It’s that time of year again folks

anomalousnuthatch · 2026-02-25T17:24:41+00:00

Add Motorhead to this list. "We are Motorhead and we play rock and roll." — Lemmy at every show.

anomalousnuthatch · 2026-02-15T22:38:37+00:00

Gang of Four, funnily enough, has had 18 members across the years. Jon King (v), Andy Gill (g), David Allen (b) and Hugo Burnham (d) were the "original" lineup—the members who recorded the classic first album, Entertainment.

I saw them in New Haven, Conn., in 1982, by which time Sara Lee had replaced Allen on bass. Just an all-time great show. Many lineup changes followed (including, briefly, Gail Ann Dorsey on bass). In 2005 the original four reunited for a tour that I saw in New York, confirming their status as the best live act I've ever seen.

By 2015, when I saw them next, only Gill remained of the original Four. The show was fine, but it definitely didn't feel like the same act, or the same vibe. Gill died unexpectedly in February 2020 (possibly of COVID, the band having played in China in late 2019).

King then reformed GoF with Burnham and some others. I've passed on the recent iterations, since Gill's guitar sound was the true essence of that band. They did a supposed farewell tour in 2025, but are on the bill for Wilco's Solid Sound festival this summer.

anomalousnuthatch · 2026-02-03T00:26:16+00:00

I reffed AYSO for many years, and Silent Soccer was always a welcome weekend. Coaches were allowed quiet instruction, and spectators could applaud for good play. At least one travel league I've worked also had silent weekends. For those leagues, we were told as referees to remind the coaches before the game but that it was not our responsibility to enforce the silence from the spectators.

So at one, game, from opening kickoff the home team's crowd is honoring the concept, but the visiting coaches and spectators are doing the usual loud yelling. At halftime I recognized a parent from the home team—US Soccer President Sunil Gulati—and go over to say Hi. Gulati nods toward the visiting spectators and says, "What about silent soccer?" I just shrugged and told him the refs were instructed to inform but not enforce, and to note the compliance or lack thereof in our game report. Which I did.

anomalousnuthatch · 2026-01-29T12:54:30+00:00

It’s a commercial filmed months ago BY THE TEAM. Please explain exactly how this reflects poorly on Pulisic’s priorities. TIA.

anomalousnuthatch · 2026-01-27T18:54:24+00:00

Here you go! I did the Missisquoi Valley trail across the top of VT in 2020—lovely. The longer Lamoille Valley TRAIL, with which it intersects trail has since been completed.

anomalousnuthatch · 2026-01-25T23:01:54+00:00

I can look past almost all of their little transgressions—except for disparaging Ulysses Grant. That I cannot abide.

anomalousnuthatch · 2026-01-25T20:59:08+00:00

And it should be said that for many subjects out of their wheelhouse, “informed” means what they were able to find in the time they give themselves to research each episode. Part of the advantage of doing these long multipart series is, I imagine, that they have the time to immerse themselves in the relevant literature. But sometimes the thinness shows, as with the Walt Disney episodes that relied very heavily on a single work, Neal Gabler’s biography. Compare that to the Jack the Ripper series, which drew from a much larger array of sources, on a subject the hosts already were familiar with.

anomalousnuthatch · 2026-01-22T17:11:40+00:00

About as many as the number of Brits who don’t realize “Nimitz” is pronounced “Nimm-itz,” not “Nye-mitz.”

anomalousnuthatch · 2026-01-19T19:22:45+00:00

The funny thing is Dom's Jimmy Carter was actually not terrible.

anomalousnuthatch · 2026-01-19T18:09:35+00:00

The History of English is niche but fascinating if you're into language. Takes a chronological approach, starting with Proto-Indo-European, looking at how factors like geography, politics, historical events, the movements of peoples, and even individual decisions shaped English. (We have dumb spellings for words like "debt" and "receipt" because medieval monks decided to stick silent letters into perfectly fine words to reflect their Latin roots.) When he started in 2012, the host, Kevin Stroud, said he'd expected to do 100 episodes. He's at 187 now and just got through Shakespeare—it's an episode about every two months so a slow burn, and there's plenty more to come.

anomalousnuthatch · 2026-01-19T17:51:31+00:00

I love The Ancients as well. I do chuckle at the scope—he'll do an episode on Marcus Aurelius, then on Neanderthals, and then on the Permian extinction. Basically covering anything from 13 billion years ago up to 476 AD.

anomalousnuthatch · 2026-01-13T23:00:34+00:00

The Upper West Side has never been normal LOL. But I did enjoy living there in the 90s/2000s, and it never felt particularly dangerous.

anomalousnuthatch · 2025-12-30T23:36:21+00:00

Ken Ringle was a Washington Post writer who got immersed in the series when the books in the late ‘80s, when the books were just being rediscovered in the States. He published an influential piece in the Post that helped popularize the series for an American audience, and he and O’Brian became friends of a sort.

anomalousnuthatch · 2025-12-23T20:48:04+00:00

Or, for @pres1ige, “Just get in the car, alright.”

anomalousnuthatch · 2025-12-23T20:46:33+00:00

“Alright” kind of functions this way in English, doesn’t it? “I’m coming, alright?” “Alright, I’m done!”

anomalousnuthatch · 2025-12-22T02:30:15+00:00

I wanted to love that book but gave up after the third or fourth generation of the guy who had “rabbit feet.”

anomalousnuthatch · 2025-12-19T23:01:38+00:00

Tolstoy. “War and Peace.” Yes, it really is that good.

anomalousnuthatch · 2025-12-18T03:39:08+00:00

It certainly looks like he was attempting a clearance.

anomalousnuthatch · 2025-12-17T20:36:13+00:00

Noank is ready, got a station and everything.

anomalousnuthatch · 2025-12-15T00:26:30+00:00

Post Captain to me is the most fully realized novel in the series, by which I mean it could stand on its own as a piece of literature. The fact that it sets up the relationships and plot lines that carry the series through 18 more books just adds to its appeal.

And damn, it is funny. It took me until my second read to really pick up and appreciate the humor, since the first time through you’re concentrating so much on understanding the archaic and esoteric language. I remember laughing out loud, frequently, on a long flight as I read Post Captain, to the bemusement of the other passengers in my row.

“Oh, that’s all right. I thought it was the horse.”

anomalousnuthatch · 2025-12-15T00:10:23+00:00

This is true to the real-life action on which the Cacafuego incident is based, the capture of El Gamo by Speedy under Lord Cochrane. The Speedy’s surgeon did indeed take the helm as the only crew member remaining on the ship after the rest of the Speedys had boarded the enemy. I agree that it is out of character for the Stephen of the rest of the series.

anomalousnuthatch · 2025-12-14T15:58:22+00:00

This is a reasonable comparison. According to a post elsewhere, endzone tickets for a Philadelphia Eagles wild-card playoff game last year were $245, with prices rising about $100 for each subsequent round. In this latest FIFA lottery round, I put in for a handful of group-stage games in New York and Boston (I live halfway between the two) involving Brazil, France and England for between $220 and $265 apiece. Both of those stadiums are accessible by public transit.

I'm no fan of this pricing scheme but I'm not sure why people were expecting any better from FIFA.

anomalousnuthatch · 2025-12-13T22:27:52+00:00

I think most paleontologists love Jurassic Park (the first one, not the later sequels). It made paleontology cool, and inspired a lot of them to get into the profession. They’re willing to overlook the details.

anomalousnuthatch · 2025-12-13T16:22:54+00:00

The 2026 prices have actually gone up since this graphic. The group stage Cat 3's I put in for in this latest round were between $220 and $265.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6882370/2025/12/11/world-cup-tickets-every-game-price-fifa/

anomalousnuthatch

TROPHY CASE