Pascal's Pensees

I have come to this masterpiece of French prose by a strange route -- through the Jack Taylor mysteries by Ken Bruen.

Taylor is a hardbitten Irish P.I., struggling with the Irish Affliction since being cast out of the Garda. He is a literary man, whose enemies know they can wound him by destroying his book collection. He shares the Irish love for verbal jousting and gymnastics; many pages spend as much ink on words thought but not spoken as they do on the actual dialogue. His thoughts are littered with literary references, including frequent references to Pascal's Pensees. Pascal and Taylor both have strong religious sentiments, but Pascal was on much better terms with the Church than Taylor.

Danny Goes To Church

Ruth brought Dan to church for the fellowship hour after the service.

He dashed upstairs to the now mostly empty sanctuary, then walked slowly up the aisle to the front of the church. He folded his hands reverently, bowed his head, then looked up and announced:

"I know why you have come! I have every intention of granting your request!"

The intersection of Christianity and The Wizard of Oz. I'll bet that Dan was one of the few making an offer rather than a request, though.

The Intelligence of Crows

Slight Shift In Word Usage

Oregonlive.com posted this Associated Press report about the death of Michael Jackson:

Michael Jackson, the sensationally gifted child star who rose to become the "King of Pop" and the biggest celebrity in the world only to fall from his throne in a freakish series of scandals, died today. He was 50.

Before Michael Jackson, "freakish" meant unbelievably improbable, as in "freakish weather." Now it means relating to or being a freak, where freak means a strange deviation from nature.

Story of the Day

Trippy Skippy

Does Curry Fight Dementia?

The BBC ran this story.