Category: Current events
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Once Upon a Time in Anagrams
And it came to pass that the phrase on everyone’s mind was: ✦ “Make America Great Again” Contrary Gary couldn’t help but notice – or resist pointing out – that the letters of this slogan rearrange to spell: ✦ “I am a gang; I am a racketeer” ==========We might have paid heed had we realized…
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Anagrams as Easter Eggs?
Are we really just characters in a work of fiction? If so, how would we know? Laugh all you want – but let’s be honest: Doesn’t it sometimes feel that way? As if the stuff happening around us is too bizarre to be real? As if our daily headlines and sound bites are being composed…
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The Open Road Ahead
The letters in “Happy New Year to All” rearrange to spell “really open pathway”! Reminding us that the 2019 road ahead may lead to an Orwellian apocalypse. Or to a bright future of freedom and well-being for all. Either way, it will be close. Your words and choices will make the difference!
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The Twelve Tactlessly Whimsical Anagrams of Christmas
The letters in “Twelve Days of Christmas” rearrange to spell “favored, tactless whimsy”. Let’s get us some! This Yuletide observation did, after all, set me wondering: Could I make a similar anagram from each one of the twelve gifts itemized in the classic Christmas carol? Then maybe even weave those into a seasonal poem capturing…
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Clocks That Don’t Always Tell the Right Time
Some of us (but not all) remember a world where clocks didn’t always tell the right time. That world is disappearing into the rear-view mirror. With fewer and fewer exceptions, our timepieces connect to the internet and are set by a distant atomic clock. This goes doubly for our mobile devices: cell phones, smart watches,…
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Stonehaven’s new edition of The Challenge of Baha’u’llah
My book The Challenge of Baha’u’llah, first published 25 years ago, is now available from Stonehaven Press in a stunning commemorative edition! The new version is revised, expanded, updated, and redesigned. It sports an exquisite fresh cover and easy-on-the-eyes typography. A thorough reformatting provides easier readability and even better ease of reference. You’ll find it at…
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Very Stable Anagrams
Break out your old box of Scrabble blocks. Pick out the exact letter-tiles you’ll need to spell: ✦ “a very stable genius” Just don’t arrange them that way. Instead, lay them down in the following sequence: ✦ “. . . but – senile savagery!” Yes! You can do this. Because that is what the letters in “a…
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My Prayer for 2018
May each one of us be happy, healthy, and fully engaged with others (especially those whose views and experience may differ from our own). May our country stand as a beacon for racial healing and harmony, for interfaith understanding, for economic justice, for gender equality, for commitment to science, and for borders open to all…
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Alternative Facts? No — Alternative Anagrams!
It’s official: “Alternative facts” tops the list of “notable quotes” from 2017. That’s according to Fred Shapiro, associate director of the Yale Law School Library. He publishes this annual list, which also includes a bunch of runner-up doozies. Shortly after last January, when Kellyanne Conway left this devil-spawn baby on our lexical doorstep, I jotted…
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What Our Jonquils Know About Climate Change
Earlier this month (February 2017) the outdoor temperature was 77 degrees F. Even in the previous month, January, the mercury often registered above 60 degrees — and rarely fell below high 40s to mid 50s. This in East Tennessee! When I moved here in 1977, sub-zero temperatures were commonplace for January and even mid-February. (I…
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How to Fact-Check Gary Matthews (or Anyone Else)
One thing I love about today’s Internet is how easily you can fact-check anything I say. Don’t believe me about something? Fine! Fire up Google (or any other search engine). Type in the topic. Seconds later you’re studying it in Wikipedia, watching it on YouTube, reading all about it in respected news outlets and academic…