Mitch's Blog

A Facebook friend commented on Robert A. Heinlein’s distinctive writing voice. I have noted this myself, and to me it is one of the pleasures of re-reading Heinlein.

It is a very, very midcentury American voice. To me, it seems strongly influenced by hard-boiled noir movies and screwball comedies. Although it is perhaps more likely that Heinlein was influenced by hardboiled authors rather than movies — maybe not Hammett and Chandler directly, but that school.

In Heinlein’s 24th Century, men drive spaceships and wear kilts, but they also smoke Lucky Strike cigarettes. Cab drivers have stogies sticking out of their mouths, and they call men “Bub” and “Mac.”

I sometimes see memes about Americans offended to hear Spanish or other foreign languages spoken publicly. Living where I do, when I go out around people, it’s unusual for me to not hear people speak Spanish or an Asian language. Somehow, I bear up under the strain of being around people minding their own business and doing things that don’t harm me in any way.

Shakespeare may not have left his wife Anne in Stratford for decades when he went to London. A researcher says a newly discovered text from a letter shows she lived with him in London, potentially upending the established belief that their marriage was unhappy. The Guardian

Phoenician culture spread across the Mediterranean not through mass migration but through cultural transmission and assimilation. “Ancient Mediterranean societies were cosmopolitan, with people from different regions trading, moving often over large distances and having offspring with each other.” The Max Planck Society

I just received an error message that says my magic link is no longer valid. My magic link is too valid. My magic link is in its PRIME.

Here’s something I saw on the sidewalk while walking the dog. Also: the dog.

The Patriotism Trap: Accepting the premise leads inevitably to the outcome. Hamilton Nolan

At 77, she’s as fit as a 25-year-old. What her body tells us about aging. The Washington Post

The evolution of the alpha male aesthetic. Bloomberg — Derek Guy walks through male style, from 19th Century bodybuilder Eugen Sandow to Joe Rogan and Andrew Tate. My style is best described as “are you sure you want to go out wearing that?”

“The Pitt’s” very horny fandom swallowed the web. Garbage Day — I love “The Pitt” but have not shipped anyone.

Please Enjoy These Images Of The 2025 Corgi Derby. Defector

Under Hegseth, Chaos Prevails at the Pentagon. NYTimes

An inside look at the New York City subway’s archaic signaling system. NYTimes — Fascinating article, beautiful photos and graphics.

How is it possible that we have lived in San Diego more than 25 years and have never been to the Creation & Earth History Museum?

The Creation and Earth History Museum is dedicated to the Biblical account of science and history. The museum showcases a literal six-day creation and young earth, including a human anatomy exhibit, life-size tabernacle display, age of the earth cave, dinosaur discovery zone and more.

For now at least, I’ve chosen to concentrate my social media activity on mitchw.blog and Facebook. I often just use Mastodon and Bluesky to send notifications that I have a new post up. I accept that costs me followers. But I don’t like it.

The platforms where I see the most activity are Facebook — which I just returned to in full force — and Tumblr. I just don’t seem to have gotten much traction on Bluesky and Mastodon.

I never was a Harry Potter fan but I admired J.K. Rowling enormously. It saddens me to see how her mind has become stunted and hateful

She has herself become like a character in a fantasy novel or comic book: a hero who became a supervillian.

I now go to an AI chatbot if I have a question, where formerly I’d do a Google search, find a website and look for the answer there. I still use a search engine if I’m looking for a particular website, which I often do.

10 TV character deaths that shocked fans. NYTimes — The death of Colonel Blake on “M*A*S*H” was and is the GOAT. It will never be topped.

But Adriana’s murder on Sopranos was respectable too.

Article author Jennifer Vineyard includes Buffy’s fake death. If I recall correctly, Buffy fake-died twice in the series. But the article fails to include the far greater death on that series: Buffy’s Mom.

This article includes a huge spoiler for a currently airing popular series.

Americans Are Obsessed With Protein and It’s Driving Nutrition Experts Nuts — The Wall Street Journal