Archive for the ‘All’ Category
NYDPs
The end of marriage as we know it? The data tells [sic] it straight — three quarters of domestic partnerships in New York City are heterosexual couples. "So far this year, 27% of overall domestic partnership registrations are same- sex couples. We are on par percentage-wise with last year," said Michael McSweeney, first deputy at […]
In: All, Current Events, Plus Ca Change...
'Wings' & 'Wonderland' Press
Last night was our last performance of "Scenes in Wonderland" and "Wings", the two, one-act shows that our theatre group did this fall, both of which I directed. The production came out quite well and all the performances were very good despite little variations that come with live theatre. I would have liked bigger audiences, […]
Exponential Dracula
Herewith, from the popular press, an excellent example of geometric (exponential) growth and its implications: WASHINGTON (AP) — It may be the season for vampires, ghosts and zombies. Just remember, they're not real, warns physicist Costas Efthimiou. […] Efthimiou takes out the calculator to prove that if a vampire sucked one person's blood each month […]
In: All, Curious Stuff, It's Only Rocket Science
New Jersey & Marriage Equality
The opinion on the "gay-marriage" case in New Jersey was handed down today by that state's supreme court. The opinion, which I haven't read yet entirely, is interesting. Here's the pivotal bit: Only rights that are deeply rooted in the traditions, history, and conscience of the people are deemed to be fundamental. Although we cannot […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Natural Nature
I would be remiss if I made no mention of the recently opened exhibit at the Natural History Museum, University of Oslo [Norway] , "dedicated to gay animals", called "Against Nature?" The Norwegians can be such a sensible lot sometimes. According to BBC news: The Oslo Natural History Museum opened the show last week and […]
In: All, Faaabulosity, The Art of Conversation
Can't Win, Can't Lose
Fascinating. Don Rumsfeld says "You've got a situation [in Iraq] where it's not possible to lose militarily," Rumsfeld said. "It's also going to require more than military power to prevail." These things strike me as interesting about this assessment: NB: He's not saying it is impossible not to win, only that we cannot lose; He's […]
Fairy-Tale Astronomy
In a way it's hardly worth the bother to describe the background to this tidbit, which is a headline to a "Search and Discovery" item in this month's Physics Today.* The story concerns type Ia supernovae, which are white dwarf stars that make their startling brightness by accreting enough mass to ignite the fusion of […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, Laughing Matters
Beard of the Week XIX: NCOD
Today,# here in the US, it's National Coming Out Day, a day chosen to commemorate the first "March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights" on the same date in 1987. I didn't make it to that one, but I was there with Isaac for the next March in 1983, along with about a million […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Current Events, Faaabulosity
We Resume our Regular Programming
I'm back. Bearcastle.com and this blog have finished moving to the new server, and everything seems to be put back in order after the move. Even this brief hiatus seems to have left me at least elbow-deep in things to catch up on, although experience shows that I never will quite catch up. Ah well. […]
Those Cracking Noises
Krugman suspects that the juggernaut may be more not than previously suspected. At its core, the political axis that currently controls Congress and the White House is an alliance between the preachers and the plutocrats — between the religious right, which hates gays, abortion and the theory of evolution, and the economic right, which hates […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Current Events
To Count Every Vote is American
This week the venerable New York Times was the latest of many organisations and institutions to declare that America's democratic system is simply starting to fail. Not in terms of its democratic ideals, or some takeover by a Neocon cabal, but by a simple collapse in its ability to count everyone's votes accurately and fairly. […]
My Passion for Cookbooks
There are many things I like, but rather few for which it might be said I have a passion bordering on obsession. One of those is cookbooks, about which I've been meaning to write for some time, although I don't think I've accomplished it yet. If I have already, you'll forgive the meanderings and forgetfulness […]
Beard of the Week XVIII: Bulgarian Wedding Bells
This week's beard belongs to Azis, described by the Sofia News Agency as "Bulgaria's famed Roma transvestite". It seems that Azis, following what was to be his farewell appearance in Sofia, was set to fly to Germany to get married. The original caption to the lower photo read: Bulgaria's famed Roma transvestite Azis (R) exchanged […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Faaabulosity
One-Third of Americans
Sometime recently I remember hearing the results of a poll that said that about a third of Americans believe that Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 attacks. Another poll — or perhaps it was the same one — revealed that about a third of Americans believe that George W Bush and the US government itself […]
In: All, Plus Ca Change..., Splenetics
Our Story So Far…
I can't help but feel sorry for my old Republican friends in Congress who are fighting for their political lives. After all, it must be tough explaining to voters at their local Baptist church's Keep Congress Conservative Day that it was their party that took a $155 billion surplus and turned it into a record-setting […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Current Events
Naked Gardening
I am not the most avid gardener at the best of times — as the state of our yard will attest. Nevertheless, I do enjoy the results sometimes of putting in the effort, and I'm always interested in seeing how plants grow. Nature continues to amaze me. So, I was a bit disappointed to discover, […]
In: All, Curious Stuff, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Goldberg Variations in LEGO
Thanks to a short piece at Improbable Research,* I am now aware that there exists a harpsichord, looking like a single-manual Flemish reproduction, more or less, built entirely of LEGO bricks — except for the strings that is. Made up of some 10,000 LEGO pieces, the instrument has a 61-note range, weighs 150 pounds, and […]
In: All, Curious Stuff, Music & Art
The Cusps of Warfare
I've been in a desultory sort of discussion at SW Anderson's blog (Oh!pinion) about how we, America, or even we, the targets of terrorists, should respond to terrorism. Tonight I worked out some of my frustrations at not seeing a path to a solution with any clarity by writing far more than I had intended […]
Beard of the Week XVII: Medieval Astronomy
Isaac and I have both recently finished reading Tycho & Kepler, by Kitty Ferguson, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. (There's more about the book in our Science Besieged Book Note.) Thus it happens that this week's beard and rather extravagent mustache belongs to the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. Tycho, active in the second half of […]
In: All, Beard of the Week
Beard of the Week XVI: Queen of Queens
Most of my life I have been a partisan of "classical" music. No doubt this has something to do with my starting to play 'cello when I was in the fourth grade, but still it took time. In my junior-high years (nowadays: middle-school years) I adored my parents' few recordings of popular classics, particularly Johann […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Faaabulosity