Activity timeline
Yesterday
Other senators suggested, given the need to review the documents, perhaps the best way to proceed was to refer the matter to a committee. One senator, William Marclay of Pennsylvania, reported that Washington became visibly irritated and was heard to mutter: "This defeats every purpose of my coming here." Once the senators realized they had given offense to the president, they became reluctant to speak, producing several awkward silences. Washington eventually got up, motioned toward [Henry] Knox to follow him, and strode out of the senate "with a discontented air" and vowing under his breath never to return.
He broke that vow two days later. This time he provided the senate with three written-out questions beforehand. There was no debate. The senate, properly embarrassed at the previous session, endorsed the appointment of a special commission to negotiate with the Creeks. Washington thanked the senate, walked out briskly, never returned, and ...
March 13, 2010
March 12, 2010
March 10, 2010
But the aspect of the private automobile that is perhaps most destructive to urban experience (and which has been least studied) is its absolute lack of capacity for autonomous movement. Every other form of transport, including bus and taxi, has the capacity to deliver its passengers or freight and then take itself away under its own power. But the private car is tied to its owner like the tail of a dinosaur: by its very nature it is compelled to occupy the same space as its owner.
March 4, 2010
IanS says...
Hm. I was partly curious because I'm a big fan of Raymond Chandler and, deciding to branch out into the genre, read Hammett's The Thin Man. Compared to Chandler's atmospheric rambling, Hammett felt sort of cut and dried, a true whodunit. I pretty much swore off him, except to figure I had to read the Maltese Falcon one day, just because. But if you guys are enjoying it, I'll try to give him a fresh look. Oh, and it's good to have you back.
February 26, 2010
Ian added Trout Fishing in America to his library.
IanS says...
I'm curious what drove you to start The Maltese Falcon. It seems more like my kind of book than yours. (In fact, it looms somewhere in the middle of my to-read shelf.) And, of course, are you enjoying it?
Ian added Yuichi Yokoyama to his library.
February 15, 2010
Ian added Recreating the Historic House Interior to his library.
February 10, 2010
February 8, 2010
January 31, 2010
"He remembered that the day before he had seen a reptile-like convoy of soldiery, bristling with bayonets, crawling over the face of that land which was his. The woman he loved had been his, too. Death had robbed him of her. Her loss had been to him a moral shock. It had opened his heart to a greater sorrow, his mind to a vaster thought, his eyes to all the past and to the existence of another love fraught with pain but as mysteriously imperative as that lost one to which he had entrusted his happiness."
pg 41, "Prince Roman"
"It requires a certain greatness of soul to interpret patriotism worthily-or else a sincerity of feeling denied to the vulgar refinement of modern thought which cannot understand the august simplicity of a sentiment proceeding from the very nature of things and men. "
pg. 29-30, from "Prince Roman"
IanS replies...
We keep a collection of photographs found in books. We always write the title of the book on the back of the photograph, resulting in a hilarious and strangely poignant found photo collection. (We adopted the practice from Chop Suey Used Books in Richmond)