Gave blood tonight, for the first time since last January. I’m happy to report that my anemia is a thing of the past (“Your hemoglobin level is excellent,” said the technician). Still don’t know what caused that, though I insist that it’s the fault of the CPAP machine I was using back then. My doctor says there’s no way that could happen, but I didn’t achieve my present state of physical perfection by listening to doctors.



As a cultural conservative, I have the deepest reverence for the wisdom of our ancestors.

Which does not mean that our ancestors were not, from time to time, morons. Darwin aside, sometimes stupid people do get to pass their genetic patterns along, and some of those morons must have been the ancestors who designed this knife-and-fork set. It’s on offer from Museum Replicas, Ltd., the first stop of every historical reenactor who isn’t rich. They sell some quite good, inexpensive, Indian-made swords and armor, and a lot of banana squash. The knife and fork with built-in flintlock pistols comes, I think we can all agree, under the rubric of banana squash.

However, the original sin doesn’t belong to Windlass Steelcrafts, the owners of Museum Replicas. It belongs to some 18th Century gunsmith who said, “Hey, wouldn’t it be a great idea to make a cutlery set that, aside from being extremely uncomfortable to hold, conveniently points both weapons at your own body while you’re eating?” (Although the web page doesn’t say it, the MR catalog plainly states that these things are based on a real-world set.)

Clearly that gunsmith never took an NRA firearms safety course.

The replicas, you’ll be happy to know, are non-firing.

I generally consider non-firing replicas beneath the dignity of an adult.

In this case, I consider the whole thing beneath the dignity of marmosets.

Singer Lee Greenwood has been appointed to serve a six-year term in National Endowment for the Arts council. Also NEA Chairman Dana Gioia is leaving his post in January to return to writing. He will also be a director in the Aspen Institute.

“It has been a thrilling experience to help rebuild a great American institution,” said Gioia. “We have created a new national consensus on the importance of public support for the arts and arts education. Six years ago that would have seemed unlikely.”

“I announce my departure with mixed feelings,” he added. “I will never have a more interesting job. But I am a writer. If I don’t return to poetry soon, the Muse will never have me back.”

Instapundit points out a Thomas Sowell column saying the economy isn’t what’s being made out to be.

Omnivoracious has a survey of printed reviews which ran on Sunday in some of the bigger newspapers still in print. Note this one by Roger Scruton on Everyday Drinking by Kingsley Amis, which could be helpful to your holiday conversation: “The books were written between 1971 and 1984; as a guide to prices, availability and so on, they are therefore entirely out of date. But who cares? Each chapter is packed with observations that, in their utter disregard for political correctness, social inclusiveness and phoney compassion, are as punchy and uplifting as the vile cocktails they describe.”

(via Instapundit)

There’s a new TV series on CBS called “The Mentalist.” It’s about a guy who used to be a fraudulent TV psychic. He made the mistake of publicly taunting a serial killer, who then murdered his wife and daughter. This led him to throw over the psychic business and become a consultant with the California Bureau of Investigation. He uses the observational tricks he learned in his act to read people’s behavioral clues, and (sometimes) to manipulate them.

I watch the show because it’s on after “Criminal Minds” (a series with some similarities). I like it OK, but it has a number of flaws. The characters, in particular, are all over the map. There’s an Asian cop who was first introduced as a socially-challenged jerk, and then he suddenly wasn’t anymore. It would have been more interesting, it seems to me, if they’d developed that (I do have to give him credit, however, for doing the best imitation of Jack Webb I’ve seen in years). And the hero’s methods seem to me too successful, too pat. Continue reading License to judge →