Archive for the ‘All’ Category
National Republican Resignation Week
Gosh, things are heating up in the resignation industry. Plenty of opportunity over there at Walter Reed still to lose lots of brass, General Pace with his big homophobic foot in his mouth, AG Gonzales — once seriously thought of as a candidate for the Supreme Court, now demonstrating why Congress should never rush to […]
Pace "Justifies" DADT
Sometimes the news — not to mention the people making the news — is just so breath-takingly stupid that comment seems unnecessary: Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday that he supports the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" ban on gays serving in the military because homosexual acts "are immoral," […]
Little Love Arrows
I am currently distracted by rehearsals every evening this week for our current musical production; we give our first public performance on Friday night, then four more shows that weekend and the next. This time: "Kiss Me, Kate", by Cole Porter. One amusing moment in the show is the dialog between the star, Fred Graham, […]
In: All, Faaabulosity, Reflections
Faaabulous Fridays
Late last night, after a longish rehearsal for "Kiss Me, Kate" (our production opens next Friday), we were talking with our young friend and Isaac's co-worker Sarah. Who knows exactly how the topic came up, but the bigger context was musicals and how, perhaps, people at "the office" would be better off if they just […]
APS Openness
Today in Bob Park's What's New (9 March 2007 edition) was this tidbit: OPENNESS: THE MARCH MEETING OF THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY. The commitment of physicists to the principle of openness was tested this very morning in Denver at the APS March meeting, as it has been every year for 108 years. Roy Masters, author […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, Laughing Matters
The "Woodstock of Physics"
There has been lots of talk, relatively speaking, this week about a now-famous event that took place at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society 20 years ago. The first piece that I saw was in the New York Times (Kenneth Chang, "Physicists Remember When Superconductors Were Hot", 6 March 2007 — his piece […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, Reflections
Off to a Good Start
I was, just a few moments ago, reading something that referred to the first sentence in a book, and instantly I realized I had forgotten to share my favorite. It's certainly not quite so familiar, say, as It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be […]
Please, Call Me Rod
It seems to me that the Republican party has two options when it comes to their homosexual menace: Purge the party of all known and unknown homos; the difficult part, as recent history has shown, is the "unknown homos" bit; or Recognize that fags happen and go with the flow; they needn't, of course, participate […]
In: All, Plus Ca Change..., Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Thugs vs. Pansies
I've just finished an odd book called Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper, by Nicholson Baker (New York : Random House, 2001). It's an unexpected polemic against the destruction of books by libraries which in itself sounds odd. Baker traces the rise of the idea of "brittle books" and the response to it. […]
In: All, Books, The Art of Conversation
About that Word "Faggot"
There has been brewing brouhaha this weekend about the occasion at a recent meeting of political conservatives, in which Ms. Ann Coulter, in what was apparently a weak attempt at humor, used the word "faggot" in reference to presidential candidate John Edwards. I usually go out of my way to ignore Ms. Coulter, who seems […]
Lammy Finalists for 2006
The finalists for this year's Lambda Literary Foundation awards ("Lammys") were announced last week on 1 March; winners will be announced on 31 May. My chances of winning about 7% of a Lammy (again!) have increased, nearly doubled in fact, because this year I have stories in two nominated anthologies: my story "Duck Tails and […]
On Reading Vaccine
A little while back I finished reading Vaccine, by Arthur Allen (New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 2007). I admit a prior interest in reading some history about vaccination, but I didn't expect to enjoy it nearly so much. Until I discover a better example, this book strikes me as the book to read on the […]
In: All, Books, Common-Place Book, The Art of Conversation
Lunar Eclipse, 3 March 2007
Passing along information received from a NASA mailing list, there is to be a lunar eclipse starting this coming Saturday evening. Some of will be visible everywhere in the 48 contiguous states, the eclipse being already underway at moon-rise in this region. NASA provides a very nice map with times and coverage, with a full […]
Server Indigestion
For the last few days access to this blog for you, my four regular readers, has been spotty and for long stretches non-existent. Same for me, actually: I couldn't write, you couldn't read. Some, of course, who don't understand our strange symbiotic compulsions would think this, at worst, a minor inconvenience. How little they understand. […]
The Maillard Reaction
Sometimes I read the food article in the Baltimore Sun, and occasionally I'm surprised, perhaps even astounded, to find sciency discussions related to food chemistry and cooking physics. It's even more a delight when the author is attentive and gets it right! Gosh, this one I clipped a long time ago, but it's still useful. […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, The Art of Conversation
The Conversation Sandwich Theory
This was a title for a post that I've saved for sometime; it was something someone googled that carried them here for inexplicable reasons, but I thought it a very attractive phrase to describe something. Alas, I haven't been able to think yet of a good use for it. I try to imagine what a […]
In: All, Curious Stuff, The Art of Conversation
Ball's Critical Mass
A week or two ago I finally finished reading Philip Ball's Critical Mass : How One Thing Leads to Another. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004. (My book note about it, with different quotations, is here.) I've become quite a fan now of Philip Ball's writing; previously I was wowed by Bright Earth, […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, It's Only Rocket Science
Competent but Corrupt?
I saved this little observation from Avedon Carol some time back, and I'd thought to write something on the theme, about how so many of us liberal types talk about Bush and Cheney and their neo-con goons as though they were incompetent at running government, which presupposes that actually running the government were what they […]
Protecting from Tyranny
How curious. The Times of London reports that “There are four or five generals and admirals we know of who would resign if Bush ordered an attack on Iran,” a source with close ties to British intelligence said. “There is simply no stomach for it in the Pentagon, and a lot of people question whether […]
Native Plants
How far can one go with fear of the "other"? I recently read a fascinating book by Robert Sullivan called Rats (more at my book note). My attention was drawn to the observations in this footnote about things "native": The term native when used in regards to plants and animals can be complicated. In an […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, The Art of Conversation