Category Archives: Amusing Shakespeare

Most Shakespeare is understandable by anyone and the humor present herein is of two kinds. One directly related ti the theme and content. The other has to do with the old but perfectly understandable language that carries an inherent charge of humor

Hacking for Dummies

Posted on January 16, 2017 by jimmie

As someone who needs words to understand symbols and images to comprehend concepts, I welcomed, years ago, the advent of instructional books for dummies, that is, for those otherwise excluded from the blessings of knowledge. Remembrance of things past brings me back to my high school (and college) days. When an instructor at the blackboard, Read More

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Italian Referendum

Posted on December 8, 2016 by jimmie

“Small choice in rotten apples” (Taming of the Screw 1.1) The Italians said “no” in the recent referendum. Its main objective was to reform the Italian Constitution, strengthen the authority of the government and reduce the power of the electorate at large to influence political outcomes. “ …and wonder greatly that man’s face can fold Read More

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Trump, Revolution in a Tea Cup

Posted on November 15, 2016 by jimmie

“Men judge by the complexion of the sky, the state and inclination of the day.” King Richard II The apparent enthusiasm for Trump’s success in the US presidential elections is an event historically recurrent and humanly understandable. The wonderful vignette by the Italian artist Vincenzo Apicella perfectly illustrates it. Even the famous horse, nominated senator Read More

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Self-Help and the War on Common Sense

Posted on October 26, 2016 by jimmie

“… I talk of dreams, which are the children of an idle brain, begot of nothing but vain fantasy, Which is as thin of substance as the air And more inconstant than the wind Romeo and Juliet, act 1, sc. 4 We know of the war on drugs, the war on terror, the war on Read More

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War on Health

Posted on September 24, 2016 by jimmie

Trust not the physician. His antidotes are poison and he slays more than you rob. (Timon of Athens, act 4, sc. 3) Medicine and religion share much of their structure of belief. To quote the inimitable George Carlin, “Religion has actually convinced people that there is an invisible man, living in the sky, who watches Read More

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Burkini and Bikini

Posted on August 29, 2016 by jimmie

“Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy…” The debate about the admissibility of burkinis on European beaches has mostly spared the American audience. But the issue is sufficiently grotesque to deserve a few related notes.

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Spectacle, Ornaments and Marionettes

Posted on May 17, 2016 by jimmie

“Thus ornament is but the guiled shore To a most dangerous sea; the beauteous scarf Veiling an Indian beauty; in a word, The seeming truth which cunning times put on To entrap the wisest.” (Merchant of Venice, act 3, sc. 2) When I sat down in the coffee-shop, the conversation between the two clients at Read More

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What’s in a name? Nagorno-Karabakh

Posted on April 10, 2016 by jimmie

… that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet… On this point I would disagree with Juliet. If, rather than ‘rose’ the flower were called, say, ‘globularia’, the perfume would be the same, but the overall effect wouldn’t. For in ‘rose’ the initial ‘r’ trembles softly on the palate Read More

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The Trouble with Trump

Posted on March 16, 2016 by jimmie

“If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.” (Twelfth Night, act 3, sc. 4) By general consent, in American elections there is no kingdom for a stage, there are no princes to act, nor monarchs to behold the swelling scene (1). By tacit agreement, elections stand midway Read More

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Connections Dreamt in our Philosophy

Posted on January 26, 2016 by jimmie

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” (Hamlet, act 1, sc. 5) Or, rather, there are apparently unconnected things, which, at closer inspection, seem linked by a logical thread. This article points to a sample of such things and to their common thread. Given that corporate Read More

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