FEAST OF ST. JUSTIN MARTYR, patron of philosophers. Read more

AUTOMATIC INSURRECTION, or an online generator for the liner notes to every single album I liked in high school! I also think “To those who deride the immanent ecstasy in a barricaded hallway or a moment of friendship, we propose nothing less than to reject their homogenous absence, at all costs,” sounds like a prompt from a Bruno and Boots fanfiction challenge. Actually a lot of these lines sound like that. Via WAW4. Read more

KITCHEN ADVENTURES: FRITTERS! Inspired by soccas. ingredients: chickpea flour, water, herbs & spices (in this order: garam masala, cumin, cayenne, cinnamon, rosemary), fresh peas, butter, s&p.; how-to: Mix the flour and spices, then mix w/enough water to form a very thick batter. I initially used a whisk, but that was a mistake. Use a spoon. You should add salt at this point too, but I forgot and salted the fritters in the pan, which also worked. Mix in the peas.... Read more

“A company of us got together once, and we drank a bit, it’s true, and suddenly somebody suggested that each of us, without leaving the table, tell something about himself, but something that he himself, in good conscience, considered the worst of all the bad things he’d done in the course of his whole life; and that it should be frank, above all, that it should be frank, no lying!” “A strange notion!” said the general. “Strange as could be,... Read more

THIS SUNDAY AT 4.30, the National Gallery of Art is showing Alain Cavalier’s Therese, a St. T. biopic I raved about here. (Or if you’d rather know why Cavalier should make a werewolf movie, click here!) Read more

POKER FACE: So various recent events, including but not limited to the bizarre Elena Kagan media mishegoss*, have led me to think about coming out/being out, and why my experiences cause me to think it’s usually the best policy. Insert all the obvious disclaimers (I realize that I’m not you, I don’t believe in advice columns, my family is supportive and my career would’ve been bizarre anyway, I have no religious superiors to answer to other than God, etc), but... Read more

AT MARRIAGEDEBATE NOW: interracial marriage rates, “Come for the pizza, stay for the deconstruction of masculinity,” how pregnancy is viewed in Israel vs. Japan, surrogacy laws may change in India, and more. Read more

FASCINATING STUFF. The commenters offer a few more possible explanations, including at least one in which the causal arrow runs the other way. Read more

DEPLOYING ONE HORROR TO EXCUSE ANOTHER. Or, how Holocaust survivors are now being branded Soviet war criminals. Via Mark Oppenheimer. Read more

“CRADLE WILL ROCK“: My column for Inside Catholic; it’s about cradle Catholics and how they can be awesome. Read more