Archive for the ‘All’ Category
The Cubby House & "A Returning Appetite"
I"m very excited. Jay Neal, my fiction-writing alter-ego, has had his first radio-drama experience–sort of–and it's pretty cool. Near the beginning of the year I got an email from a new friend named Jack, who had the following to say: I am one of the creators from the podcast "The Cubby House". The Cubby House […]
Repulsive Forces
I just saw today the table of contents for the February 2009 issue of Physics Today. In the "Search and Discover" section one finds an article with this title: Casimir forces between solids can be repulsive It's past my bedtime so this seemed much funnier than it will tomorrow morning. Now I can giggle myself […]
Beard of the Week LXIX: Accordion Virtuosi
This week's beard–not to mention the accordion–belong to virtuoso Swiss accordionist Hans Hassler. Mere hours ago I knew nothing about Mr. Hassler, but thanks to the serendipity of free association with google images,* I now know more. Here is a thumbnail biography (source): Hans Hassler was born in Switzerland in 1945. He studied accordion with […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Music & Art
Sigurdardóttir May Become Iceland's New PM
Here is an interesting piece of news, cheering to those of us interested in gay & lesbian upward mobility world-wide: The current Minister for Social Affairs, Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir of the Social Democrats, said she is prepared to assume the position of prime minister as long as she senses that her position is backed by sufficient […]
Beard of the Week LXVIII: Being in the Art
This week's beard belongs to filmmaker Daniel Anker. Here's a convenient biographical sketch (from the 2007 Florida Film Festival, also the source of the photo): Filmmaker Daniel Anker has been a producer/director of independent feature documentaries for more than a decade. His credits include Scottsboro: An American Tragedy, for which he received an Oscar nomination […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Music & Art
Carol on Media Bias
When Republicans are in power, the media explain their bias and deference toward conservatives by saying they are what's going on, they are in power, and a lot of them have a certain reverence for the office and power. But when Democrats are in power, they explain their hostility to Democrats and continuing preference for […]
Solvency Through Good Health II
Last year, on 8 October 2008, I posted a blog article called "Solvency Through Good Health", in which I suggested that, for a number of reasons, implementing a nation, single-payer health plan in the US now would be good for America and be a good economic stimulus plan, since it would provide much-needed services throughout […]
Science & Religion: Compatible?
These two excerpts are from a longish book review by Jerry A. Coyne, of two books, Saving Darwin: How to be a Christian and Believe in Evolution, by Karl W. Giberson; and Only A Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul, by Kenneth R. Miller. The piece is called "Seeing and Believing" (The New […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, The Art of Conversation
Dowland, 1995–2009
I"m sad to report that Dowland, our first-arrived greyhound, died peacefully in his sleep early Tuesday morning, 20 January 2009. As Isaac wrote to some friends He was 13 years, 7 months and 3 days in this world, and was with us for 10 years, 7 months & 7 days. We miss him already, but […]
Beard of the Week LXVII: The Age of the Sun
This week's majestic beard belongs to Sir William Thomson, Baron Kelvin* (1824 – 1907) or, simply, Lord Kelvin as he's known to us in the physical sciences. This is the same "Kelvin" as in the SI unit "Kelvins", the degrees of the absolute thermodynamic temperature scale. The photograph was taken c. 1900 by T. & […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, It's Only Rocket Science
A Murmuration
For a couple of months I kept track of a Language Log article about "talking" starlings (Mark Liberman, "Vocal mimicry on the web", Language Log, 1 November 2008), not so much for all the interesting scholarship on vocal mimicry contained therein, but because of the amusing video that reminded me of something, a tiny missed […]
In: All, Books, Curious Stuff, The Art of Conversation
Sharpton on California's Proposition 8
It amazes me when I looked at California and saw churches that had nothing to say about police brutality, nothing to say when a young black boy was shot while he was wearing police handcuffs, nothing to say when the they overturned affirmative action, nothing to say when people were being delegated into poverty, yet […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Faaabulosity
Screaming Women! Jagged Lines!
As I've mentioned, we've been enjoying watching (on DVD) Simon Schama's BBC-produced series "Power of Art". The last episode was about Mark Rothko and his commission for the Seagram murals (June 6, 1958 in this chronology). I still tend towards thinking Rothko overrated but I was happy to hear more about him and his work […]
In: All, Music & Art, Reflections
Beard of the Week LXVI: Cubism
This week's beard belongs to art dealer Ambroise Vollard (1866–1939), seen here in a portrait painted by Pablo Picasso in 1910. The painting is currently in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Art, Moscow. When I was much younger I could get quite excited about modern art and the avant garde. Now it seems more like […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Music & Art
Who Knows Your Car Best?
Here are two tips from a list of ten to help us get along with our cars better: 2) Learn your service schedule. The people who built your car know it best. 8) Listen for any strange sounds or vibrations. You know your vehicle better than anyone. [Trevor Traina, "Easy Ways to Get More from […]
In: All, Feeling Peevish, Writing
Perigee Moon
This just in from Spaceweather.com: FULL MOON ALERT! This weekend's full Moon is the biggest and brightest of 2009. It's a "perigee Moon" as much as 50,000 km closer to Earth than other full Moons we'll see later this year. Perigee moonlight shining through icy winter air can produce beautiful halos, coronas, moondogs and other […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science
I Didn't Vote for a Tie
Now, when we fight Warren in California, we are going to hear, ‘Oh, yeah, but Obama picked him for the inaugural.’ He doesn’t deserve that honor. And I don’t want to hear that the other clergyman at the inaugural, Reverend [Joseph] Lowery, supports gay rights. I didn’t vote for a tie in the election. [Barney […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Faaabulosity
Sky Puppies as Skyfood
We should totally start calling birds "Sky puppies." [Joe, "PETA: We Should Call Fish 'Sea Kittens'", Joe.My.God, 8 January 2009.] Between the quotation and the name of Joe's posting, you've pretty much got the story, such as it is. Mostly I just liked the idea of calling birds "sky puppies". Every now and then, usually […]
In: All, Eureka!, Laughing Matters
Beard of the Week LXV: A New Year, A New Art
This week's beard belongs to Dutch-born artist Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853–1890), an artist who, these days, really needs no introduction. This visual extract is from the last of his many self-portraits, painted in September, 1889 when van Gogh was living in Saint-Rémy, France.* The obvious point of this extracted beard is that almost anyone […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Music & Art
Is He Still President?
But the brazenness of Bush’s alternative-reality history is itself revelatory. The audacity of its hype helps clear up the mystery of how someone so slight could inflict so much damage. So do his many print and television exit interviews. The man who emerges is a narcissist with no self-awareness whatsoever. It’s that arrogance that allowed […]
In: All, Current Events, Reflections