Archive for the ‘All’ Category
Harvey Milk Day
Today, 22 May, was Harvey Milk's birthday. He was born in 1930. In 1976 he successfully ran for a spot on the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco; he was the first openly gay man to win an election for public office in the United States. Last night, 21 May, was another significant anniversary in […]
In: All, Faaabulosity, Personal Notebook
Subjunctive Death
I listen with dismayed amusement as the once Vice-President Dick Cheney continues to justify his paranoia and abuse of power by announcing, in escalating numbers, the number of people who did not die while he was president…err, vice president. Lately I've been seeing it as "thousands, tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands". Frankly, I […]
On Reading A Life in Twilight
I am a big fan of J. Robert Oppenheimer and I like reading about him. I just wrote a book note about Mark Wolverton's A Life in Twilight : The Final Years of J. Robert Oppenheimer (New York : St. Martin's Press, 2008; 339 pages). What an excellent book it was! (You can tell I […]
On Reading The Age of Entanglement
Reading proceeds apace, but writing about the books seems to happen in big clumps. For instance, my book note on Louisa Gilder's The Age of Entanglement : When Quantum Physics was Reborn (New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2008. xvi + 443 pages). Perhaps if I wrote less I could write sooner. Oddly, I didn't […]
In: All, Books, It's Only Rocket Science
Beard of the Week LXXIX: Up, Up, Up and Away
This week's pair of stylish, mid-nineteenth-century beards belong to Les Frères Tissandier,* the brothers Albert Tissandier (1839-1906) on the left, and Gaston Tissandier (1843-1899). Albert was the artist, known as an illustrator, and Gaston was the scientist and aviator.† The Tissandier Brothers were pioneering adventurers (only Gaston did the flying) in high-altitude balloon ascensions. From […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, It's Only Rocket Science
Phony Moralizing
Earlier today I hear a news headline / story on NPR (see also, for one more example) that quoted Dick Cheney* as referring to objections to waterboarding# as "phony moralizing". I naturally presume that this is directed at liberals like myself, particularly atheistic moral relativists who don't believe that a god is necessary to account […]
Short & Succinct
Some blog I read suggested that I (among other readers) might enjoy watching this video of Richard Dawkins being interviewed for the BBC by one Matthew Stadlen, who seems agreeable enough but it otherwise unknown to me. Although I enjoyed Dawkins' answers, it was not the answers as such that impressed me so much as […]
In: All, Music & Art, The Art of Conversation
Beard of the Week LXXVIII: Zeppeliner
This week's beard, the best example we've seen so far of an actual "goatee", belongs to Ludwig Dürr (1878–1955), remembered as the chief engineer who built the successful Zeppelin airships. After an unsatisfactory one-year period in the navy, Dürr was hired, on 15 January 1899, as an engineer at Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH, the company that […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, It's Only Rocket Science
When is Marriage not Marriage?
I'm reading these remarks made by the Catholic Bishop of Portland, Maine, Richard Malone, and it perplexed me. Several times I was perplexed. I am deeply disappointed in the Maine Legislature and the Governor for making same-sex marriage legal in our state. We believe that the vast majority of Maine's people believe that marriage is […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity, Laughing Matters
MN: Plurality Say Let Surpreme Court Decide
For awhile I have saved a link* about a poll on the topic "Same-Sex Marriage in Minnesota" conducted by, and reported by, the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Here was the question: As you may know, the Iowa Supreme Court recently legalized same-sex marriage in that state by declaring unconstitutional a state law defining marriage as between […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
"Advocacy" Means Doing Something
On some issues, though, I really don't see anything but black and white. Among them is the "question" of granting full equal rights to gay and lesbian Americans, which really isn't a question at all. It's a long-overdue imperative, one that the nation is finally beginning to acknowledge. Before his inauguration, President Obama called himself […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity, Feeling Peevish
The Quiet but Sane Majority
In the last couple of days, as a counterpoint to events unfolding in New Hampshire and Maine, there was a bit of drama in the District of Columbia. and, at the center of his own little dust-devil of craziness, former Mayor, now Councilman, crazypants* Marion Barry.† The council voted unanimously, all 13, in favor of […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Beard of the Week LXXVII: Come Out and Get Married!
This week's gorgeously multi-colored beard belongs to the newly out-as-gay David Ogden Stiers, beloved of many TV fans for his portrayal of Major Charles Winchester for six years on the television series "M*A*S*H". (Photo source.) Excerpting from The Advocate:* Television and voice actor David Ogden Stiers has come out of the closet at age 66. […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Current Events, Faaabulosity
The Children of Friends
I've had some friends that are actually homosexual. And, I mean, they know where I stand, and they know that I wouldn't have them anywhere near my children. — Samuel Wurzelbacher / Joe the Plumber, quoted most anywhere Oddly, Isaac and I have a number of friends who are actually heterosexual, and who actually have […]
In: All, Faaabulosity, Feeling Peevish
Maine Verges on Marriage Equality
Not wanting to be the last state in New England to provide marriage equality for same-sex couples, the Main House of Representatives has approved a bill recognizing the right: The Maine House of Representatives by a vote of 89-57 on Tuesday approved a bill that would allow same sex couples to marry in Maine. […] […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Marie Osmond on Marriage, Productivity [?], and "Whatever"
When it comes to marriage, … I think that civil rights need to be for all. When you start mixing religion into that and beliefs, you know, I do believe in the Bible. My daughter understands my beliefs. And, and, uh, you know, God said to be married and be productive with your children and, […]
In: All, Faaabulosity, Laughing Matters
Tasing & Waterboarding
For at least a couple of years I've been reading, with increasing horror or disgust or something nasty like that, stories of police abusing their tasers. Too many people have been subjected to this twenty-first century style of police brutality, too many have died or been injured, too many have suffered outrageously while law-enforcement celebrates […]
In: All, Current Events, Plus Ca Change...
Breast Implants for Jesus
Personally, if I were a fundamentalist, god-fearing christian fearing the fundamentalist god, I'd believe that said god created all of creation for the benefit and happiness of good, god-fearing christians on the earth, provided they loved Jesus. Now, among those creations would most definitely be silicon — just look at computers! Now, if some fundamentalist, […]
In: All, Current Events, Snake Oil--Cheap!
Foxxes and Hoaxxes
In the news, as a footnote to the passage of the "Matthew Shepard" Hate-Crimes Act in the US House of Representatives, we've been treated to the sight and sound of the Republican Representative from North Carolina, Virginia Foxx, calling it a "hoax". It was a stupid and uninformed thing to say but, oddly, she refuses […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
My Birthday Present
A few months ago I had occasion to visit one of my neighborhood car-parts stores. I got the part that it turned out that I didn't really need, but my visit was perked up by seeing a display of "Hello Kitty" steering-wheel covers. Imagine! Such an unlikely item as a steering-wheel cover with "Hello Kitty" […]