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Posts published in “Essays”

Sun King Playlists

“To faint was a fault past hope of pardon,” wrote the Duke of Saint-Simon in his Memoirs of Louis XIV, an insider’s account of battlefield debacles, antechamber intrigues and bedroom assignations during the reign of…

My Dog’s Smarter Than My Dog

If you’re going to have a dog you might as well train it, and if you’re going to train it you might as well have someone else do it. I’d suggest your wife. This gives…

Big Lies & Little Truths

As an historian, history tells me that this presidential election about to go down on Nov. 5 is the worst offering of prospective White House occupants in history. That’s three references to history in a…

A 7.1 Exaggeration

Those who tend to apologize too much when they make a mistake have a lot to learn from the editors of the San Francisco Chronicle. It was the Chronicle that gave the world its false…

Dropping The Ball; Setting The Stage For Carmel Angelo

In the summer of 2007 the Mendocino County Grand Jury released an unusual and barely noticed report about the fiasco surrounding the Supervisors’ firing of former CEO John Ball. (No other local news outlets made…

Water Woes

“No river should reach the ocean.” — Stalin Not so long ago there was so much water in the summertime Russian River you could water ski at Healdsburg. Where did all the water go? Why…

Calling All Masochists

We can and do empathize with those who for circumstances unexplained and perhaps inexplicable, toil at tasks that cannot be accomplished. A man spending his days, years and lifetime pushing a boulder up a steep…

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