I am a couple of weeks late for Mother’s Day, but here’s some timeless if not timely advice for those of you who are mothers, or who have mothers, or who know of someone who is or has a mother. Read on

When I talk about listening to baseball on the radio I am aware that I sound as though I had crawled, grizzled and frayed but otherwise intact, from a time capsule in which I had been interred, cryogenically comatose, since 1948. I don’t often bother pretending otherwise. But I don’t listen to radio because I’m old-fashioned (I’m using internet radio and a Macbook) or because I think it’s romantic or am unaware that one can now get live streaming video over the internet. I admit I’m cheap — a subscription to every broadcast of every game played costs me twenty bucks a season, and may be the only incredible deal still available from any major professional sports league — but it isn’t about the money either. I prefer the radio. Really. Read on

Last week I had to buy a new coffee maker. The old one had become electronically wonky, some days starting, some days not, some days starting and then stopping: behavior that introduced an intolerable uncertainty into my mornings. I believe firmly that mornings ought not be uncertain. The alarm should go off on time; the newspaper should be in its accustomed place; the car should start without complaint; the coffee maker should make coffee. After 10 a.m. uncertainties may arise; not before. Read on

Friends, you will read no more in this space of the following, unless I find myself alone on a desert island with an internet connection. Read on

Looking for World War I propaganda posters for to build a slideshow for students I came across this visually stunning and unintentionally hilarious morsel (click for a closer look): Read on