"It certainly has taken me by surprise," said Mr. Gascoigne. ... "Probably you think me blamable." "Not blamable exactly. I respect a man for trusting another." --George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, chapter 64 Do you know the strange story of Cedric Allingham? And--do you care? If you think … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2014
The Tunguska Explosion, Nuclear UFOs, and Isaac Asimov
"At the village of Strelka I met the old Tungus Vasily Okhchen who ... had been sleeping at the moment when the tent was torn away and had been thrown to the side by a powerful jolt. He had not lost consciousness. He said that he heard an unbelievably loud and continuous thunder; the ground shook, … [Read more...]
Marjorie Hope Nicolson, Moon Flights, and Little Green Men
It’s not very often you get to use the word "charming" for a piece of literary scholarship. That's precisely the word, though, that fits Marjorie Hope Nicolson’s Voyages to the Moon, published in 1948 by the Macmillan Company. The book is 66 years old, which the same age I am until my birthday … [Read more...]
A Girl Named Jessica – Shakespeare, the Talmud, and the “Merchant of Venice”
Are you a "Jessica"? If you are, your name says that you're a woman so beautiful people can't stop looking at you. You won't find this in any dictionary or website, or even Wikipedia (which offers a different explanation for the name). I learn it from Shakespeare and from the Talmud, two … [Read more...]