Category Archives: Uncategorized

Happiness is the uncle you never knew about

Posted on December 21, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Happiness By Jane Kenyon There’s just no accounting for happiness, or the way it turns up like a prodigal who comes back to the dust at your feet having squandered a fortune far away. And how can you not forgive? You … Continue reading →

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Train Etiquette

Posted on December 20, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

They take train etiquette very seriously in Japan. Seibu Railway Company operations are concentrated in northwest Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture; the name “Seibu” is an abbreviation of “west Musashi”. The railway recently published a new series of travel etiquette and safety posters that are … Continue reading →

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I fell for rage bait how about you

Posted on December 19, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Along with the inevitable “Books of the Year” lists, the always interesting, and sometimes controversial “Word of the Year” lists are popping off. The WotY-stakes so far: The Oxford word of the year is rage bait. Macquarie Dictionary (Australia) chose AI slop. … Continue reading →

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Language is a virus

Posted on December 18, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

“Language is a virus from outer space.”   —                              William S. Burroughs In a wonderful essay/book review in the New Yorker, Louis Menand wrote, “Quotations are in a … Continue reading →

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A Boy’s Life

Posted on December 17, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

The video below is fiction but based on the very real experiences of millions of Jewish children during the 20th century.  Shown from the perspective of a teenage boy, Daniel, this animated short offers great insight into the insidious, gradual … Continue reading →

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The Hawking index is not what you think

Posted on December 16, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Mathematician Jordan Ellenberg created an imaginative means of quantifying a metric that book publishers and writers had long suspected: most people don’t finish the books they buy. He called it the Hawking Index, named after Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History … Continue reading →

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There was once a country where everyone was a thief.

Posted on December 14, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

The Black Sheep Italo Calvino There was once a country where everyone was a thief. At night each inhabitant went out armed with a crowbar and a lantern, and broke into a neighbor’s house. On returning at dawn, loaded down … Continue reading →

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Travel is the only way we have of feeling that we are somewhere.

Posted on December 10, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

“Travel was once a means of being elsewhere, or of being nowhere. Today it is the only way we have of feeling that we are somewhere. At home, surrounded by information, by screens, I am no longer anywhere, but rather … Continue reading →

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Is Iceland Real

Posted on December 9, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Last month, Icelandair launched a social media campaign that takes a tongue- in- cheek look at whether Iceland is  “real”  as opposed to AI-generated. The “Expedition Iceland” campaign was developed by social-first agency Kubbco in partnership with Icelandic agency Hvíta … Continue reading →

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Paris, 1964

Posted on December 8, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

I’ve always been a big fan of Dionne Warwick and a fan of Burt Bacharach & Hal David tunes. So what a treat to stumble upon this YouTube clip of Dionne singing her Bacharach hit “Walk On By” on the … Continue reading →

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