Archive for the ‘All’ Category
Adams on Cage
I don’t agree with those who consider Cage the most important composer after Stravinsky. I think much of his later work is fundamentally, even tediously, didactic. A work like ‘4′33″’ is a demonstration, a lesson in how to listen, so to speak. But to equate its artistic value, as some have, with a work like […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Music & Art
Is Wall Street Worth It?
Most people on Wall Street, not surprisingly, believe that they earn their keep, but at least one influential financier vehemently disagrees: Paul Woolley, a seventy-one-year-old Englishman who has set up an institute at the London School of Economics called the Woolley Centre for the Study of Capital Market Dysfunctionality. “Why on earth should finance be […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Current Events
Beard of the Week LXC: Good Company
This week's beard belongs to Stephen Sondheim (b 1930, on the right), joined here by George Furth (1932–2008, on the left). They're here to provide an excuse for me to write a bit about our musical-theater troupe's recent production of "Company", a musical with book written by Furth, music and lyrics written by Sondheim. The […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Music & Art, Personal Notebook
Mencken on Crowdsourcing
Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. — H.L. Mencken
The Stag Cookbook : Some Recipes
The other day I saved a link (probably via BoingBoing) for The Stag Cookbook : Written for Men by Men, collected and edited by C. Mac Sheridan, with an introduction by Robert H. Davis; New York : George H. Doran Company, 1922; 197 pages [google books link], so that I could see what manly cookbooks […]
Fulfilling the Meaning, not Redefining
I want to say to the gentleman to my left [Brian Brown], gay people who want to marry have no desire to redefine marriage in any way. When women got the vote they did not redefine voting. When African-Americans got the right to sit at a lunch counter alongside white people, they did not redefine […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Faaabulosity
Ban Ki-Moon : Reform Discriminative Laws
Human rights make up one of the three pillars of the United Nations, alongside development and peace and security. Protecting human rights means protecting the rights of everyone, without distinction or discrimination, and paying particular attention to the most vulnerable and marginalized, who may face special obstacles to the full enjoyment of their rights. In […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Faaabulosity
It Does Take Some Thought
"Think of a single problem confronting the world today," says Bill Bryson, in full rhetorical flow. "Disease, poverty, global warming… If the problem is going to be solved, it is science that is going to solve it. Scientists tend to be unappreciated in the world at large, but you can hardly overstate the importance of […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, It's Only Rocket Science
Teabagging and Mad Hattery
The Tea Party is many things at once, but one way or another, it almost always comes back to a campaign against that unsafe urban hellscape of godless liberalism we call our modern world. [Matt Taibbi, "Tea & Crackers", Rolling Stone, 28 September 2010.] Is teabagging — that pitiful longing for the "Leave it to […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Reflections
About The Nice Ones Next Door
And I’m not referring to the homosexual who may be the nice one who lives next door; I’m talking about people who are committed to a radical homosexual agenda…. — a random homophobe named Jim Garlow [quoted by Mike Tidmus, "God Delusioned: Jim Garlow and Matt Staver", Mike Tidmus blog, 27 September 2010.] While I […]
In: All, Faaabulosity, Personal Notebook
It Was Hot
Well, how nice. Our area of the country, greater Washington DC, has been acclaimed by The Weather Channel as having had the worst summer of any major area in the US in 2010 (Jon Erdman, Tim Ballisty and Chris Dolce, "Top 5 Worst Summers", not dated/accessed 24 September 2010). There are several extreme conditions, like […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, Personal Notebook
Dollars Could Lead to Voting
In my reading this morning this sentence happened in front of my eyes: The legendary right-wing operative [Karl Rove] has been hard at work amassing $32 million for his tax-exempt organization …. [source] It's a discussion of money in politics, a common topic this close to an election, and a topic of considerable importance I […]
In: All, Eureka!, Will Rogers Moments
Breaking: Republicans Promise Conservatism
Wow. Republicans took off their ties and visited a hardware store in Virginia to make their "Pledge with America". I guess this is different from Newt Gingrich's infamous "Contract with America" from 1994 in that it's merely a "pledge", and not a "contract" with contracted deliverables. I haven't read it yet so I won't mock […]
In: All, Current Events, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Who's To Judge "Pastor" Long?
Our story thus far : notedly homophobic mega-christian "pastor" Eddie Long has been accused by three young men of being a sexual predator. Nothing new there, of course. Photographs of "pastor" Eddie, appearing in very tight muscle t-shirts and taken with the iPhone he holds in his hands, have surfaced. (For instance, see here.) These […]
In: All, Current Events, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
In Court : Science vs. Creationism
Someplace in my reading recently I happened upon the "memorandum opinion" in McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education (1982). My attention was drawn to it because of a remark about how it "defined science". Well, I wouldn't go so far as "defined" although the characteristics of the scientific enterprise are outlined, and that may have […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science
Tiny Stories
The “shortest horror story ever written” is usually attributed to Frederic Brown: The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door. Ron Smith shortened this further by changing knock to lock. [from Greg Ross, "Short-Shorts", Futility Closet, 16 September 2010.] Smith's change certainly shortened Brown's original, but […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Writing
Mehlman in Purgatory
That noisy hum we're hearing on the gay blogs I read is all about "Repulsive Anti-Gay Quisling Homophobic Scumbag Asshat Closeted Former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman" 's [to quote Joe.My.God, a useful place to find summarizing evidence for the epithets] coming out as gay. You may recall that Mehlman, in his role as chair of […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
The "Moral Concerns" of Marines
On a different, but related subject, [Marine Corps Commandant General James] Conway suggested that if the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” law is repealed, the Marines may consider allowing Marines not to share quarters with homosexuals. Conway said the Marines may make such housing arrangements “voluntary” to accommodate any “moral concerns.” He said many Marines are […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
The Long Road
The same is true of the trajectory of the same-sex marriage issue. Gay couples began going to court to claim a right to marry at almost exactly the same time that women began turning to the courts to claim a right to abortion. The student body president of the University of Minnesota Law School brought […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Faaabulosity
The Liberal-Activist Olympics
It may not be common knowledge, and I don't try to hide it, but I have an attitude about the "Special Olympics", and I've had this attitude for, oh, at least 25 years. It has nothing to do with nominally adorable special children, but saying so just sounds defensive so I usually don't. Largely I […]
In: All, Faaabulosity, Personal Notebook