Sons of the Second Sons — James McMurtry

Hitchens, 16 years ago:

We might remember that this is a Nobel committee that let Vladimir Nabokov and Jorge Luis Borges go to their graves unrecognized.

(Just in case that thing were to happen and you were tempted to lose sleep over it.)

A brief thought on Olga Litvak’s treatment of “confessions” in her essay “Untranslated.”

Man, Hog Blog and Winnie the Pooh — on the same day!

Speaking as a former motorcycle addict, I will never understand motorcycle riders with blaring radio speakers. I put this firmly (Firmily?) in the “this is why aliens don’t talk to us” category.

Giacomo Leopardi:

Action shot — I recommend turning the volume way up 🤓

An anonymous Iranian writer whose family lives in Iran:

But there is deep complexity here that needs to be reckoned with. Is sudden, intense suffering from foreign missiles more merciful than prolonged, systematic oppression at the hands of your own government? When people have endured decades of oppression, does the source of their potential liberation matter as much as the liberation itself? And who bears responsibility when both action and inaction guarantee someone will suffer?

These complexities can’t be captured in social media soundbites or simple slogans. They are the impossible calculations that ordinary Iranians are being forced to make.

Kitchen Chalk Talk