KITCHEN ADVENTURES: First, from the Cranky Professor, a spinach suggestion: “For a little crunchy goodness, as the butter melts toss in pine nuts–the more the merrier. …[T]hey toast…and the only trick is to stop the toasting before they get dark brown. So I never add them until the butter is well-melted–stir them around a little so they’re toasting, then as soon as they start to brown on the edges do the spinach thing. I sometimes add them to rice, too.... Read more

They’re peeling off the blogwatches, I’m wincing in the light,The nurse is looking anxious and she’s quivering with fright… The Agitator: “Really? A party where not a single person was drunk, and not a single person drove home after having a drink, is the ‘worst case’ [of underage drinking] he’s dealt with in 15 years? Really?“ Disputations: Non-cheesy attempt to use athletes to evangelize! Maybe there is a Loch Ness Monster…. “So while I’d still be interested in a movie... Read more

The English poets were proving uncertain guides in the labyrinth of Californian courtship–nearly all were too casual, too despondent, too ceremonious, or too exacting; they scolded, they pleaded, they extolled.–Evelyn Waugh, The Loved One Welcome back, Ratty! Read more

DEPRIVED OF ALL SENSE: Balkinization on sensory deprivation; children as “psychological levers” in interrogation; and the necessity defense. More on this from me soon, I think. Read more

TWO LINKS: The Oldest Game. Very geeky and very, very fun. (Via Unqualified Offerings.) And: “A cruel man, but a scholar.” Read more

AGE OF APOCALYPSE: I have a post up at Holy Heroes, talking about why comic-book techniques might be the best way to represent apocalypse, and drawing on medieval illuminations of the books of Daniel and Revelation. Go there and argue with me! Read more

THE MOTHER OF BEAUTY: I finally read Joseph Bottum’s essay on death as the grounding of politics. It’s–okay, look. It’s basically a commonplace book, not an essay. You should probably read it if you’re interested in how death and (especially) grief shape culture. It’ll tell you what to read next, and maybe what to look for and wrestle with in those other, better texts. But it doesn’t work, fundamentally, as an essay. To the extent that there are statements, rather... Read more

TWO LINKS: Family Scholars has a new site dedicated to “the future of the black family.” Disputations on nuns from prison. (This is not a porno. Welcome Google shoppers!) Read more

I never remember holding a full drink. [clipped] –Philip Larkin, “Party Politics” Read more

DEPARTMENT OF YEAH, YOU THINK?Via Llegar Tarde. Read more