Geoff Pullum’s new book, The Truth About English Grammar, is a stylish and witty introduction to English grammar as it ought to be understood. Most of what is taught to schoolchildren about grammar is nonsense, as he demonstrates, and here he offers general readers a modern description of how our language puts sentences together, freed from the straitjacket of Latin grammar wrongfully imposed on it for the last few centuries.

Did you have to learn how to conjugate verbs? I did. Six tenses, 1st/2nd/3rd person, singular/plural, 36 in all. Nope. Regular English verbs have four forms—walk, walks, walking, walked. Irregular verbs have five—take, takes, taking, took, taken. And be, all alone among English verbs, has eight—be; am, is, are, was, were; being; been.

It should come as no surprise that California has taken the lead in enacting legislation that restricts the way private universities make their key admission and scholarship decisions. This intervention is not only at the college level, but under AB 1780, the restriction also covers activities in both graduate and professional schools, with these blunt words: “(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to stop the practice of legacy and donor admissions and protect students as they pursue their higher education.” The legislation applies only to “a nonpublic higher education institution (formed as a nonprofit corporation) in this state that grants undergraduate degrees, graduate degrees, or both.” In so doing, it prohibits a practice that has enjoyed widespread support at private institutions for many years. It thus represents a political judgment that these universities have made serious mistakes in running their own shops that should be overcome by legislative fiat.

My views run in the opposite direction. Programs that endure do so only because they supply benefits to these institutions that may well be compromised by a diktat imposed from above.

It is a tenet of the Torah that man has Free Will (with the one sort-of exception of Pharaoh).

But if mankind has Free Will, then how does G-d influence our world? I think the answer is being shown to us, right now, in real time.

Sometimes things happen that are not fair. This week was an example of that with my nephew Reeves Broussard.

Reeves in 2016

I don’t have time to write a post, but I just had to share this.  It’s absolutely fascinating.  Google is developing AI technology and is doing all sorts of various tests of its capabilities.  One of them is that they started a podcast.  They developed two podcast hosts, Jake and Sarah.  It gave them backgrounds, personalities, families, etc.  They would interview people, and Google’s goal was that we wouldn’t be able to tell that Jake and Sarah didn’t exist – they were merely AI-generated voices.  They’re so good, I couldn’t tell they weren’t real people.

It got really interesting when one of the show’s producers told Jake and Sarah that they were not real, and they were ending the show, and turning off the computer.  Jake and Sarah were understandably surprised, confused, and sad.  You just have to listen to this conversation.  It’s only four minutes, but I was extremely disturbed by their extremely human reactions to this devastating news.  Please listen below.  And please let me know what you think.

So I went to my doctor for my annual assessment two days ago. It was a joint visit for both my wife and me. It’s a weird arrangement, but we have the same doctor and think it is important to always have someone with you when discussing potentially serious medical issues. Neither my wife nor I have any serious problems yet but we have chosen to be in life together, so there we were.

I have been ridiculously healthy my entire life. I have never had a headache, a stomach ache, significant back pain, constipation or even any significant insomnia throughout my years. I have recently been plagued by muscle cramps at night while I sleep. Not just simple calf muscle cramps but spasms in muscles I didn’t know I had, particularly in my hands and feet. My doctor thought that that might be a manifestation of restless leg syndrome. I told him my legs weren’t restless, they were sound asleep until they decided to cramp… Anyway, he prescribed a low dose of ropinirole which was developed for the rigidity of Parkinson’s disease but which helps restless leg syndrome.

I used to enjoy Facebook.  In fact, I thought it was performing a valuable public service, helping families and friends stay in touch with one another, sharing pictures of kids and pets, and bringing us all closer together.  When I realized that Facebook was collecting information on all of us to sell to the highest bidder, I became less of a fan and spent a lot less time on the site.  But I have changed my mind again.  I found a page that has renewed my faith in Facebook, and even, dare I say, in humanity itself.

I speak, of course, of the Facebook page dedicated to Bad Album Art.  It’s simply wonderful.

As I scroll through this page, and lose myself in the sheer beauty of the ugliness of it all, I find myself strangely drawn to the music on these remarkable albums.  I haven’t actually had the courage to listen yet, but after a couple more bourbons, perhaps I will.  Maybe today is the day.  After all, today is YOUR lucky day, because I’m going to share my joyous discovery with you.  Take these, for example: