Recent content by Doc Smith

Yow. Sounds uncomfortably drafty. Reminds me of my late mother-in-law, who informed my soon-to-be wife that she planned to wear a hat and gloves to our wedding. Turns out the dress and shoes were implicit, which was probably better off for all concerned.

Even though many University classes (especially large lecture courses!) are attendance-optional, there are reasons to at least keep track of what's happening. Here's the story I tell my students from time to time: I was a reasonably talented, overly optimistic, and thoroughly lazy third-year...

I just got 6 shirts in a modified Savvy Journalist cut (spearpoint with a tab closure, to lift the tie a bit): 3 in the basic white, and 3 in a similarly-thin sky blue. The base white fabric is a little stiff, as if it was given a non-iron treatment at some point; the blue fabric is a little...

I've been using hand-pushed reel mowers for the last 16 years; they're a good fit to the tiny front and back lawn for my 1915 urban bungalow. For the last year or so, though, I've used an even older way of getting the lawn mowed: I handed the chore off to my 15-year-old son. He gets some...

Every morning! Towel-dry out of the shower, comb hair before shaving. Let hair dry during breakfast. Comb in a handsbreadth line of Groom & Clean, making sure the part is as linear as possible. Finally, use a horsehair brush to smooth everything into place, and finish dressing (tie, vest...

Almost all of my suits are 1960s or earlier. I have a self-imposed rule that whenever there's a chance that I'll give a graded test, I wear a suit and tie. In order to keep the class guessing about when pop quizzes will appear, that means I wear a vintage suit (or at least an old tweed jacket...

I saw the subtitled version of this movie last Saturday. I understand that it's managed to infuriate people from all ends of the political spectrum. Nonetheless, I can believe that, like his aeronautical engineer protagonist, Mr. Miyazaki just wanted to make something beautiful. I'm an...

I'll add a fine science fiction movie that was never marketed as a science fiction movie: "The Man in the White Suit," a 1951 Ealing Studios release starring Alec Guinness and Joan Greenwood.

An amusing story from (as far as I can recall) an older NPR announcer, recalling the tough neighborhood his Dad worked in: One Saturday, while his Dad was getting something from the back of the office, the boy looked idly into his Dad's desk and found two long, heavy leather objects. One end...

My wife and I love classic films, period costume dramas, and historical fiction set in the era. She grew up with parents who were 1950s labor activists (and then 1960s civil rights activists), is a big fan of American folk tales and folk music, and loves historical research. My wife is also a...

Congratulations, and here's to many happy anniversaries to come!

In hot weather, it's jacket off, sling it on the hanger suspended from the driver's side rear window hook, and grouse about it being too damn hot and I can't wait for fall. In cold weather, it's jacket on (often with a vest underneath and a topcoat above), and grouse about it being bitterly...

That's an entirely reasonable argument, if you accept the validity of any one characteristic defining a set of people that contains both (for instance) Medgar Evers and Bryon De La Beckwith. I obviously don't, and mostly see this as a way of expressing disdain for another equally inhomogenous...

LizzieMaine: thanks for recommending SVB's "Nightmare at Noon." It's on my to-read list now. I'll fully agree that some members of that generation were, as you said, opposed to smug self-congratulation. One of the ways we can see this is in satires like Sinclair Lewis's "Babbitt." Of...

OK, I'll bite on this one: Generational labels are of limited usefulness. The G.I. generation had its share of losers, users, spivs, mugs, lugs, and goldbrickers. The current generation of young adults has its share of volunteers, go-getters, stellar students, muckrakers, solid citizens, and...