Archive for the ‘All’ Category
Frontiers of the Mind
New frontiers of the mind are before us, and if they are pioneered with the same vision, boldness, and drive with which we have waged this war [i.e., World War II] we can create a fuller and more fruitful employment and a fuller and more fruitful life. — President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a letter […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, It's Only Rocket Science
Dandelion Wine
A few nights ago at one of our local mega-bookstores. our interest was drawn to a table of "last chance" titles, 3 for $9.99. What a deal! I've always been fatally drawn to remaindered books — my obsession for remaindered cookbooks is legendary in some circles — so naturally this was an interesting table. We […]
In: All, Food Stuff, Reflections
Vote "No" on 2 in TX
Welp, those Texans are out to show how much they dislike gay people again with a proposition on their fall ballot to reserve "marriage" for mixed couples, and the "no" people and the "yes" people are setting out to see who can spend the most on emotionally appealing television commercials. I particularly liked this moment […]
Peter Medawar on IQ
I've been rediscovering the erudite and rather fabulous Sir Peter Medawar. The two bits below are from a piece that he calls "further footnotes" to a book review of his called "Unnatural Science"* 1. The question of the single-number valuation of IQ. Several correspondents have spelled it out to me that both athletic prowess and […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Writing
Unfortunate Boosterism
Surely you remember all those magnetic ribbons that were far more popular on the rears of cars a few months ago than they are now? All those yellow "support our troops" ribbons, followed by red, white, and blue "support america" ribbons, and then pink ribbons and green ribbons and camouflage ribbons (I'm not kidding)…. Why, […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Indiana U-Turn
What are we to make of this? On 4 October we got news from Indiana that State Representative Patricia Miller proposed to save un-made babies from un-fit parents: INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana legislative committee is considering a bill that would prohibit gays, lesbians and single people in Indiana from using medical science to assist them […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
Spam Cake II
Just a few days ago, I posted a short piece about a recipe for "Spam Cake" that came my way, and mentioned my morbid fascination for Spam — second only to my love of Jell-O and "congealed salads". Of course, we knew it wasn't likely to stop there; I wouldn't be surprised if, soon, I […]
In: All, Curious Stuff, Food Stuff
Aliens Removing Human Brains?
SOME 3.7 million people claim to have been abducted by aliens. Only 11 per cent of Americans believe in evolution. Type "Flat Earth Society" into the Google search engine on the internet and you will have a choice of 466,000 sites. How did we get this stupid? One explanation is that the aliens doing all […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Speaking of Science
Reassurance-Op
Is it just me, or does anyone else find this swaggering confidence on the part of the President less than reassuring? I take this issue very seriously," he [Bush] said. "The people of the country ought to rest assured that we're doing everything we can. [Gardiner Harris, "Fear of Flu Outbreak Rattles Washington", New York […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Plus Ca Change...
Representative Mediocrity
Harriet Miers: cronyism or representative mediocrity? When Richard Nixon, no fan of the Supreme Court, nominated the forgettable G. Harrold Carswell thirty-five years ago, Senator Roman Hruska defended the nomination with an unforgettable bit of wisdom: “Even if he is mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Ascent of Science
I recently finished reading the massive but excellent book The Ascent of Science, by Brian L. Silver (Oxford University Press, New York, 1998). I had noted many passages that caught my eye as I read, and have shared some. As usual, I got behind, so here are the remainders. Linnaeus, in 1735, commented, "It is […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, It's Only Rocket Science
Spam Cake
Second only, in the realm of strange food fascinations, to an unnatural interest in congealed salads is my fixation on Spam, the Hormel canned-meat product. I still have hanging, right here where I can see it, a Spam Calendar from 2004, where each month features a recipe illustrated by an appetizing, full-color picture. Yumm. Someone […]
In: All, Curious Stuff, Food Stuff
Alphabetical Ideology
I happened to be reading some columns by Cynthia Tucker at uExpress.com, which offers political columns by about a dozen, widely syndicated columnists, when I noticed something that I thought odd. In the list of columnists "On the Right", the writers' last names began with these letters: "B", "C", "G", "G", "K", and "L". In […]
In: All, Curious Stuff, Eureka!
Cheesy Dreams
Thanks to Annie at Maud Newton's blog, I got to read this fascinating report from the British Cheese Board* called "Sweet Dreams Are Made Of Cheese". With a title like that, you know it's going to be good. The thesis is simply stated at the outset: The age old myth that cheese gives you nightmares […]
In: All, Curious Stuff, The Art of Conversation
People Mulch
When I heard about this from someone, I thought it just sounded really cool (as it were), and would cut down on emission of green-house gases from crematoria, and promote the planting of trees. Another part of it, of course, is that I just like Swedes. A town in Sweden plans to become the first […]
Katrina: Whose Chaos?
So, conservatives spin this as the result of the "liberal media" out of control, liberals spin it as conservative hysteria out of control. I don't think this report is all that surprising, but with all the spinning most everyone seems too dizzy to see what the real lessons are. In New Orleans' whiter, affluent western […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Plus Ca Change...
Connecticut Civil Unions on October 1
My friend Ron Suresha, who lives in New London, CT, sends me this press release concerning the beginning of civil-unions for same-sex couples in that state. This is cool: when was the last time you saw a press release that read excited? He asks that we circulate, so, as part of the historic record: Subject: […]
In: All, Common-Place Book
To Some Extent
It's fun — indeed, one of my favorite pasttimes — to hear what new catch phrase politicians will come up with next. The phrases don't always catch on, but they keep trying; it seems there's a sort of verbal Darwinism at work. A notable example of unfortunately longevity was Nixon's "point in time", which finally […]
In: All, Plus Ca Change..., Such Language!
Taxes Buy Civilization
How I look forward to the day when I can again pay my fair share of taxes to a government that uses it to keep buying civilization, rather than trying to destroy it. [Shakespeare's Sister, "It’s Not Penance Unless You’re Sorry, Though", 27 September 2005.]
In: All, Common-Place Book
Congealed Meal
A treasure from tonight's trip to the library (as mentioned in the previous post) was finding, on the book cart of cheap books for sale, a cookbook* from 1981 called "Favorite Brand Name Recipe Cookbook". I always like these, and this one is just old enough to have some fantastic recipes from a slightly earlier […]