When it turned out that Saddam Hussein wasn’t on the phone to bin Laden working out a plan to nuke the US, a lot of people shifted their argument for invading Iraq. Namely, it’s good we went in there, because Saddam was such a bad guy. This is interesting, because everyone agrees that he’s a […]
Archive | October, 2006
Boo!
I’m all for scary costumes. Ghosts and vampires, blood, dread, fear, death, mayhem, madness. And horrific pumpkins (link). My wife likes smiles on her pumpkins, so she carved the one above. I like to take no more than 2 minutes to carve mine, and I like to use the stems as ears, or noses, or […]
Should You Vote?
My friend Garry has often said that people who don’t know anything shouldn’t vote. Actually, I think he’d go as far as to give literacy tests, intelligence tests, and tests of political knowledge. If you don’t care enough to be aware, then you shouldn’t be voting. Kevin, over at szuping.com (link on the main page) […]
Read Slower
I’m reading Ragtime, by E.L. Doctorow. I won’t go into how Ragtime is different from other novels in its delivery or subject-matter, and I won’t detail the sudden and unexpected raunchy moments. But while reading a couple of pages today, I twice stopped to appreciate the writing. 1. Harry Houdini (yes, the escape artist) is […]
Little Things
I’ve been noticing little things, lately. On the train today, upon close examination of the metal door, I found tiny scratches all along the side. Of course there are tiny scratches. I’d be amazed if there weren’t. But it suddenly interests me to think that each one of those scratches represents an actual event that […]
Head Scratcher
Ironic is pronounced: eye + ron + ick. Irony is pronounced: eye + run + ee. Iron is pronounced: eye + yern. How did “R-O-N†become “Y-E-R-N� [End of Post]
Please Forgive This Interruption
Heading off to vacation, so it may be more than a week before my next post. I can forgive myself, so I hope you can too. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with three things. 1. For those who need a little boost of morale:The popularity dialer can call you when you specify, and beg […]
A Torture Primer
Slate (link on main page) provides a primer on torture techniques used (or allegedly used) by Americans. (link) Click the links at the top of the page to see all the pieces. The most interesting living room conversation is on the “Taxonomy of Torture†page, where they discuss the techniques and their legality. I had […]
Internet Public Library
My friend JB at hogswallowing (link on the right of the main page) sends along word of the Internet Public Library, or IPL. (link) Let’s say you’re interested in… astronomy. Go to the main page, find “Science and Tech†among the links on the left. Hover over it, then “Astronomy†pops up. Click to find […]