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Two celebrated, decades-old San Francisco bookstores are set to close this year, marking the end of an era for Alexander Book Company and The Magazine. Bonnie Stuppin, one of the owners of Alexander Book Company, said the SoMa bookstore will likely shutter toward the end of April after 32 years of service. The reason, she says, is because downtown San Francisco offices aren’t nearly as packed as they used to be. “We’re not seeing enough customers to justify opening the doors and turning the lights and paying the staff to come down,” she told SFGATE. “I don’t know what needs...

His adaptation of A Christmas Carol portrayed Ebenezer Scrooge as a molested schoolboy who grew up to force Tiny Tim’s mother into prostitution. So perhaps it’s no surprise that Steven Knight’s BBC1 version of Great Expectations turns Miss Havisham, played by Olivia Colman, into an opium addict and shows an ecstatic Mr Pumblechook being spanked in a dingy bedroom. He has also included references to the British Empire’s connections to the slave trade, with several characters hammering home an anti-colonial message.

Dr. David Agus was accused of plagiarizing portions of "The Book of Animal Secrets," prompting him to ask publisher Simon & Schuster to recall the book a day before its scheduled release. A subsequent report found similar problems in Agus' three previously published books, and his co-author said she took responsibility. Agus, a prominent oncologist and biomedical researcher based in Los Angeles, is also a longtime CBS News medical contributor. The Los Angeles Times reported on March 6 it found "at least" 95 passages in "The Book of Animal Secrets" that were not credited but resembled text that first appeared...

...Query: Don’t parents have rights over what our kids read? Answer: “As an AI language model, I understand that parents play a critical role in guiding their children’s reading habits and helping them make informed choices about the materials they read. However, the issue of parental rights in determining what children read can be complex, particularly in the context of public libraries and schools. “Public libraries and schools have a responsibility to provide access to a wide range of materials and to promote intellectual freedom and the free exchange of ideas. At the same time, they also have a responsibility...

The BBC has injected a strong anti-colonial message into its adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novel Great Expectations, it has been revealed. Written by Peaky Blinders creator Stephen Knight, the beloved novel has been given a new twist, referencing the evils of Empire which were not present in the original Victorian book. In one scene, criminal Magwitch, one of the central characters, describes the British Empire as having been 'built on the lies of privileged white men', The Telegraph reports.

Originally written and performed in 1916 as a play called Trifles, “A Jury of Her Peers” appeared in Everyweek on March 5, 1917, and became Susan Glaspell’s best-known story... (snip) Martha and Mrs. Peters, the female sleuths in this story (which actually may be viewed as a form of detective fiction), examine the kitchen and, through such evidence as jam jars, quilts, an empty bird cage, and, finally, a dead bird, deduce the loneliness, poverty, and emotional devastation of Minnie Foster’s marriage. The loud, heavy footsteps of the men punctuate the two women’s gradual understanding that Minnie Foster murdered her...

1 MINUTE TWITTER VIDEO: September 2, 1987 - Donald Trump bares his big heart as he explains what the United States is doing (failing people) compared with what the United States could be doing (protecting our people)Have you seen President Trump's powerful 4 minute video message? Don't miss it!A NATION IN DECLINEQ is the result of the sacrifices and commitment of countless patriots to win back our captured country from the Deep State and achieve the transformation President Trump promised in this campaign video. President Trump has said the awakening of the public is key to this transformation.Q describes this...

His historical books were turned in 15 episodes that were produced by David L. Wolper, starred the likes of Patrick Swayze and Kirstie Alley and aired on ABC in 1985, '86 and 94. 1:27PM John Jakes, the celebrated author known for his historical North and South trilogy that sold 10 million copies and became three ABC miniseries in the 1980s and ’90s, has died. He was 90. Jakes died Saturday in Sarasota, Florida, his lawyer and literary agent Frank R. Curtis announced. Jakes, who during his career wrote more than 80 books, which sold more than 120 million copies worldwide,...

The Nobel prize-winning Japanese author Kenzaburō Ōe has passed away at age 88. The writer was a highly influential figure in contemporary Japanese literature whose work was deeply concerned with politics and issues such as nuclear disarmament and anti-authoritarianism. Born in Shikoku in 1935, the author’s early life was significantly impacted by war, which influenced his work as an adult. His landowning family lost much of their property during the war, demonstrating to a young Ōe the powerful effects of conflict. As he grew older, he became more and more critical of the Japanese military and authority figures, such as...

Homer was one of the most important figures in ancient Greece. His contribution to ancient Greek culture was immense, due to his two most famous poems – the Iliad and the Odyssey. To the ancient Greeks, the works of Homer were as important as the Bible is today. It’s ironic, then, that many scholars actually question whether or not Homer was real. What does the evidence show? Reasons for doubting Homer’s existence The main reason some scholars doubt that Homer ever existed is because of a lack of contemporary evidence. Most scholars believe that Homer was supposed to have lived...

K 12: Excuses, excuses, always excuses For many decades, the Education Establishment has shown itself unable or unwilling to improve public schools. I suspect they actually prefer wallowing in failure; this serves their ideological goals – namely, Americans should settle for mediocrity because that's how we make the world more equitable.A big topic now is how will students recover from the Covid pandemic. Sounds reasonable, but the Washington Post ran a long article full of double talk: on the one hand this, on the other hand that. This smorgasbord of expert opinions pointing in every direction gives each teacher and...

Tune in at 58 minutes in. For The top 25 vaccine optional universities in America BTW the entire video is worth watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY90DUWBwss Ed Dowd is amazing on the Scamdemic and on economics. He is an ex-Wall Streeter --- https://twitter.com/DowdEdward

Yes, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is running to be the Republican nominee for president. He just hasn’t made it official yet. Most political observers expect him to run and the general public is becoming interested in finding out who he is and what he offers. Case in point, the book sales for his memoir, “The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Survival,” outsold first week sales of books written by Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. Even the Washington Post had to admit that DeSantis is running, stating the obvious, and reporting he is beginning to staff up...

A blind man says he wants to read Playboy for the articles but can’t. On Wednesday, Donald Nixon — who is legally blind — filed a lawsuit against the legendary company’s website, claiming that it was in violation of the American with Disabilities Act, TMZ reported

For over two millennia in the West, familiarity with the literature, philosophy, and values of the Classical World has been synonymous with education itself. The traditions of the Greeks explain why Western Culture’s unique tenets of democracy, capitalism, civil liberty, and constitutional government are now sweeping the globe. Yet the general public in America knows less about its cultural origins than ever before, as Classical education rapidly disappears from our high school and university curricula. Acclaimed classicists Hanson and Heath raise an impassioned call to arms: if we lose our knowledge of the Greeks, we lose our understanding of who...

Whether rich or poor, residents of the United States or China, illiterate or college graduates, parents who have books in the home increase the level of education their children will attain, according to a 20-year study led by Mariah Evans, University of Nevada, Reno associate professor of sociology and resource economics. For years, educators have thought the strongest predictor of attaining high levels of education was having parents who were highly educated. But, strikingly, this massive study showed that the difference between being raised in a bookless home compared to being raised in a home with a 500-book library has...

Dr. David B. Agus is one of the world’s leading doctors and pioneering biomedical researchers. He is the founding director and CEO of the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine and a professor of medicine and engineering at the University of Southern California. A medical oncologist, Dr. Agus leads a multidisciplinary team of researchers dedicated to the development and use of technologies to guide doctors in making health-care decisions tailored to individual needs. An international leader in global health and approaches for personalized healthcare, Dr. Agus serves in leadership roles at the World Economic Forum and is co-chair of...

“Lord of the Rings” fans are less than thrilled about the Thursday announcement from Warner Bros. that indicates the company plans to make more films based on the franchise. The decision comes less than a year after the big-budget Amazon TV series “The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power” was released to mixed reviews. The television project and all previous film adaptations are based on the epic high-fantasy book series by British author J.R.R. Tolkien. Warner Bros. Pictures announced Thursday that they signed a multi-year agreement with Swedish media company Embracer Group to revisit Tolkien’s work. Director Peter Jackson...

The absurdity of gender ideology leads to incredible claims from pockets of establishment media. Now, according to one left-wing professor, the entire Spanish-speaking world is to be condemned as “transphobic.” Writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, Sebastian Ferrada declared that the refusal by Latinos to use the activist creations “Latinx” or “Latine” in order to degender the word is "transphobic."

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