Random Learnings #66
From an article in the Guardian: Seems perfectly reasonable that anyone booking a “Superior Room with Pitch View” at the Blackpool Football Club Stadium hotel, located inside the Bloomfield Road Stadium, would…
Book Review #3
In the translated book Planning in the USSR by I.A. Yevenko, the communist hyperbole and delusion begins immediately with the Author's Notes on page 5: The system of socialist planned…
Visiting the Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, the seat of British Government since the creation of the Model Parliament in 1295, is easily recognizable, if for no other reason than the Elizabeth Tower…
Cold Weather Fountaining
Sunday my wife and I visited the Bryant Park Holiday Market on its last day for this year - food, jewelry, clothes, knick-knacks, the usual - but the operating fountain…
Meandering Thoughts #60
A few issues with this sign at the Empire State Building's 86th floor observation deck: Isn't an unlawful act by definition prohibited? Is climbing the fence or throwing objects and…
New York City Love Letter
Sunday, my wife and I introduced a Connecticut friend to the main branch of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue. Of course, one must see the Rose Main…
Constitutionality
Donald Trump's continual declaration of national emergencies that he uses to declare executive orders of dubious legitimacy harkens back to similar usage in Germany following World War I. This was…
Random Learning #65
From the book Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World by Malcolm Harris I learned the etymology of the term redlining: In his acclaimed 2017 book, The…
Random Learnings #64
In 2016, the government of the Czech Republic declared that Czechia is the country's short name in English. Yes, Czech Republic remains the country's official name and yes, Czech Republic…
Unexpected Continuity
From the Brittanica Book of the Year 1968, p376: Another in a series of legislative measures designed to establish the separate statehood of East Germany was passed by the People's…