Author Archives: Anton

do they didn’t done it or don’t they?

Posted on Sunday, 2005 December 25 by Anton

There’s an old joke that “there are no guilty men in prison,” i.e. that practically all inmates claim to have been unjustly accused. I’ve also heard that in fact most convicts cheerfully admit to the charges. The latter seems more … Continue reading →

Posted in law | Leave a comment

collect them all!

Posted on Sunday, 2005 December 25 by Anton

In a review of a biography of Lillian Hellman, The Economist used the phrase “at the height of the first cold war in 1952.” I’m always the last to know. Is this usage widespread? When was the height of the … Continue reading →

Posted in history | Leave a comment

of bicycles and water-beds and cabbages and kings

Posted on Friday, 2005 December 23 by Anton

Jerome K. Jerome – or his fictional counterpart “J.” – says in chapter 5 of Three Men on the Bummel:   I do not regard the conveyance of useful information as my forte. This belief was not inborn with me; … Continue reading →

Posted in general | 2 Comments

fifty-two choose five

Posted on Thursday, 2005 December 22 by Anton

So I was writing a little allegorical paragraph which invited the reader to imagine a poker game in which a dispute arises over whether a flush beats a straight or not. “(The one holding the straight,” I explained, “is a … Continue reading →

Posted in mathematics | Leave a comment

first in a series of one

Posted on Tuesday, 2005 December 20 by Anton

Choose your own joke! Pillow is fixed, and I’m still broke. variable. floating. (He’s hiding under my bed.)

Posted in pets | Leave a comment

after this I’ll try to leave the TwoPercenters alone

Posted on Tuesday, 2005 December 20 by Anton

In an otherwise generally sound call for separation of church and state, 2%Co had this to say about democracy in Dixie (1789-1865): . . . These slaves didn’t always like their lot in life, but according to your logic, Mrs Gong, they … Continue reading →

Posted in constitution, history | 8 Comments

the anarchist gets his back up

Posted on Monday, 2005 December 19 by Anton

On Thursday, I somehow stumbled onto the site of The Two Percent Company (hereinafter “2%Co”), “an informal group of folks who are concerned about the current direction of our country and our world.” Maybe I followed a mysterious link, maybe … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | 5 Comments