“WHEN IT COMES TO DINING, the quality of the food isn’t the only concern,” Prosatio Silban explained, sliding diced potato into an oil-slick skillet and spreading the cubed tuber evenly with a satisfying hiss. “I have cooked gourmet dinners for…
Author: Neal Ross Attinson
Neal Ross Attinson is one of those text-compulsives who feels naked without a keyboard, or at least a a pad and pen. He is unafraid of adverbs, loves astronomy and gastronomy with equally unabashed passion, and lives with/in an eclectic library in Sonoma, California.
365 Names: “The Unseen Seer”
THE UNSEEN SEER Google this, and you’ll find a bunch of links describing a Dungeons & Dragons character class. But I recently saw this Name in an (unremembered, alas) online Torah publication, and I like it because of the image…
Words to Bring Back: “Pernicious”
– Definition: adj. Having a harmful effect, especially in a gradual or subtle way. – Used in a sentence: Pernicious “tweets” should not become a presidential* standard. – Why: It’s enough out of current usage to possibly sound like a…
Ol’ Thinkypants’ Advice For Those Purporting To Know What G?d Wants (Or, Especially, Hates)
“OH, MAAAN — DON’T FALL INTO that trap.”
Well, I ain’t often right, but I’ve never been wrong —
It seldom turns out the way it does in the song.
Once in a while, you get shown the light
In the strangest of places, if you look at it right…”
— Robert Hunter, a”h
First Graf: The Histories
WERE IT NOT FOR HERODOTUS — lauded as the “Father of History,” derided as the “Father of Lies” — we would know nothing of, among other things, the tale of King Leonidas and the 300 Spartans and how it affected…
Pithyism #69b
DO WE RESEMBLE OUR TOOLS, or do our tools resemble us? (I’m including in this equation notional tools like webspace, word-processing software, Facebook’s post-ranking choices, etc.)
There was a time when every brief saying one heard was regarded as a ‘Torah’ (teaching, guidance), and everything one saw was perceived as an instruction in his Avoda (worship, service) and conduct.”
–Daily Hayom Yom newsletter
365 Names: “Love”
LOVE is defined here in its Divine sense as “That which attracts and unifies.” Similar in principle to the Great Magnet, but different in its connotation of intimacy. The Greeks have specified this Name’s essential qualities as “eros,” or sexuality,…
Words to Bring Back: “Parvenu”
– Definition: n. a person of obscure origin who has gained wealth, influence, or celebrity. – Used in a sentence: I like to think the electorate smiles unkindly on parvenus, but evidence indicates otherwise. – Why: Because, in the early…
A Prosatio Silban Amuse-Bouche: Writing
“THOSE MARKS ON YOUR CUTTING board look like words in an ancient language,” observed Prosatio Silban’s customer. “They are, actually,” the cook explained. “The story it tells has been written by me almost every day for all my professional life,…
Pithyism #9
PEOPLE WHO LIVE WITH CATS are the only people who understand people who live with cats.