![\"\"](\"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/1000x/https%3A%2F%2Fintellectualoid.wordpress.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F04%2Fscreenshot-2026-04-29-at-12.55.16-pm.png\")
Playing Idagio’s Ravel at 150 playlist, 59 tracks, 5+ hours. Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2, Lever du jour made me think they’d slipped in Debussy, La Mer.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/08/playing-idagios-ravel-at-playlist.html","date_published":"2026-05-08T15:35:57+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-08 15:35","date_timestamp":1778254557,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"89761128","content_html":"Karl Rove, in the Wall Street Journal, accurately captures what life has been like in those Hoosier media markets where Trump targeted State Senators who voted for Hoosiers, for “Indiana First”, over “America First” obsequiousness to Trump’s demand for a mid-decade gerrymander.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/07/karl-rove-in-the-wall.html","date_published":"2026-05-07T12:08:37+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-07 12:08","date_timestamp":1778155717,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"89760509","content_html":"@ReaderJohn Crikey, man! How confessional is that?
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/89760509","date_published":"2026-05-07T11:51:33+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-07 11:51","date_timestamp":1778154693,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"89760461","content_html":"@tinyroofnail Nothing could be more countercultural, in the best sense, than replacing “this other chatter” with the small, the local, the humble.
\nI maybe have moved millimeters in that direction, but I fear I’m locked into the notions of civic responsibility I learned during the Cold War in the home of a WW-II veteran first-generation “learned professional” and in an evangelical boarding school in über-prosperous DuPage County Illinois.
\nThese are not the foundations of a contentedly subsistence life.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/89760461","date_published":"2026-05-07T11:49:54+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-07 11:49","date_timestamp":1778154594,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"89756377","content_html":"@tinyroofnail I’ve fallen behind on Comment, too. I’m still working through a queue of its articles on institution-building. If the “trans-human” hubris is included in the anti-human, I’d better make it a point to read that issue.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/89756377","date_published":"2026-05-07T09:38:39+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-07 09:38","date_timestamp":1778146719,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"89727616","content_html":"@tinyroofnail @ablerism I’ve fallen behind on reading the Hedgehog Review, so I cannot agree or disagree with Naomi Kanakia. But is the idea that our big problem is antihumanism (or half-hearted humanism) a 2026 high-tone version of prior bugaboos like “secular humanism” or “gnosticism”?
\nI remember days when you couldn’t avoid one of those terms, in the conservative-leaning Christian spaces I frequented.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/89727616","date_published":"2026-05-06T17:07:08+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-06 17:07","date_timestamp":1778087228,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"89703388","content_html":"Note to self: You don’t have to have an opinion on everything, let alone a strong opinion.
\n\n(Prompted by the impending canonization of Seraphim Rose by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.)
\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/06/note-to-self-you-dont.html","date_published":"2026-05-06T10:48:05+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-06 10:48","date_timestamp":1778064485,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"89699052","content_html":"@JohnBrady I sorta skimmed a lot of things, convinced I’d never keep the varied characters completely straight. Best chapter so far involved Pierre’s inability to propose to Heléne, and how that got fixed.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/89699052","date_published":"2026-05-06T09:19:23+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-06 09:19","date_timestamp":1778059163,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"89698617","content_html":"Sadly, Team MAGA did too well in defeating Hoosier GOP Senators who opposed the mid-decade gerrymander. But the signature race, in the State Senate race in a district to my immediate west, stands at Incumbent +3 votes, with both sides declaring victory and some provisional ballots up in the air.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/06/sadly-team-maga-did-too.html","date_published":"2026-05-06T09:02:55+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-06 09:02","date_timestamp":1778058175,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"89679464","content_html":"Suspended reading War and Peace at about ~21% simply because my enjoyment was disproportionately low compared to the time commitment. 📚 I think I’ll stop inflicting classics on myself just because they’re classics. I am, quite literally, too old for that.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/05/suspended-reading-war-and-peace.html","date_published":"2026-05-06T00:40:35+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-06 00:40","date_timestamp":1778028035,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"89657303","content_html":"I’ve been retired long enough that I can’t keep up with the accumulated enshitification of Microsoft Word. I just made Pages my default app for .doc
\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/05/ive-been-retired-long-enough.html","date_published":"2026-05-05T18:08:39+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-05 18:08","date_timestamp":1778004519,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"89639501","content_html":"Ohio and Indiana have primary elections today. Driving to the polling place, I saw my guy’s sign in one of the contested elections:
\n\n[CANDIDATE NAME]
\nAmerica First
In this State Senator race, “Indiana First” would have worked for me, but not dubious dog whistles.
\n\nI switched my intended vote.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/05/ohio-and-indiana-have-primary.html","date_published":"2026-05-05T13:47:54+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-05 13:47","date_timestamp":1777988874,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"89607760","content_html":"@jabel Do you have cheaper cloud storage?
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/89607760","date_published":"2026-05-05T00:56:08+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-05 00:56","date_timestamp":1777942568,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"89607648","content_html":"@Ozzie48 I count myself blessed to have no craving for Colas or other carbonated beverages. My weight would have ballooned even higher if I hadn’t swapped them out 60 years ago for black coffee.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/89607648","date_published":"2026-05-05T00:53:50+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-05 00:53","date_timestamp":1777942430,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"89588540","content_html":"@tinyroofnail I saved this to Readwise when it was fresh. It popped up today and did not disappoint.
\nI’m wasn’t a big DBH fan even before That All Shall Be Saved, but he sure nailed Rusty Reno’s gang. (I dropped First Things a few months ago although I’d been a charter subscriber or close to it.)
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/89588540","date_published":"2026-05-04T19:06:25+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-04 19:06","date_timestamp":1777921585,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"89586062","content_html":"After reading his posting today, I think it’s time to endorse Damon Linker’s Notes from the Middleground Substack.
\n\nHe’s totally negative about Trump, short-term bullish on Democrats, but long-term bearish on Democrats because they’re invincibly ignorant about some of the things they need to change.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/04/after-reading-his-posting-today.html","date_published":"2026-05-04T18:29:48+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-04 18:29","date_timestamp":1777919388,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"89569233","content_html":"@apoorplayer It’s not seared in my memory, but I sure remember.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/89569233","date_published":"2026-05-04T14:17:06+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-04 14:17","date_timestamp":1777904226,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"89569114","content_html":"@Miraz For a moment, I thought this was Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore in northern Michigan.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/89569114","date_published":"2026-05-04T14:14:31+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-04 14:14","date_timestamp":1777904071,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"89568905","content_html":"@tinyroofnail @JohnBrady I’ve read Between the Woods and the Water and A Time of Gifts. I own The Broken Road but haven’t yet read it. It sounds as if there may be even more.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/89568905","date_published":"2026-05-04T14:11:04+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-04 14:11","date_timestamp":1777903864,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"89568502","content_html":"@mineinmono It’s now on my wishlist so I don’t forget it. Are we going to created a little cult classic here on MB?
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/89568502","date_published":"2026-05-04T14:05:04+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-04 14:05","date_timestamp":1777903504,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"89517552","content_html":"We need stories – sometimes subtle, gentle things – that restore in us a sense of goodness. Not just jagged bitterness frothing at the mouth or bonkers political hijacking of deep religious themes. (Marin Shaw)
\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/03/we-need-stories-sometimes-subtle.html","date_published":"2026-05-03T17:32:47+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-03 17:32","date_timestamp":1777829567,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"89449960","content_html":"@philbowell Unfamiliar with either, but the idea of quicksilver (a/k/a mercury) living on in tuna makes me want to swear off fish.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/89449960","date_published":"2026-05-02T13:26:01+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-02 13:26","date_timestamp":1777728361,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"89396735","content_html":"If you are unfamiliar with the terrific Mars Hill Audio Journal, here’s a link to many free samples, including (on page 2) @ayjay on Original Sin.
\n\nI’ve subscribed since frightfully close to the beginning of it. Unlike First Things under R.R. Reno, it hasn’t gone stale or MAGA.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/01/if-you-are-unfamiliar-with.html","date_published":"2026-05-01T17:00:22+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-01 17:00","date_timestamp":1777654822,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"89385295","content_html":"\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/01/us-debt-tops-of-gdp.html","date_published":"2026-05-01T13:53:10+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-01 13:53","date_timestamp":1777643590,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"89313273","content_html":"\n\n\n\n
\n- Persons with names like Blaine, Chad, Liam, Jaydon, Barsanuphius, or Paisios can’t sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.
\n
Steve Robinson, The Ultimate Bluesmaxxing Guide.
\n\nSteve Robinson can generally cure my funk, but he posts rarely.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/30/persons-with-names-like-blaine.html","date_published":"2026-04-30T13:29:08+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-30 13:29","date_timestamp":1777555748,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"89256692","content_html":"\nI’m getting too old and crotchety for this nonsense.
\n\n
Nothing more to be said about the White House correspondents dinner? You fail to reckon with the formidable fury of Frum, who takes the commentary up to the meta level: why would the press make nice with a President who extorts their parent companies when he’s displeased with their coverage?
\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/29/nothing-more-to-be-said.html","date_published":"2026-04-29T16:43:30+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-29 16:43","date_timestamp":1777481010,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"89245659","content_html":"I’m now arrived — thanks to the gods! —\n Thro’ pathways rough and muddy,\nA certain sign that makin roads\n Is no this people’s study:\nAltho’ I’m not wi’ Scripture cram’d,\n I’m sure the Bible says\nThat heedless sinners shall be damn’d,\n Unless they mend their ways.\n═══════════════════════\n@restlesslens I want to be there. What a fascinating space and photo!
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/89200338","date_published":"2026-04-28T21:21:32+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-28 21:21","date_timestamp":1777411292,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"89168655","content_html":"@patrickrhone Cool!
\nMy conservative fanboy version is passing a familiar face in the San Jose airport (it had to be 1988) and then realizing too late that it was Thomas Sowell.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/89168655","date_published":"2026-04-28T13:20:21+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-28 13:20","date_timestamp":1777382421,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"89168501","content_html":"The first marathon over the now-standard distance of 26 miles, 385 yards, contested at the 1908 London Olympics, was won in 2:55:19.
\n\n\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/28/the-first-marathon-over-the.html","date_published":"2026-04-28T13:16:51+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-28 13:16","date_timestamp":1777382211,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"89160821","content_html":"@apoorplayer MacBook Air doesn’t have a fan.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/89160821","date_published":"2026-04-28T10:43:43+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-28 10:43","date_timestamp":1777373023,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"89116448","content_html":"@JohnBrady That’s one I hadn’t heard, and it’s a good one.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/89116448","date_published":"2026-04-27T18:06:27+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-27 18:06","date_timestamp":1777313187,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"89069656","content_html":"@JimRain We will end up with something worse than Obama’s JCPOA, which Trump tore up eight years ago, but Trump will call it a win.
\nAnd. He. Will. Believe. It.
\nSo will the MAGA minions.
\n#Sick_puppies
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/89069656","date_published":"2026-04-27T00:46:23+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-27 00:46","date_timestamp":1777250783,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"89058847","content_html":"I generally ignore the NBA, but apparently I haven’t really lived until I’ve watched Victor Wembanyama. So here I sit, watching San Antonio and Portland (with Wembanyama currently on the bench). In 5 minutes, he has 2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocked shots.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/26/i-generally-ignore-the-nba.html","date_published":"2026-04-26T20:09:11+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-26 20:09","date_timestamp":1777234151,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"88980748","content_html":"\n\n\nAs awkward dinners go, it is likely to give Thanksgiving a run for its money.
\n
The Economist on Donald Trump’s plan to attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner tonight and to give the keynote address. (He has not attended since 2011 when Barack Obama pelted him with zingers.)
\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/25/as-awkward-dinners-go-it.html","date_published":"2026-04-25T11:18:19+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-25 11:18","date_timestamp":1777115899,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"88915651","content_html":"@ablerism You finally did it! Your Comment article “Pattern Recognition” made me buy Christopher Alexander, A Pattern Language. I’ve heard about it from all the right people for years and years, but your glimpses of the numbered patterns (and sub-patterns, it appears) made it irresistible.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/88915651","date_published":"2026-04-24T10:00:45+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-24 10:00","date_timestamp":1777024845,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"88912394","content_html":"Reading Tolstoy, War and Peace. 📚
\n\nIn my youth, long, long ago, “reading War and Peace” was a kind of proto-même.
\n\nHaving recently finished Middlemarch, I’ve given up on setting a record for number of books read in 2026. Quality, not quantity.
\n\n(Tolstoy won the coin toss with My Antonia.)
\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/24/reading-tolstoy-war-and-peace.html","date_published":"2026-04-24T08:51:37+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-24 08:51","date_timestamp":1777020697,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"88911871","content_html":"@ellane @badbede
\nThe distinctive prayer in Orthodox Christianity (of course, we share the Lord’s Prayer) is the Trisagion (“thrice holy”), which includes this:
> Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us. Lord, cleanse us from our sins. Master, pardon our transgressions. Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities for Your name’s sake.
\n29-30 years ago, that was part of what set the hook, compelling me toward Orthodoxy, as my church didn’t know this distinction, but my heart did, and so did Orthodoxy.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/88911871","date_published":"2026-04-24T08:40:40+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-24 08:40","date_timestamp":1777020040,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"88868440","content_html":"Finished Iain McGilchrist’s backwater quick-read, The Divided Brain and the Search for Meaning. 📚
\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/23/finished-iain-mcgilchrists-backwater-quickread.html","date_published":"2026-04-23T17:21:19+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-23 17:21","date_timestamp":1776964879,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"88846348","content_html":"I detest what the SPLC has become, but I have no confidence that Kash Patel’s FBI has built a viable case against it. Jeb Rubenfeld seems to concur. (I have no confidence in anything coming out of Trump’s DOJ or FBI. He has turned them into trash, which rhymes with “Kash,” which … oh, never mind.)
\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/23/i-detest-what-the-splc.html","date_published":"2026-04-23T11:35:15+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-23 11:35","date_timestamp":1776944115,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"88844082","content_html":"\n\n\n\n\nWe are discovering, for example, that AI is especially adept at displacing or, from the techno-optimist’s perspective, liberating us from human labour in contexts wherein humans had already conformed, willfully or otherwise, to the pattern of a machine. Build a techno-social system which demands that humans act like machines and it turns out that machines can eventually be made to displace humans with relative ease.
\n
I read this less than a week ago, but it haunts me and keeps popping up in my head as I read things like, say, this.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/23/we-are-discovering-for-example.html","date_published":"2026-04-23T10:57:04+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-23 10:57","date_timestamp":1776941824,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"88808950","content_html":"Finished Sarah Isgur, Last Branch Standing. 📚
\n\nThere are many potential take-aways, but my personal favorite (based on “The Nuclear Option” chapter) is that we need to bring back the filibuster for confirmation of judicial nominees; i.e., force Presidents to nominate from closer to the center.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/22/finished-sarah-isgur-last-branch.html","date_published":"2026-04-22T21:01:01+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-22 21:01","date_timestamp":1776891661,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"88798359","content_html":"@ayjay Emma Green always does a great job on faith and faith-adjacent stories.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/88798359","date_published":"2026-04-22T18:21:02+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-22 18:21","date_timestamp":1776882062,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"88771996","content_html":"@tinyroofnail L.L. Bean and premium axes aside, that’s a very interesting U.S. Senate primary candidate you’ve got there.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/88771996","date_published":"2026-04-22T11:30:18+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-22 11:30","date_timestamp":1776857418,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"88767176","content_html":"@tinyroofnail After partial tears to both rotator cuffs, unrelated to axe use and neither fully healed, the very thought of wielding an axe makes me wince. But that looks like a collector’s item.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/88767176","date_published":"2026-04-22T09:53:47+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-22 09:53","date_timestamp":1776851627,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"88742679","content_html":"“The Nuclear Option”: Best chapter yet (i.e., the chapter that highlighted the most, and most important, connections I hadn’t noticed on my own) in Sarah Isgur’s Last Branch Standing.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/21/the-nuclear-option-best-chapter.html","date_published":"2026-04-21T23:25:58+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-21 23:25","date_timestamp":1776813958,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"88739313","content_html":"@tinyroofnail I had a little adventure with Claude AI and identified the poem as Mysteries, Yes
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/88739313","date_published":"2026-04-21T22:18:05+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-21 22:18","date_timestamp":1776809885,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"88734028","content_html":"Ya gotta give props to Elinor Wylie for coming up with “scuppernong” as a rhyme (or was that the word for which she needed, and found, the rhyme “summer long”?).
\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/21/ya-gotta-give-props-to.html","date_published":"2026-04-21T20:44:20+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-21 20:44","date_timestamp":1776804260,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}}]}