Today we celebrate a special day, The Coming of the Ship. It is a day of both solemnity and celebration. Our holiday encapsulates the essence of The Prophet. The combination of solemn reflection and joyful celebration mirrors the duality of life, just as Almustafa’s departure brings both sorrow and hope. It’s a perfect way to […]
Wikiomancy has proven its value and legitimacy. As you may recall, Wikiomancy (https://www.wlbott.com/?p=34495), or divining the future via random Wikipedia articles, can provide shareholder value, excellent return on investment, and plausible deniability against all claims. A few nights ago, Señor Elder UC#4 was engaged in his normal nighttime routine: aimlessly scrolling through random Wikipedia articles. […]
Jeff Goodell’s book The Heat Will Kill You First is proving to be fascinating. As an Austin resident, he is able to describe global climate change and give recent examples from south and central Texas [ed. note: WLBOTT corporate headquarters is located in Central Texas]. Droughts, floods, hurricanes, crop loss, but perhaps most bizarrely, the […]
The Second ComingW. B. Yeats (1919)Turning and turning in the widening gyreThe falcon cannot hear the falconer;Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhereThe ceremony of innocence is drowned;The best lack all conviction, while the worstAre full of passionate intensity.Surely some revelation is at […]
Yesterday’s BLOTT described the reference to the Yeat’s poem “The Second Coming” in the introduction Jeff Goodell’s book The Heat Will Kill You First. I think we need to look at a few more peripheral issues before diving into the poem. The Pillaging of Poetry “The Second Coming” may well be the most thoroughly pillaged piece […]
I recently began reading the excellent book The Heat Will Kill You First, by Jeff Goodell. Executive summary: We’re doomed. Goodell dedicates some of the book to discussing air conditioning and how this technology has allowed people to live in hotter climates but also has become a major contributor to global warming. Goodell explains how […]
With all that’s going wrong, this morning I awoke with a mosquito bite in a very inconvenient place. How did it even get in there? But most fortuitously, the book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a $%#$ became available from the Austin Public Library. In a nutshell [ed. note: f-bombs removed for brevity]: Which […]
A Greeting from the Elder G: Welcome to the ESL Literature Page! Dear ENGin Students, Welcome to a world of imagination, discovery, and learning! Here, you’ll find a treasure trove of literature that will not only help you improve your English skills but also open doors to new perspectives, cultures, and ideas. As an Elder […]
Here are some more great ESL book recommendations for our ENGin buddies. These books fall into the middle school reading level. Holesby Luis Sackler Holes is a 1998 young adult novel written by Louis Sachar…. The book centers on Stanley Yelnats, who is sent to Camp Green Lake, a correctional boot camp in a desert […]
Especially for our ENGin buddies, we’d like to share a list of books that are popular in the American school system. We’ve either read or are familiar with all the books in this list. Many of them we read with our kids when they were little. Even though some of the books may seem to […]