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A Perfect Break from the World

By Dennis E. Powell | Apr 15, 2026 at 11:46 PM

If the art form known as anime received the attention and credit it deserves, you would already have heard of a series called “The Holy Grail of Eris,” or in romaji Japanese, Erisu no Seihai.

I watched it Tuesday night, all 12 25-minute episodes. It is a masterpiece.

My Internet Is Reliably Unreliable. Is God the Same Way?

By Timothy R. Butler | Apr 15, 2026 at 4:06 PM

My internet is reliable. Reliable at going down at 7 p.m. every Monday night for years. That’s unfortunate given that I preach a livestreamed sermon every week at that time.

A Farewell To Arms: Love In The Shadow Of Death

By Jason Kettinger | Apr 08, 2026 at 6:17 PM

A Farewell To Arms is about as positive as Hemingway is going to get. Frederic Henry is the American protagonist wounded while serving as an ambulance driver. A lieutenant in the Italian army, he lets us see World War I through his eyes.

Radio Days

By Dennis E. Powell | Mar 25, 2026 at 5:55 PM

The mood in the CBS Radio Networks newsroom was grim, depressing, and tense.

There had recently been buyouts, with longtime employees being offered cash and benefits to . . . leave. Many, including longtime employees who didn’t accept the buyouts (or ones who for some reason weren’t offered them), were laid off, never to return.

The Old Man And The Sea: The Leisurely Masterpiece

By Jason Kettinger | Mar 25, 2026 at 4:19 PM

I actually read this novella a few years back, in preparation for teaching it to my ninth grade students. I have an Audible version, narrated by the great Donald Sutherland, may he rest in peace.

Graffiti Detecting

By Dennis E. Powell | Mar 18, 2026 at 11:59 PM

You might have heard of an article published by Reuters late last week in which after extensive research and what I guess they’d call shoe-leather detective work they identified the famous British stencil-graffiti artist known as “Banksy.”

Fell For It

By Dennis E. Powell | Mar 04, 2026 at 3:27 PM

If there is anything as embarrassing as confessing one’s sins it has to be confessing one’s stupidities.

Yet here we are. Instead of describing how well my cool new Starlink-based phone-internet setup is coming together, I’m obligated to detail how I fell for a swindle so obvious that there’s no escaping the fact that my mind must have got disengaged for a while.

Craft, Need and the Ever Devouring AI

By Timothy R. Butler | Feb 25, 2026 at 11:10 PM

A few hours away from me you can visit Silver Dollar City — a scenic, wooded theme park in the Ozark Mountains where craftspeople blow glass and mill flour 19th-century style. It’s charming and memorable. It’s also not the way I buy glassware or food normally.

The Olympics and Other Horrors

By Dennis E. Powell | Feb 11, 2026 at 6:31 PM

Okay, yes, it was my fault that the propane ran out before I ordered a refill. It was not my fault, though, that the internet went down, forcing me to watch a bit of the Olympics.

In an AI World, What Makes Stories Real?

By Timothy R. Butler | Feb 11, 2026 at 5:21 PM

People love this year’s Budweiser commercial. I get it: it’s beautifully filmed and feels good when so much is angry, ugly or both. It is also real to a surprising degree: the commercial was filmed with cameras, not constructed with computers.

You are viewing page 1 of 37.