Category Archives: USA

Poems on Various Subjects

Posted on September 1, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

On September 1, 1773, Phillis Wheatley’s Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral was published in London, England. Wheatley’s collection was the first volume of poetry by an African-American poet to be published. Regarded as a prodigy by her contemporaries, Wheatley was approximately … Continue reading →

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Who doesn’t love a good Dorling Cartogram

Posted on August 31, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

World Population Flags is a Dorling cartogram in which country flags are sized by population. The cartogram is used to visualize where people live around the world and the relative size of each country’s population. Take for a spin. A … Continue reading →

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consternation at the departure gate

Posted on August 27, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

SONG OF THE DISGRACED PERSON Jack Underwood As a fire axe waits in its little shop window As a tongue returns raw to the lozenge It’s not your fault you’re like this, but you are As consternation at the departure … Continue reading →

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Monday, Monday, can’t trust that day

Posted on August 26, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

, In 1974, Saturday Review magazine asked some of the world’s leading thinkers (Isaac Asimov, Jacques Cousteau, Andrei Sakharov, etc.) what the world of 2024 would look like. Here’s what they got right (internet) and wrong (factories on the Moon) … Continue reading →

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It was a dark and stormy night

Posted on August 23, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

“She had a body that reached out and slapped my face like a five-pound ham-hock tossed from a speeding truck.” 2024 Grand Prize Winner Founded in 1982 at San Jose State University in California, the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest challenges entrants … Continue reading →

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Tension for Tears

Posted on August 22, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

As I have previously mentioned, the novels and short stories of Ray Bradbury played an important role in my early love of reading. I recently ran across this marvelous brief video of Bradbury from fifty years ago discussing the importance … Continue reading →

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when you got to go, you got to go

Posted on August 21, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

During a recent visit to New York City, I became hyper aware of the disappearance of public restrooms. There’s no polite way to put this: going to the bathroom in New York is a big hassle. Public restrooms in the … Continue reading →

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Respect the law of consequences

Posted on August 18, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Those of you who stop by TBTP on a regular basis know that I am an evangelist for the work of Octavia E. Butler . The first widely read Black science fiction author and Afro-Futurist pioneer was also a perspicacious … Continue reading →

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On The Beach

Posted on August 16, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I was surprised to stumble on the complete version of the Stanley Kramer film On The Beach posted on YouTube. The 1959 American post-apocalyptic science fiction drama had an enormous impact on me when I first saw the movie on television when … Continue reading →

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We are all wingnuts to somebody and other trivia

Posted on August 11, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Berkeley, CA now has a Wingnut Museum. “The wingnut was invented in the first half of the 19th century and quickly became an indispensable piece of hardware. It lets users fasten bolts by hand, without tools, using little wings jutting out … Continue reading →

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