1.1.2026 – Janus, two faces

Janus, two faces
one looking forward, one back
doorway to New Year

January Latin Janus, the ancient Latin deity who guarded doors and entrances. Naturally he looked after the doorway to the New Year, too. Janus had two faces — one looking forward, one back. That useful but humble man the janitor derives his title from the same root, janua, door. Janus’ temple was closed only in times of peace, which were not frequent.

From In a Word by Margaret Samuels Ernst with illustrations by James Thurber (Great Neck, N.Y. : Channel Press. 1954).

Janus might have had two faces, one looking forward and one looking back but in the words of Willy Wonka, “You can’t get out backwards. You got to go forwards to go back.“

Hope for a new years worth of good thoughts.

One question I ponder, do fans of that team in Columbus feel better about this season that ended with a 1 win and then 2 losses then they do about last season that ended with a loss and then three wins and a ‘so called’ National Championship?

Deep in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s world of “a real dark night of the soul it is always three o’clock in the morning,” you bet they do.

12.2.2025 – every question has

every question has
a cousin, and suddenly
they’re multiplying

Going back to the roots of these essays and admiring wordplay in the news of the day, I want to recognize Dianna Russini who in her Nov. 26, 2025 article in the Athletic headlined, What I’m hearing about J.J. McCarthy, Jerry Jones’ trade steal and more, wrote:

So now what? Delay McCarthy again? I’ve been told there were some concerns about how another year sitting on the bench would affect him. And would it even help? Every question has a cousin, and suddenly they’re multiplying. Can a raw but talented quarterback grow fast enough to match a team built to win yesterday?

I think that’s pretty good.

Good enough to repeat.

Every question has a cousin, and suddenly they’re multiplying.

Can a raw but talented quarterback grow fast enough to match a team built to win yesterday?

Applying to other topics … Can a Saturday Morning TV Anchor run something else like the Frosty Boy Ice Cream Stand in Grand Rapids, Michigan or, just wondering out loud, the Department of Defense?

Every question has a cousin, and suddenly they’re multiplying.

More Thurber at For Muggs and Rex.

10.5.2025 – she predicts either

she predicts either
a war or the end of the
world in October

I know how she feels.

So I had to add another “a” to make it work.

Thurber, depending on the time of day, might have forgiven me.

More Thurber here at formuggsandrex.com.

Reading some odd stuff online I came across in review of the book of Thurber Letters titled The Thurber Letters: The Wit, Wisdom and Surprising Life of James Thurber , edited by Harrison Kinney,

In a reviewer states, Thurber never warmed to William Shawn.

Shawn took over as Editor of the New Yorker when Harold Ross died.

I also recently came across the fact that after three years, Shawn dropped out of the University of Michigan and went to New York to find his fortune.

Thurber never graduated from Ohio State after being a student there for five years.

Both institutions wrestled with how to handle these famous but non-degree holding alums.

But did it also sprout the roots of a non-working relationship?

Some one’s PhD dissertation is waiting to be written.

9.25.2025 – wearing gloves because

wearing gloves because
I don’t want to leave any
fingerprints around

This image was first published in the New Yorker Magazine, 88 years ago today on September 25, 1937.

As I read over my last couple of months of Haiku and posts, I wonder and I worry; have I left too many fingerprints around?

You can peruse almost all of James Thurber’s published drawing online at my Thurber Page, For Muggs and Rex.

Been reading Brendan Gill’s, Here at the New Yorker and its unflattering take on James Thurber.

All I can say is echo EB White’s Obit which began with the line, I am one of the lucky ones; I knew him before blindness hit him, before fame hit him …

As for these posts and thoughts, I am typing with gloves on.

I don’t want to leave any fingerprints.

On the other hand …

In the movie Casablanca, when the Germans enter Paris, Ilsa says, “Richard, if they find out your record. It won’t be safe for you here.”

Richard Blaine responds, “I’m on their blacklist already, their roll of honor.“

Not a bad list to make I guess.

9.20.205 – vituperation

vituperation
and invective failing to
get to the point

A federal judge tossed Donald Trump’s $15bn defamation lawsuit against the New York Times, book publisher Penguin and two Times reporters, and said the suit was filled with “vituperation and invective” and violated civil procedure in federal cases for failing to get to the point.

From the article, Judge strikes down Trump’s $15bn lawsuit against the New York Times by George Chidi in the Guardian.

The Judge who tossed the lawsuit wrote:

A complaint is a mechanism to fairly, precisely, directly, soberly, and economically inform the defendants — in a professionally constrained manner consistent with the dignity of the adversarial process in an Article III court of the United States — of the nature and content of the claims. A complaint is a short, plain, direct statement of allegations of fact sufficient to create a facially plausible claim for relief and sufficient to permit the formulation of an informed response. Although lawyers receive a modicum of expressive latitude in pleading the claim of a client, the complaint in this action extends far beyond the outer bound of that latitude.

This complaint stands unmistakably and inexcusably athwart the requirements of Rule 8. This action will begin, will continue, and will end in accord with the rules of procedure and in a professional and dignified manner.

The Judge told the President’s lawyers to go back to school and AI most likely and come up with a complaint that meets existing standards and gave them 4 weeks to do it.

It is not over but just one more sign for one side, that we are dealing with a clown car of staffers who couldn’t get a job in a meat marker which is really unfair to folks who work in a meat marker and for the other side, that left leaning commie pinko woke judges are standing in the way of might makes what is right.

Just another brick in the wall.

Still I live for the day to read a historical account of this administration that by ALL accounts, it was filled with “vituperation and invective”, failing to get to the point.

To quote Big Bill:

It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Macbeth (Act 5 Scene 5).

See all the Thurber Drawings I could identity at Muggs and Rex – Click here!