Archive for the ‘All’ Category
Earth from Saturn
This is a most unusual, beautiful, and evocative photograph — and it is an actual photographic image, albeit a composite. The photographer was the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft. On this occasion Saturn interposed itself between the Sun and the spacecraft, thus creating this beautifully backlit composition. Although it is hard to make out in this small version, […]
In: All, Curious Stuff, It's Only Rocket Science
Greyhound Tai Chi
The novel that I'm reading right now is Exiles in America, by Christopher Bram. It appears (from halfway through) to be a story about 2 couples composed of 3 men and 1 women, and how they all react when the two men who were not originally a couple have an affair with each other. Both […]
In: All, Books, Such Language!, Writing
Spam & Corn Chowder
Recall that our holiday meal's theme was "Ham, Lamb, and Spam"; this recipe provided the Spam component, and it was remarkably tasty, not to mention easy. Isaac thought the texture of the Spam was not optimal — another person thought the idea of the Spam was not optimal! — but something else like firmer baked […]
Cranberry-Raisin Pie
This recipe for "Cranberry-Raisin Pie" is keeper #2 from the holiday experiments. The mixture of cranberries and raisins seemed to me to have some of the dark, rich complexity of mince-meat, but with a brighter, more refined flavor. This pie could be a reason to stock up on seasonal bags of cranberries — they keep […]
Lots O' Books
It strikes me that I haven't quoted from many books in the past few months, which may give the impression that I haven't been reading much. Au contraire, however; I have been reading quite a bit, and there've been quite a few satisfying books among the lot. My excuse is that I've been catching up […]
Tyrian Purple
This excerpt is from my current reading, an excellent book by Philip Ball called Bright Earth (citation below). This bit struck me for two reasons: for filling in details about Tyrian purple (i.e., Roman Imperial Purple) and its manufacture, plus the sense it provides that the rich and powerful have always gone to considerable lengths […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Naming Things
Fruitcake Metaphysics
I have never much cared for fruitcake. Regardless of the generally low esteem in which fruitcakes have generally been held for as long as I can remember, I was always willing to give them a try but never found them very satisfying. The reasons, I think, are several, among them that I don't much care […]
In: All, Food Stuff, Laughing Matters
Deviled Ham
There are several recipes that I tried out for Xmas eating this season, and a few turned out to be keepers. Topping the list is this ultra-simple, ultra-tasty recipe for deviled ham. These few simple ingredients make a sophisticated taste. It's a great alternative to the too expensive little-can stuff from the store, and it's […]
Beard of the Week XXV: Welcome 2007
Happy New Year from your hosts Jeff (above) and Isaac (below). Our South Park doppelgängers come via this amusing divertissement for creating such. We do look tolerably like these guys, but not too much I hope. Pondering that makes me think that occasionally we see people who strike us as looking like they are cartoon […]
Keeping Mixed Company
This is an excerpt from an interesting article about same-sex couples in Kansas — largely suburban Kansas City, Kansas, in fact, where I was born and raised. The article profiles several couples who were energized to come out by a referendum on the Kansas ballot to ban "gay marriage". Ms. Jambrosic is part of a […]
In: All, Faaabulosity, Reflections
RIP Gerald Ford
I think they [same-sex couples] should be treated equally. Period. –President Gerald Ford, in 2001 interview with Deb Price of the Detroit News [quoted in Tom Musbach, "Gerald Ford supports federal gay rights", PlanetOut, 29 October 2001.]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Current Events
Conceptio Immaculatis
Just in time for Xmas consideration, this entry from Bob Park's What's New: 1. IMMACULATE CONCEPTION: NATURE FINDS A WAY TO GET THE JOB DONE. In the quaint euphemism of the Authorized Version of the Bible, no male had "known" Flora, a female Komodo dragon, before she laid her clutch of 8 eggs at the […]
In: All, Music & Art, Such Language!
Beard of the Week XXIV: Jolly Ol' Tom Nast
This week's beard is a double-header, if you'll pardon the expression: Thomas Nast (1840-1902), German-born American political cartoonist, and Santa Clause (unknown), as drawn by Thomas Nast in 1881 for Harper's Weekly. (The latter link is an interesting essay about how St. Nicholas was transformed in America into the red-suited Santa Clause that is so […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Reflections
Avoid False Modesty
Back to back, they were: The Associated Press noted the departure of Donald Rumsfeld with a curious retrospective, quoting a biographer who suggests that he is a "tragic figure" because of his wasted "talent and promise." But Nixon, who called him a "ruthless little bastard," had Rummy's number from the start. His "talent" was as […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Current Events
My First Year-End Appeal
Recently, with the news the Ars Hermeneutica, Limited is now a recognized 501(c)(3) tax-exempt corporation, I promised that I'd let my four regular readers know when I had an online option available for making tax-deductible [in the US] contributions. We're there, finally, and I know y'all have been holding your breath. I have a page […]
Another Evangelical Tragedy
A month ago, the Rev. Paul Barnes of Grace Chapel in Doug las County preached to his 2,100-member congregation about integrity and grace in the aftermath of the Ted Haggard drugs-and-gay-sex scandal. Now, the 54-year-old Barnes joins Haggard as a fallen evangelical minister who preached that homosexuality was a sin but grappled with a hidden […]
In: All, Briefly Noted, Current Events
The Internet Threat
Avedon Carol, making remarks* on a piece by Raul Fernandez about the rising influence of the 'net on politics, and particularly on the recent election, had these perceptive things to say: I think some people have already realized that the ground-up nature of the Internet is a threat to the prevailing order, which is why […]
Still Not Causing Cancer
This late-breaking non-news just in from Bob Park's What's New: CELL PHONES: FIVE YEARS LATER THEY STILL DON'T CAUSE CANCER. A study in the current issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found no increased cancer risk from cell phone use over a 20 year period. This is an update of a Danish […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science
Mind Groans
Last week I wrote about "ear accidents", the occasional problem I have in which my mind scrambles to make sense of something it mishears, thereby scrambling the meaning of what was said. Although "ear accidents" is a useful phrase, it struck me as more a description than a name for the phenomenon. Now I'd like […]
Beard of the Week XXIII: A Natural Selection
This week's beard is worn by none other than Charles Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882), the infamous, the reviled, the namesake of the dreaded Darwinism, author of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Quite without my really meaning for it to happen, the past month or more has […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Books