: The top congressional leaders from both parties gathered at the White House for a working discussion over the shape and size of President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan. The meeting was designed to promote bipartisanship. But Obama showed that in an …
Continue reading "If I Had Wanted Your Opinion, I Would Have Asked for It"
It pays to have a little (actually, a lot of) humility, and such is the case with the nomination of Kirsten Gillibrand to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate. Earlier this week, I predicted that "it’s a given that New York Gov. David Patterson isn’t going to appoint a Republican, or a conservative Democrat for …
Continue reading "Sometimes, Even a Liberal Will Surprise You"
I was afraid that this was going to happen: When President-elect Barack Obama announced last month that he would revive the economy with the largest public works program since the dawn of the Interstate System of highways, advocates for the nation's long-neglected infrastructure were euphoric. Some hoped that the time had finally come to bring …
Continue reading "Transportation and Infrastructure Upgrades Already Slow Out of the Gate"
It's hard to believe, but... With every step taken by the Government as it tries frantically to prop up the British banking system, this central truth becomes ever more obvious. Yesterday marked a new low for all involved, even by the standards of this crisis. Britons woke to news of the enormity of the fresh …
Continue reading "Thick as a Brick: Britain Approaches Bankruptcy"
One common complaint people have with many things they buy these days is that they are designed with the idea that they will, at an appointed time, wear out and become useless, requiring their replacement. But that wasn't the case with my old family business, the Vulcan Iron Works. At the right is a pile …
Positive Infinity 