"[B]y reason of my exile, I had leisure to observe affairs more closely..." Thoughts on reading Thucydides, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘞𝘢𝘳, with a little of Donald Kagan's 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘤𝘺𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 thrown in for perspective. sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/05/05/t...

Swedish Ginger Thins - who knew? When I buy cookies, I look for things I won't like too much, so I won't eat the whole box at once. The ginger thins surprised me.

Name your top 15 TV shows ever, gut instincts only— The West Wing Top Chef My So-Called Life ER Law & Order: Criminal Intent Star Trek: TNG St. Elsewhere The Diplomat Homicide: Life on the Street Jeopardy LA Law The Bear Columbo Mad Men Six Feet Under

Today's International Dawn Chorus Day! Here's what reached my ears (or my phone's) during half an hour listening from the upstairs window... One or two dubious, but most of them repeat visitors ❤️ #DawnChorusClub

Flower Moon, backlighting the clouds, struggling to break free

I got nothing done today. 😟 Well, I did do some laundry, but that hardly counts.

"The night gardener once asked me if I knew how citrus trees died:" Thoughts on reading Benjamin Labatut's fictional account of the practice of the double-edged sword, science: 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘞𝘦 𝘊𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/04/29/b...

The Time & Temp sign usually reads "Call Joe" (Bornstein sponsors it) or Park Ban or a holiday. Today it said, "Eat Kelp." That seemed odd. Turns out, it's Seaweed Week! And here I almost missed it... seaweedweek.org

Different hardware, same software.

Pick up the nearest book, turn to p. 42, and post the second sentence: “In our action during that war we ran great risk to obtain certain advantages: you had your share in the solid results, do not try to rob us of all share in the good that the glory may do us.” Thucydides – Peloponnesian War

Hey @six18sfoundry.bsky.social this isn't one of yours, is it?

I'm so cold... that's what I get, falling for all that "Yay, it's spring!" stuff when it's still April.

And for those with more contemporary musical tastes... www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS6K...

I usually save this for New Year's Eve, but ok. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j23...

“That is amazing. Absolutely nothing has changed, yet everything is different.” Thoughts on reading David M. Rubin's short story collection, 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘬 𝘉𝘪𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴. From the everyday to the extraordinary, a fascinating read. @six18sfoundry.bsky.social sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/04/16/d...

This game is driving me nuts. (in a good way)

The world’s oldest chicken lives in Portland. Her name is Gertie.

And they just changed up the Webboggle format, my dopamine source, so I'm very upset. Just keeping everyone informed.

Does anyone else wonder what their mail carrier thinks is going on with all the books arriving all the time?

You know, Thriftbooks, you really don't have to ad me so hard, considering I buy something from you pretty much every month. Every week sometimes.

It's very strange reading about the Melian Dialogue at this point in time - and realizing I'm part of the wrong side.

Another case in point:

People been stepping up their photo posting game lately. Case in point:

Current: Thucydides, 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘞𝘢𝘳 Last: Robert Crease, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘌𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 Next: David Rubin, 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘬 𝘉𝘪𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 Favorite book of 2026: Dan Sinykin, Johanna Winant, eds: 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺-𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺. Or maybe Helen DeWitt/Ilya Gridneff's 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦.

"This book aims to show that there is much more to equations than the simple tools they seem to be." Thoughts on reading Robert Crease's book 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘌𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. Even if you skip over the more technical parts (as I did) there's a lot to enjoy here. sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/04/03/r...

Today’s socks

Ok, I've finished Book 1 of Thucydides, and put cues to retain in Cerego. And it only took me... 10 days?!?! Seven books to go... I have to find a more efficient method.

This is very, very tempting...

This account continues to provide the very best rabbit holes.

we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly need mending.

"Brilliant idea! We could write a book about this! Write a book about writing a book about this! Bad idea." A few comments about my experience reading the novel 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦 by Helen DeWitt and Ilya Gridneff: not an easy read, but a fascinating, fun one. sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/03/20/h...

I'm amazed and delighted that German has a word for 'crocheted vegetables'.

"Every house is a living museum of habitation..." Thoughts on reading David Owen's 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘈𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘜𝘴: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯'𝘴 𝘎𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘢 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴 sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/03/13/d...

Schönen Samstag 🏮 📚 🐈 #Schönesgegendoofes

I rarely make overt political statements here, but I want to mark this for later reference: I'm getting strong Fetterman vibes from this guy. I hope I'm wrong.

Beautiful Worm Moon

"The color palette offers a facade of order, a way in which to make sense of the world." Thoughts on reading Edith Young's informative and playful book, 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘦: 𝘈𝘯 𝘐𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘰𝘱 𝘊𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘗𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘴 sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/03/02/e...

Prove this place is good for culture and post a good book cover.

Montaigne and Hawthorne

Post a pic you took, no context, to bring some zen to the feed

Oh my, Duo is getting into it.

I've spent about 2.5 hours over 2 days on 30 pages of Helen DeWitt's 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦. I love this book so far. Let's hope I love it after another, oh, 200 pages or so.

Took me a while to figure out what this message from Goodreads meant.

“How you use this book will depend on who you are and what you want to learn about close reading.” Thoughts on reading 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺-𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺, Dan Sinykin, Johanna Winant, eds.: a great primer on reading and writing about literature. sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/02/19/d...

Let’s see your profile pic in its full-size glory. Maastricht Hours, Liege, 1310-1320; stowe_ms_17_f185r, The British Library, www.imagesonline.bl.uk/asset/7129/

"I had to keep going. I had to save Betsy." My interpretation of/meditation on/conversation with Robert Long Foreman's chapbook, 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘴𝘺, about his heroic rescue of an errant pug. And other things. @robertlong4man.bsky.social sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/r...

I've never understood the 'grammar' of graphic stories. I'd like to understand them. Can someone help me?

Excited to have a flash fiction piece in a really lovely new magazine called Strange Pilgrims! If you want to read some Greek mythology related fiction while you drink your coffee: www.strangepilgrims.com/p/consider-t...

"I don't tell secrets, but I have made a living out of listening to them." Thoughts on reading Jake Weber's novel about (among other things) the importance of storytelling: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘡𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘢: 𝘈 𝘵𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦, 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦-𝘶𝘱 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘈𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺. sloopie72.wordpress.com/2026/02/05/j...