NRO Monthly Diaries

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From December 2001 to March 2012 I contributed a monthly diary to National Review Online. It was really just a blog of random things that had come up in the news, or occurred to me for some reason, during the month, posted to NRO at month end.

The length and quality of these diaries varied greatly, depending on how much I've gotten off my chest in other forums, how attentive to the news I had been (I think a gentle long-term decline is noticeable), and how late I was in realizing that the end of the month was nigh.

One fairly regular feature was the "Math Corner" at the end of most diaries since August 2002. Sometimes this was a brainteaser, sometimes just a comment on some vaguely math-related topic. Some subset of the brainteasers seemed to me to justify a solution page of their own. Those solution pages are listed here.

[N.B. — I didn't actually start calling these columns "diaries" until March 2002. Earlier contributions in the same basic genre have been grandfathered in here as "diaries."]

2012
March	Under the influence — Johnsoniana — Event of the month? — A night at the opera — Verdi in Tiananmen Square — The North Korean horrors — And the band played on — Misleading advice for foreigners — Math corner
February	Nothing happened — The over-sung anthem — Marilyn Monroe TV movie — Voices from above — Bilingualism in Wales — Prince Philip — Ghost towns — Bilingualism: the conservative case — Medical paperwork madness — America's space program, 50 years on — Math corner
January	How smart we are! — Tabloid Heaven — What Churchill Ate — VDH on Obama's race politicking — The biology of politics — Offside rule — I have a normal brain — Funny stuff, literature — Math corner
2011
December	Global warming hysteria hysteria — Men versus the Man — Manhood versus the Girly-Man — Moscow wrap-up — Christopher Hitchens — Joke of the year — Store of the year — Gift of the year — Literary self-improvement project of the year — Album photograph of the year — Pucker of the year — Person of the year — Challenge of the year — Major outrage of the year — Petty outrage of the year — Cheering surprise of the year — Depressing surprise of the year — Cruise of the year — Most salient auxiliary noun of the year — Inexplicably least-asked political question of the year — Annoyingly over-asked political question of the year — Reminiscence of the year — Math corner
November	Midnight in Moscow — Nothing but nice — Past and present — Trade secrets — Worth translating — Lt. Col. December — Local distractions — How do you want your lard? — Putin the joke killer — On failing to be an ideologue — The science of human nature — Inflating away pathos — An Oldies Identification Gap? — All shall have prizes — Thanatopsis — Math corner
October	Moral equivalence — Liberty vs. order — Lip-reading — Chungking Mansions — Mervyn Peake — Hurricane Higgins, RIP — Singing despots — Buboes — Who's afraid of Herman Cain? — It's that hymn again — Useful work — Pretentious ad of the month — Math corner
September	The Sovereignty Caucus — Heart and head on immigration — A millstone for Christie — The problem of evil — Punctilious, or snotty? — The joy of coding — Top of the Pops — A new Hank Williams album! — News from Northamptonshire — Smoking through an operation — Math corner
August	Man of La Manga — Showbiz news — Hurricane Irene — Rediscovering the crossword puzzle — Public service announcement — Introduction to Academe — English riots: a suggestion — Hitler's sex life — First thoughts are best thoughts — A multiculturalism too far — Concert notes — Math corner
July	Premature anti-spenders — Silent Cal redux — Trojan asteroid — Fireworks: creativity needed — Shutting out dissidents — Adjectives with no opposite — Gold diggers, tiger wives, and Baby Doe — The extended self — Tragic truth or feelgood falsehood? — Pop neuroscience — Blind; not blind; metaphor blind — Math corner
June	The graduate — Optimists without a goal — Untold stories — Paying for discord — Follies of our youth — News from Derbyshire — Fighting the good fight — Just a show — Doing time — Sacking physics — Math corner
May	The limits of democracy — K-K-K-Katy — Please don't back into the bacon slicer, we're getting behind with our orders — Gadget of the month — Forms of address — Golden oldie — Partying with libertarians — My postilion has been struck by lightning — Pioneers of P.C.? — The news from Turkey — What Russian tourists do — Math corner
April	More anarcho-tyranny — Two Sisters — Mating Intelligence — Cleopatra — Bring back the nit nurse! — Milton the anti-Papist — The Charter school scam — Educational equality — Braggadocio — A deal of ruin — Adventures with the family shotgun — Math corner
March	Analysis Paralysis on Marriage — Is homophobia adaptive? — Camp of the Saints — New York Times profiles Secular Right — Tiger Mom chez Derb? — Pimsleur: New business plan needed — The joy of grammar — Back to Grub Street — Learning neuroscience — Math corner
February	How bad will it get? — Tilting into chaos — Who not to have running your country — Books:Manning Up — Life at the bottom — Movies: Agora — Somerset Maugham — Singularitarianism — Petroushka Ball — Turkish grammar — Seducing the language learner — Books: The Towers of Trebizond — Bombardment of Algiers — The rudest person in America — Math corner
January	Dark tourism — The Long Walk — The most dangerous job in America — Born to be wild — The dash for freedom — Chinese Lit. — Discrimination in Kentucky — Jane Austen blooper — Ruthless meritocracy — Math corner
2010
December	Derb-Wehner punch-up — Don't Ask, Don't Tell the Pathans — Fashion stasis — Stuttering succotash! — Natural waist — Passwords — The programmer's art — World's biggest army — Environmental Determinism — A gap in the language — Light on politics — Math corner
November	Cruising: the blanket apology — The shabby Caribbean — Cruising for health — Morality and the law — The hidden issue — Dame Joan Sutherland, R.I.P. — An exceptionalism too far — The politicization of mortgage lending — Math corner
October	Election non-fever — Destroying the evidence — Obituaries of the month (1): Norman Wisdom — Obituaries of the month (2): Benoît Mandelbrot — Freedomnomics — Poetic negativity — Down Memory Lane (by bus) — Spotting a Carrington Event — Math corner
September	A test of nihilism — Listen to Granny — Measuring consciousness — Knowing your faith — Bishop Bling Bling — Uruguay Rising — Geert Wilders on trial — Math corner
August	Ron Paul for the mosque — Trendline Test — Eagle Scout — Iran's new drone — Fat poets — Get a Government Job, Series #19,846 — In the movies again — Chick flick — Europe's gypsy problem — Shared vision — Channeling Espy — When Spain was different — Flamenco memories — Marmite meets the love fascists — Human dominoes — Math corner
July	Gun fun — Why you should make friends with guns — EFTA revisited — More EFTA — County heroes — The office and the man — Long Live Our Glorious Asbestos! — The paragon of animals — Under the tombstone — Israel deports illegals — U.S. economy dodges a bullet — Math corner
June	Getting carded — Yuppie demography on the uptick? — Full circle — A celebration of heritage? — I'll have what she's having — General reflections — Grandad's war — Uruguay with no assets, aren't you? — People we're not supposed to like — Bloody Sunday report — Female curmudgeons — L.U.G. — Hearing what you want to hear — Math corner
May	My latest pull-over — Savage indignation — Hero of the month — Derb's Google Reader roll — Unputdownable — The Living Marxist Buddha — One less New Mysterian — Math corner
April	Skies darken over Korea — The Irish of Asia — Great modern inventions — Space plane — Premature technology — Book of the month — The joys of self-employment — The Eerie Silence — Making friends with the family gun — Pop culture ignoramus — Que sais-je? — Sinogynephile corner — Math corner
March	The Left in power — Paths of glory — Hayekians for socialized medicine — Intoxicating praise — Don't worry, be happy — So-Hoh — Bolt-holes (cont.) — Liberation by Chrome — Get a government job, Series #28,497 — Shad roe — Bored to death — Britcons — T-bonds for sale! Anybody want a T-bond? — Anarcho-Tyranny — Math corner
February	February is the boring-est month — The Ice People Olympics — Mitt's problem — Obama the Roman — Blaming the victims? — A historic encounter — So … — Those cracks in the butts (cont.) — Yanqui Go Home! — Mother knew best — The paradox of our time — Math corner
January	Get a government job (1): Mrs. Derb — Get a government job (2): Rubber room — Why Johnny can't write — Third World? — Hurting a nation's feelings — Aftermath of King Philip's War — Killer English — Music to despair by — Auschwitz sign — The crack of a bullet — Spelling Stalin — Publication bias — Times of the signs — Math corner
2009
December	Ten years on the web — Dereliction of duty — State of unhappiness — A Koestlerian moment — Lipogrammatically yours — Voting like a gentleman — Red Cliff — Bad Sex Prize — Mightier than the sword — Math corner
November	The sawbuck economy — A jury of your peers — Happy birthday, Noddy! — United States of Attorneys — The price of understanding — The homeless scam — Invitation to a hanging — One great big thing — The graphic "Origin" — Math corner
October	Majesty and importance — Wilders on tour — An end to parole? — Follow Newman! — Pitching from the grave — Health care: the argument from libertarianism — Health care: the argument from fatalism — Taxes, taxes — Tweedleson and Tweedleberg — Chairman Mao is dearer to us … — People's Republic of Pollution — Math corner
September	Cambodia down the memory hole — Dinner with old students — Cop-killer games system — Auntie Zeituni — COBOL again — Hawaiian hangover — Math corner
August	Uruguay — Are your nafses mutma'inna? — Eleven is the new fifty — Dog in a basket — Edward M. Kennedy — Hawaii: kitsch — Hawaii: Algorism — Hawaii bumper sticker — Hawaii: PC orthography — Hawaiians assert themselves — Hawaii: pineapple management — Hawaii: traveling with teenagers — So you want to live in Hawaii? — Johnny come down to Hilo — Math corner
July	What's up, Doc? — Black-armband history — The role of pure reason in human affairs (cont.) — WW1 vets — The worst of Obama — Teaching moment — Assisted suicide — Can't help myself — Tonghua killing — On Holder — Math corner
June	Losing Mum and Pup — Book report — Iran's election — Golden lads and girls all must … — Partying with economists — Germanophile Corner — Give us our drugs! — Grumbledon — The role of pure reason in human affairs — Better dead than rude — Lonely little petunia — Pat's no monkey — Math corner
May	Sotomayor's tribal allegiance — Can the protocols survive? — Appeasers vs. Confronters — Gentleman and scholar — Homogamy — Burglary — Spelling Bee — Cyberwars — Dr. Malthus, Call Your Office — Math corner
April	Parallels — Swan of Avon — WordStar — Beginning of wisdom — Blurbs … — … and permissions — Literary extracts — When curs attack — Classical Corner — Fred Reed peaks — Personality Parade — Math corner
March	Out like a lamb — Tax season — The zeitgeist sitcom — Slime mold — Abominable words — I Saw the World End — Simplify! Simplify! — Math corner
February	Is capitalism finished? — Wild apostrophes — Ty'Sheoma's school — Tibet lock-down — Facebook … for what? — What's in a name? — Holder's "Nation of cowards" — Math corner
January	Intellectually is not the way to make money — Sauve qui peut — A wealth-eater administration — The circus is in town — Crisis in Japan — Teen thugs — First Trentonian of 2009 — The apostrophe iceberg — Lady Luck — PC Magazine all digital — Math corner
2008
December	Radio Derb transcripts — Elizabeth Alexander — Too much poetry … — Azores — Hero of the crash — Are old people wise? — Kings of the deal — Harold Pinter, R.i.P. — Math corner
November	Perfectly content — Party poopers — A nice place, but … — Males not wanted — A nation of pussies — Onions — America's Half-Blood Prince — Fan mail — North to Alaska — Math corner
October	Rubble Doesn't Make Trouble (Cont.) — Sovietization of the intelligentsia … — … Just gets worse — Election fatigue — Career advice — Happy Consumer Experience — Thoughtcrime — Hourly rate — The new sweatshops — Grow your own food — Creationist mind — Math corner
September	Slave mentality — This month's most defiantly moronic assertion of blank slate orthodoxy — Silly-clever — Harris on Palin — Mind science book of the month — Sexiest voice — World's most out-of-print book? — Wonders of the Internet — Math Corner
August	Real Education — Dustsceawung — Sheb-vul — Radio Derb in China — No armor against fate — While antlers clash — Shums and tee-ums — Poshlust — Where were the Irish? — Goodbye, Gertie — Older Sisters' Club — Over the boardwalk — Math Corner
July	Hibernia Girl — State … — … and national finances — Chinese whining — Hero of the hour — Danny does Haiti — Math corner
June	Vile bezonians — Election downside — Young Adult fiction — Boots, boots, boots … — Driving out demons — Misogoneist — The Irish Washerwoman — Math corner
May	Raza Studies — Russian noses — Cougars — Reading list — Math corner
April	Atrocity of the month — Bowling for votes — Your baby has gone down the plughole — Halfway to disintegration — Picky, picky — Math corner
March	Obama fatigue — The Typhoid Marys of socialism — Bawdier connotations — Long Walk exploded — The Tibetans they trust — We Give Our Hearts to Dogs to Tear — Missing Boris moments (1) — Missing Boris moments (2) — Big fat English wedding — Talk of the islands — Gratitude — Math corner
February	Bill Buckley — The crack tax — Decline of stuff — Finding racism — Eat bugs for peace — Lottery winners — Healthcare options — Online diagnostics — Memory lane — Dem bones — Math corner
January	Campaign onomastics — Sobriquets — Corpse caper — Social Mensuration — Conan Doyle — Dry thunder, no rain — The dog up and died — Math corner
2007
December	Interesting times — Interesting places — COBOL memories — Standards of honesty — Eco-friendly banking — The company of women — Harvesting wasted time — That was the year that was — Math corner
November	No more n-words — Early drop-out — Food plan — Life's a what? — No-test IQ estimation — Reality check — Loneliness of the late-night Gentile — Nightmare on 21st Street — Fundamentalism lite — Dream time — Math corner
October	The James Watson flap — Driver's licenses for illegals — BET celebrates "beat-down" perps — the Chinatown bus — Rudy! Rudy? — an infinite series
September	Conceptual art — "-phobia" and "miso-" — Whack-Muslim movies — How's the website coming? — Republicans say the darnedest things — Might we win? — O'Reilly goes to Harlem — Speed of light (cont.) — Greenspan on Nixon — Khrushchev on Khrushchev — Giselle — Missed cue on I.D. — Intelligence, athleticism, criminality — Kingdom of Heaven... where? — Math humor
August	Back to school — High School Confidential — Jim McGreevey's "dating" — Extraordinary sighting — Subprime — Pattie Boyd — Why cigarettes were popular — Death of a Tory — Nation wreckers — Wine in a box — Your brain on neuroscience — An I.D. prediction — Idiocy watch — Reader love — Faster than light — Math wordplay
July	Hope v. cynicism in Iraq — Ulster at peace — Knitting — Reagan diaries — Goddess dethroned — Legislatures at war — Making a torus with tetrahedra
June	Blair to Brown — The Alakaluf — Term limits — Skeet — Islamophobia — Bombs in London — I see you — Allergic to nuts — Kesler's "Iraq and the Neocons" — John the Savage — Foxed by a card trick — Six wasted years — 7/07/07
May	Status striving on immigration — Is the Middle East important? — Desert springs — Terry Major-Ball — Picture in the NYT — Not getting science — Not getting religion — Portugal & Portuguese — Shape of the universe
April	April is the verpfuscht-est month — My days are numbered — Power of the primes — Lawn guy — Losing friends and embarrassing people — Lost in Manhattan — Perils of a primzahlfrei month — Mad about Mad — Everybody wants to come to America — Getting mega-rich via math
March	Secular Muslims — Worst FUBAR of all time? — Magic Flute verse précis — Elton in the cathedral — Hell is real, says Pope — A little bit of China in New York — At least our countrymen — Zimbabwe and the obvious — Opening line of the month — Everlasting socks — Irish math
February	Judy, Judi, Judee — Build a nuke, get stuff — Sullivan-Harris exchanges — Pro-choice Catholics — Danny's red belt — Dealing with Hypothesis solvers — Oh, Kolkota! — Best job for a writer — Frankie Laine — Math sculpture
January	Border agents — Bleak House — March of complexity — Fiscal black hole — Where's Mohammed? — Ultimate death poet — Tuosituoyefusiji and Jici

2006
December	Christmas concert — Muddling through — Market for epics — Bring back … — Year of … — Threepenny bits — Syllabub — 200 Years to Christmas — Heavenly Estonia — Kitzmiller, one year on — Bush & the border — Domingo in The First Emperor — My Christmas jigsaw puzzle — What's interesting about 2007?
November	Fools for Iraq — Realism revisited — Borat and Jewish folk memory — Immigration sentimentalists vs. number-crunchers — Jeet Kun Do — Black cops in black neighborhoods? — Girdle the Earth with silver
October	Kerry's joke — "Chickenhawk" re-re-revisited — Joke Botchers Anonymous — Snobbery 101 — The Bush disaster — Does faith make stuff happen? — Atheist Civ. — Neal Stephenson-a-thon in progress — Not your father's Islam — Accommodating Muslims — U.K. driving test... not for immigrants — 100 coins for $5
September	"Islamo-fascist"? — Tom Wolfe praises Jim Webb — Why airlines issue yellow lifejackets — My psychoanalysis — Poul Anderson's Brainwave — Talking across the IQ gap — Zones of commitment — Math Olympiad Zoroastrian? — Literary duellists in old London — The last white war, the next civilizational one — Prisoner box problem
August	Conservatives teaching Social Studies — DVD stinks — Ill fares the land... — PC in the Rockies — Rocky Mountain flora — Lefties on the hiking trails — Race and the National Parks — A ghost town — Déjà vu in ghost town hotel — Location, location, location — Cylindrical projection puzzle
July	Mel & the schoolmarms — Will he lunch in Hollywood again? — The real Mideast threat — Weasel words from W — Walmart a paper tiger? — Heat in the attic — TUB MA BEATS RAP — The real antisemites — UN scolds on Katrina — The dying middle class — Infantilizing women... — And black people — Answering Bill — Houyhnhnms & Ptthmllnsprts — Russell as a mathematician
June	Not a W fan — Potemra on gracilization — "Gentlemen, when the barrage lifts" — Kid lit. — Words, words, words — The perfect footwear — Stamping out evil — A bolt-hole in Asia — Math in The Simpsons
May	Blogging from Everest? I'm up for it — Plame's claim to fame — Big fat Sikh wedding — Kronicul of Hiyer Edukashun — 5-1-5 — Clueless on pop culture — Omnipotence — ChiComs block Wiki — Freud's number
April	Fool me thrice on immigration "reform" — Sam Beckett, hyper-Anglo-Saxon — Is the Big Mick imploding? — Why 19,766?
March	A fritillary? — The Million Browns March — My office space — Yes, global warming is real — Coppélia — Sudden death? — Naughty teachers — π Day
February	A Khrushchev anniversary — SD fights for intellectual diversity — Larry Summers quits — An evangelical takes on postmodernism — The Singularity is Near — A piece not posted — A Kermitian exchange on the ski lift — Re-watching Grease — Lazy Math Corner
January	Youth & age — Jeunesse &... — Vieillesse — SawStop — Noveling (cont.) — Teaching, west coast vs. east — The Derbs' 1st vidcam — Brit. Hist. book recommendation — Redirecting I.D. email — Zay-duh, zee-ta — Man on ball on pole

2005
December	Lost a molar & fingertip — Center for Defense Cynicism — Apology of the month — Saudi America — Blogs fade — Death penalty — C.S. Lewis the crank — Paperwork — Pairwise products
November	Northeast Asia heating up? — Enviro-catastrophe in Manchuria — Narnia — Jennifer's bristols — Loony right drops Jew Thing — Israel walls in — In memoriam Bruce Lee — Losing the Bible — Math talk — Never mind scores, gimme a sigma
October	Giving a hoot about Libby-Plame-Wilson-Rove — Mandarin games — The October Country — Er shun — Horrible Histories — Excluding included excluders — The Kitzmiller trial — Alphabetizing primes
September	Laws against hate — Not a Tory war — W lost me — Breakfast with Derb — I up and made some bloopers — If it harelips the Pope — Cheer for the Old Left — David Belinski, gent — A few of my favorite things — Off message on modernism & race — A racist track fire — Babushki puzzle
August	Cutting a ms. down to size — The dishonesty of I.D. — I.D.=Po-Mo — Alaskan humor — Blockbuster restocks — Bishop on the carpet — Iraq's constitution — The butcher's bill — Chicken nuggets brainteaser
July	Irresponsible general wanted — Abusing episcopal authority — Tristan da Cunha — Genetics of Britain — 7/7, 9/11, 6-4, … — Judge Roberts too nice — Nellie checks in to Hilbert's Hotel — Chords of a parabola
June	Scruton on Sartre — Shuttle to nowhere — Brits to Turkey — Curses for spyware — Sears' last lawnmower? — Birkhoff & the Jews — Bowling scores brainteaser
May	Stem cells — Reductio ad servitum — Knife control — The UK's most successful politician — Delivery of a ms. — Verpfuscht — Race-based education — A mysterious triangle
April	Holding paper — Caesar's bath — Flunking history — The law should leave us alone — Jobs we won't do? — Mice in neurology lab — Great letters — Not a hate crime — Immigration to Britain 100 years ago — Joys of computation
March	I am Terri Schiavo — Derbyshitler — Computers in school — White rabbits! — The ould cause — Sudoku
February	Scientists libertarian? — Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists — Larry Summers — The "hard" consciousness problem — The spirit of science — Looking at Nellie — Lunch with the Bynums — A calculus oddity
January	War mentality — The Larry Summers flap — Posner on probability — Canterbury on the tsunami — Maggy & the bishop — How old was Diophantus?

2004
December	Back to Gin Lane — Illegal immigration a safety valve — Bullying Taiwan — Partying with The New Criterion — Möbius's hankie — Mary Renault — Hanging out at the mall — Cuneiform — Hilbert's Königsberg address — Prime Obsession thanks — What's interesting about 2005?
November	The perils of parody — Trial lawyers & toothpicks — Armenicide — Aworldliness — Whopper of the month — So long, Yasser — Triangle pairs sequence
October	First vote for a president — Brits love Kerry... — ...& power tools — Bring in African missionaries — Lowlife Derb — French labor laws — An Australian historian — Woods weds — Academic idiots — Borjas story — Geeks for Derb — Innuendo — Neighboring powers
September	No-go areas — Kerry vs. Norks — Forged credentialism — Marbles too dangerous — Curzon's lighter amenities — Shi Mo — Men & women different! — First digit of 2^N
August	Privatize Yosemite! — Invasion of the language-snatchers — Shine upon the Aral Sea — Encounter in Permetyab — Affirmative action music — Stereotypes in running — Keeping the blacks down — MCMXIV — Inscribed polygons
July	Political Viagra wanted — Nork nightmare — An American defector leaves NK — Breaker Morant — Hitchhiking through Romania — Ethnic pride for white gals? — Lefty newspaper cheats on circulation — The gay flavor — Jimmy Neutron reads Prime Obsession — Nature-nurture cop-out
June	Win war, lose election — Smacking the TV — "Moslem" or "Muslim"? — Don't mention Islam in France — Bob Dylan a poet? — Sir John Moore parody — The academic archipelago — The Teaching Company — Billy Liar — Kittikachorn & I don't care — Johnson on the writer's mind (again) — Math teaching then & now
May	Happy warmonger — Combat gals — RIP Melvin Lasky — Sir John Moore — From Yao to Mao — Residential segregation — Try cheating an Armenian — World's highest concavity index
April	East Asian strings — Bland envelopes — Everything is equal — Zuo's Chronicle — No other stain — Diffugere nives — Daffodils — London in flames! — "This sentence has …"
March	Gerald Amirault — Unstable under reflection — Reading Scruton — Decline of the American terrorist — A word for gay marriage — FDR was queer and gay — Free trade? — Call Me Madam released on DVD — Asteroid strike — Left behind — Me & the Gray Lady — X years old in the year X²
February	They still like communism — Did Kim write Clementine? — Loneliness of conservatives — Keep the subjunctive alive! — Mel's problem — Awopbopaloobop alopbamboom — Little Richard's Christian virtue — I'm mediocre, I'm happy — The credentialist state — How many birthdays did Rossini have? — Math Corner
January	Not an immigrant, a transplant — Saudi Arabianization — Good for immigrants — String Festival diversity — Draw! — Total pacifism in schools — A philoprogenitive movie — Face to face with 9/11 — The people with three names — Dyspraxia — Jay and Hank — Princess & pea — Homo homini lupus est — Posthumous pardons — Collatz Problem

2003
December	225,961 words this year — Be of good cheer — Punctuation — The greatest century — 100 years of flight — Episcopopoly — The gladness of early Greece — Illegal immigration — Nursing — The power of words — Math corner: Three parcels
November	Not conservative, reactionary — The Bruce Lee biopic — Heartburn — Explaining Ireland — Operatic dislikes — Georgia — Deeper into Hankomania — Roll tide! — 11-22-1963 — Coming to America — Cause of Haiti's misery — Chinese Japanophiles — Math corner: 9M + 16N
October	Banned from campus — Derb, opera critic — Reductio ad Hitlerum — Will airline travel go extinct? — The peasant poet — Rooftop story — Hankomania — Find the logic flaw
September	My country, 'tis of she — Claudius revokes citizenship — Encounter with Miss America — A California conservative — Jan Morris on pessimism — A fashionable V.D. — The politician point — The Left and Kissinger — Colin Walters, R.I.P. — The case for Hillary — Smullyan problem
August	Why California is bust — Spats — Face to face with the Antichrist — PJ's nuclear nightmare — Pretty but not sexy — The great parents-childless divide — When Dos Passos met Orwell — Orwell on Hopkins — How old was Tom Sawyer? — 0.577215664901532860606512... — Two 6-letter words
July	"Social liberal, fiscal conservative" oxymoron — Watching the Mets — Everybody must be equal — Life must be filled up — Nothing unusual, nothing strange — Getting opera — Blacks don't suicide, Asians don't get AIDS — Kiddie drama show — Michael Wharton's Aztecs — Product & sum
June	Die in dark, buried in rain — O'Reilly hits one — A second 9/11 — Andrew Roberts' hate mail — What Danny likes about Dad — Making money writing books — Soldiering, job Americans won't do? — When the what go marching in? — JFK's headaches — BURMA, BATH, LEEDS — Stiff competition — Muggeridge quip — What is truth? — Death worship — Barbara, Celarent, Darii, Ferioque — Pop-math book recommendations
May	Gambling — Laci Peterson case — Poverty and conservatism — Captain Underpants (cont.) — Chimps & us — Dictionaries and the writer — What's wrong with philosemitism? — Selling sheep
April	Devil's Dictionary — Actuarial humor — Family humor (cont.) — What color is your underwear? — Proud parent (of book) — Internet dropouts — Elvis in Latin — Fay ce que voudres — Human Rights Campaign — More Hungarophilia — Income taxes, grrrr — Numerators without denominators
March	Slice of crow pie — American innocence — Muggeridge on Orwell — Agendum, agenda — Family humor — Derb in the movies — Clever headlines — This Be the Converse — The Big Bang — Losing touch with UK politics — On hold with a telemarketer — Difference between men & women — Who lost China? — Means-testing free lunches — Math corner: What did he buy?
February	Rebuilding the WTC — Awful song lyrics — Conscience of the young — Dealing with burglars — Underperformin' Norman again — Great opening lines — Deporting tragic illegals — PC indexing — Unearthing family past — Dog & lighthouse
January	Traveling, Houston & DC — An egregious lefty — Amtrak to DC — White collar jobs down the tubes — Blind people online — Aborigines & us — Noble savage alive & well — Psycho Dad — Groundhog Day — Math meets race — Great pop lyrics — Math & politics — How old are your children?

2002
December	The trend line test — Nutso North Korea — Year-end Economist — Preteen usage of "gay" — First lines in Chinese Lit. — The prevailing structure of taboos — Poems in mind — Anti-anti-Islam — In the prime of life — Conference brainteaser
November	The ducks are trying to kill us — Asian school success explained — Spouting, spewing, spritzing — Sidewalk nail — Religious discrimination in Ireland — Perils of googling — Captain Underpants — Ivy Mike — Chatting to China — Hardships of China's middle class — Standing Committee clones — Don't know much theology — White rabbits! — Monkeys & doors
October	The beltway snipers are what? — Criminalizing but not defining — Amiri Baraka's sources — Resisting Pinker's metaphysics — Baq'aq'i mq'aq'e c'q'alši q'iq'inebs — Michelle's Invasion — The b-word — Hating the Peace — Telephone solicitors vanquished — Johnson on a writer's mind — Hockey tournament puzzle
September	Child abuse? Pah! — A pot — Saying grace — Why aren't I a hate speaker? — Niggardly history — China e-lobby — Betjeman's "Norfolk" — KBO-ing on 9/11 — Chebyshev's bias
August	Smoking saves a life — Swimming Heaven Pool — Is you is or is you ain't Mugabe? — Turkish delight — Blair blooper — Where politics is everything — Cads & dads (cont.) — First things — How's the book? — Rou bao tie — Puzzle Corner: The Monkey's Mother
July	Cuomo & the KKK — The crybaby Left — Derb, financial wizard — Cads & dads — A Falun Gong grass widow — The Great War fades away — Hope for Iran? — Computer bleg
June	Spanish salutitorial — The scholar's Britannica — Was Geronimo a barbarian? — Manhattan Stonehenge (cont.) — A Nazi mathematician — Talking to Iceland — Dissing states — Bookish presidents — Knock and it shall be clopened …
May	Wrestling with phone companies — Up the Sexual Revolution — Crazy settlers? — Manhattan Stonehenge — Perfection in song — Telegraph Rorschach test — Is Chinese school a good idea? — Mathematical correctness at Columbia
April	Capitalist verse — Rhymes for "God" — INS morale — Stuff from the Bunny — The first "real casualty" — Less is fewer — Hungarophilia — Pig Latin Bible — Hazard chase — Bootleg Call Me Madam
March	Virgins and generals — Asymmetry in politics — Oscar party pooper — Fractious family — Are Arab Christians antisemitic? — Defining Spring — Do condoms spread STDs? — Historians & poetry — Loyalist terror — Hegelian readers — Auden's Hegelian clerihew
February	To coin a phrase — Pet cloning — Boilerplate — Patriot's Day — Pastor anxiety — Hurting vs. killing — The late O'Connor brothers — Gun safety lesson — First French — Fo'c'sle and poop — Homo Tysoniens — Math Corner
January	To Blog, Or Not to Blog — Free speech — The killer in the TV set — In the zone — Lost in translation — Librarian literacy — Reading matter — Self-defense — Math Corner

2001
December 6	The French know who they are — George Harrison, R.i.P. — India's population v. China's — Keeping up with my magazines — Paul Johnson on singing — Economy & dictatorship — A Ground Zero journal
December 4	Boogers — Investing in China — China gulls — Chinese humor — Optimism & pessimism on China

» NRO Monthly Diaries