For those of you weary of my ranting like Lear, a recommended holiday treat: Lewis Carroll’s marvelous satire on blind ambition and subscribers to half-baked promises.

The Hunting of the Snark

Presented in its entirety here.

What can I say about a poem whose tragic victim is introduced with:

He would answer to “Hi!” or to any loud cry,
Such as “Fry me!” or “Fritter my wig!”
To “What-you-may-call-um!” or “What-was-his-name!”
But especially “Thing-um-a-jig!”

Oh, tonic of confusion, a blessing you are to my mind!