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  1. Doc Smith

    A couple of fashion pet peeves...

    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.
  2. Doc Smith

    Free Range Parenting?

    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...
  3. Doc Smith

    Natty Shirts Fabrics and Reviews

    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...
  4. Doc Smith

    Lawn care-oldschool reel mower, anyone?

    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...
  5. Doc Smith

    Males, do you part/manage your hair everyday?

    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...
  6. Doc Smith

    Where & When do you wear your vintage clothes?

    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...
  7. Doc Smith

    Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises)

    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...
  8. Doc Smith

    Unappreciated masterpieces?

    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.
  9. Doc Smith

    Shoes with grey suit for wedding...

    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...
  10. Doc Smith

    Is your significant other fond of the Golden Era?

    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...
  11. Doc Smith

    Wedding wishes for Loungers Wildroot and Miss 1940s!

    Congratulations, and here's to many happy anniversaries to come!
  12. Doc Smith

    Driving in a suit or sport coat: Jacket off or on (and buttoned or un-buttoned)?

    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...
  13. Doc Smith

    The WWII Generation (1901-1927)

    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...
  14. Doc Smith

    The WWII Generation (1901-1927)

    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...
  15. Doc Smith

    The WWII Generation (1901-1927)

    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...
  16. Doc Smith

    The continuing destruction of our Harlem heritage

    I can't speak for everybody, but too often the latest outrage prompts a sigh, rather than any proper response. I'd love to see such venues preserved for posterity. For that matter, I'd love to see Harlem, or any part of Manhattan, preserved from creeping gentrification. Every time I visit the...
  17. Doc Smith

    Stuff you learn about your ancestors

    I thought this rang a bell: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Janszoon_van_Salee
  18. Doc Smith

    Allen Edmonds:How many??

    Only three, so far: two older pairs of wingtips (pebble-grained black MacNeils and brown "Tom, Dick, and Harry"s) that I picked up last year, and an almost-new pair of black Park Avenues that I'm wearing for the first time today. Used AEs are slowly replacing my old Ecco City Walkers, as the...
  19. Doc Smith

    Men: Would it bother you if your wife were the main "bread winner" in the family?

    When I was finishing up graduate school, we both largely lived off the advances my wife had negotiated for her first three-book contract. Since then, her income as a midgrade genre author has declined a bit (along with the publishing market), while mine has improved. Still, every book or...
  20. Doc Smith

    All You Need to Know About Hat Etiquette

    I still follow the rules I was taught in Basic Training: head covered outdoors (except on the flight line), head uncovered indoors (unless under arms). Most people have no idea that there's any rule at all. Some notice, and are amused. And a few learned similar habits at similar schools, and...

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