R.R. Hicks's Blog
November 11, 2017
The 11th hour of the 11th Day …
Today is Armistice Day. It’s still celebrated in one manner or the other around the world, mostly, unsurprisingly, by the countries of the Commonwealth of Nations, last vestiges of the British Empire that they are. Dwight Eisenhower changed Armistice Day to Veteran’s Day in 1954, though it took decades to sort it out (On the […]
April 22, 2017
This Week in SEO (and the real world)
I promise this has some relevance to the rest of the piece, though I won’t vouch for exactly how much. Way back in 1976, Dustin Hoffman prepared for his iconic “is it safe” scene in Marathon Man with Laurence Olivier by staying up for 72 hours. Apparently, Hoffman looked like hell on the set – […]
February 20, 2017
No, Virginia, There’s No Such Thing as President’s Day
Yup, there’s no such holiday as President’s Day – at least officially. It’s just Congress’ way of making Washington’s birthday fit a three day weekend.(Really – see Section 6103(a) of Title 5 of the United States Code). Washington’s birthday was a major holiday in the U.S. long before the Civil War, it was formalized as a Federal […]
November 11, 2016
The Eleventh Minute
Perhaps if we take a moment to remember that today is Veterans-Armistice-Remembrance Day and that at eleven past eleven this morning, 1918 The War to End All Wars ended; and then take another moment to read Siegfried Sassoon’s poem – written in the trenches – we could begin to start not needing to make new veterans. HAVE you forgotten yet? […]
November 2, 2016
A Letter to Gettysburg …
Dear Judge Harvey: Unlike certain other visitors to your town, I know when to give up. I paid for my parking space for the date in question, as the enclosed receipt clearly shows. I was in town so my son could visit Gettysburg College, we stayed at the Gettysburg Hotel. I paid for parking late […]
October 4, 2016
The Bert Bell Bowl and the VP Debate
One of the seminal books of my child hood – right up to 1971 and Ball Four– was Jerry Kramer’s Instant Replay. Jerry Kramer was an all-star guard on the great Green Bay Packer teams of the ’60’s. On the many occasions that golden-boy Paul Hornung was injured or suspended for gambling, Kramer also kicked field […]
August 20, 2016
Just In . . .
The Trump campaign announced that hot on the heels of Jerry Falwell’s endorsement in today’s Washington Post (favorably comparing Donald J. Trump with Winston Churchill) comes another major endorsement: Carmine Lupertazzi, Jr. The DVD movie mogul released a statement this morning reading, in part: “This country is on the precipice of an enormous crossroads . . . we […]
June 26, 2016
Faulkner and Running …
Went for a run this morning in Faulkner country – Oxford, Mississippi, home of Ole Miss. My daughter directed me to a rail trail behind campus … I hit it at 7:45 am, already 83 out with humidity at 70%, no breeze, not a cloud in the sky. Some observations: Mississippi is hot. No matter […]
April 24, 2016
Too Long A Sacrifice …
One hundred years ago today one of the most ill-considered, worse-executed rebellions in history began. Dublin, Easter 1916, while over 35,000 Irishmen were dying fighting for Britain on the Western Front and Gallipoli, a group of Irishmen, some veterans of that fighting, took over the Post Office and other key buildings in Dublin, ostensibly waiting for […]
April 1, 2016
“People Like Stories …”
It was finally said. I had been waiting and waiting and finally, eight and a half hours into The People v. OJ Simpson, someone said it. The thing I had been saying for the previous eight weeks, the – to me – one, clear, overriding, theme of the trial. Something I had gleefully relayed to my […]
