Jones Beach in November

 

Going to the beach in the off-season is a soul cleansing experience.  

This photo is from a recent visit to Jones Beach on Long Island.   

I'm back...

Hard to believe that it's been almost two years since I last posted here.  I've been busy on Facebook and Twitter.  I've also been coming across fewer websites of possible interest for this blog.  With a little luck it won't be two years till my next post.  Above is a recent picture of the plaza outside St. Augustine Hall at St. John's University in Queens, NY.

Happy Fourth of July!

Need a little inspiration this Fourth of July, try this YouTube video
 Reading the Declaration of Independence.

Enjoy!

St. John's Library's Facebook page

I've been spending a lot of time in the last few months posting to St. John's University Library's Facebook page.  I'd appreciate it if you'd come by and take a look.  You don't need to be a Facebook member to view the page.

St. Augustine Hall

I took this photo looking across the campus of St. John's University in Queens.  St. Augustine Hall is in the background.  The university is looking especially lovely this summer.  I'll probably be posting more pictures of the campus in the coming months.

New Beach Boys CD-- That's Why God Made the Radio

The Beach Boys are in the middle of their 50th Anniversary Reunion Tour and have released a new CD, That's Why God Made the Radio.  The title song will remind fans of classic Beach Boys songs of the the 1960s.  I first saw this band at a Fordham University concert in 1965, where the opening act was the Loving Spoonful.  Being a folkie, I had not been a big fan of surfing music, but as soon as I heard the beginning chords of "California Girls," I became a convert.

By the way, also check out Paul Simon's lovely version of the Beach Boys "Surfer Girl" at a concert honoring Brian Wilson.

Fordham Museum of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Art

I recently had the opportunity of visiting Fordham University's  Museum of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Art.  Located in the university's Walsh Library, the museum, which includes hundreds of Greek and Roman antiquities, is worth a visit if you happen to be in the area at the New York Botanical Garden or the Bronx Zoo.  The Fordham campus is lovely too-- what a university should look like.

Random Academic Quote Generator

I dislike the jargon that clogs academic journals. So I was amused when I came across the Random Academic Quote Generator. A typical example of such gobbledygook the site cooks up is "The interdependence of isomorphism is very nearly influential in its romanticism."

There is a illustrative story about how such convoluted language was used to foist a hoax. Physicist Alan Sokal pulled this off when he submitted an article entitled "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity" to the journal Social Text. Sokal filled his essay with jargon that amounted to gibberish. It created quite a stir when the article appeared in a peer reviewed journal.

I'd suggest writers read George Orwell's essay Politics and the English Language and follow the advice he gives.