My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music.
—Vladimir Nabokov, Strong Opinions, 1973
Some 260 species of owls exist today. … There are Chocolate Boobooks and Bare-legged Owls, Powerful Owls and Fearful Owls (named for their bloodcurdling, humanlike scream repeated every ten seconds), White-chinned Owls and Tawny-browed Owls, Vermiculated Screech Owls and Verreaux's Eagle Owls, Africa's biggest, with its startling pink eyelids. Some owls, like the ubiquitous barn owls that occur in multiple forms worldwide, carry a raft of common names reflective of their mythic power: demon owl, ghost owl, death owl, night owl, church owl, cave owl, stone owl, hobgoblin owl, dobby owl, monkey-faced owl, silver owl, and golden owl.
—Jennifer Ackerman, What an Owl Knows, 2023
Pandemonium! What a great thing football is, that allows us at rare…