Archive for the ‘All’ Category
Perry v Schwarzenegger: Closing Arguments Arrive
Closing arguments in Perry v Schwarzenegger, the much-watched trial in the District Courtroom of Judge Vaughn Walker, are due to be heard tomorrow, Wednesday, 16 June 2010. It has many of us anxious with anticipation; we know how empty the arguments of the anti-marriage-equality groups are; we know how much trouble they had finding any […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Gullibility's Price
From Bob Park's What's New for 11 June 2010: 1. FAKE BOMB DETECTOR: THE HIGH COST OF IGNORANCE. According to a story in The Independent (UK) on Tuesday, the investigation into the sale of fake bomb detectors has been expanded to a number of firms in the UK. It seemed comical fourteen years ago when […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, It's Only Rocket Science
H.R.Clinton on Tax Distribution
When I read this I was reminded of a report we watched recently–from a few decades ago–that reported that Swedes were the "happiest" people in the world, because of / despite their much higher tax rate and their solid commitment to a social-welfare state. “The rich are not paying their fair share in any nation […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Reflections
Proclaiming LGBT Pride Month
The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release May 28, 2010 Presidential Proclamation–Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month As Americans, it is our birthright that all people are created equal and deserve the same rights, privileges, and opportunities. Since our earliest days of independence, our Nation has […]
Scheffler: An Embarrassment to Iowa
What is it that makes some Republicans so angry all the time? It must be taxing to spend all of one's time and effort opposing change that one knows is going to happen anyway. Is it really that gratifying just to slow things down and gum up the works? Iowa’s Republican National Committeeman sent an […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Chandler on Speed Limits
A few nights ago Isaac and I had a treat and watched the film "Double Indemnity" again–our second time, although Isaac claims not to remember the first. I remembered liking it but I'd forgotten just how good I thought it was. You'll recall that this is Billy Wilder's trend-setting film noir, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Fred […]
In: All, Music & Art, Such Language!, Writing
Sushi Portraits
A few days ago I read an article by Mark Bitman in the New York Times ("For Sushi at Home, Skip the Fish", 4 May 2010). It was interesting enough, had good ideas, and talked about making rice for sushi. All good. But all I wanted to do here was to show two of the […]
Amis on Morality
Secularism contains no warrant for action. One can afford to be crude about this. When Islamists crash passenger planes into buildings, or hack off the head of hostages, they shout, "God is great!" When secularists do that kind of thing, what do they shout? [Martin Amis, from The Second Plane; quoted by Richard Dawkins, "I […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Personal Notebook
Such a Gay Day
This is the International Day Against Homophobia; I like the fact that it's referred to as "IDAHO", a name not usually associated with diversity. Speaking of IDAHO, I just learned in my reading today about the origins of the Russet-Burbank variety of potato. This is also the day when marriage equality arrived in Massachusetts, six […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Miss Analyst Regrets
Call me perverse if you like, but when some link someplace showed me this headline Sony Tumbles After Forecasts Miss Analyst Estimates [from Bloomberg Business Week, 13 May 2010] I read it with the sense that would be implied by punctuating it thus: "Sony Tumbles After Forecasts, Miss Analyst Estimates". I found myself wondering who […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Such Language!
Grilled-Cheese Sandwiches
I just read a blog posting somewhere (I don't think there's a reason to single it out specifically) that wanted to talk about grilled-cheese sandwiches. Alas, they ended up talking about some unrecognizable food-from-Mars made with hearty textured artisanal breads made of grains with unpronounceable names and–worse!–insisted on a big block of "real" cheese, banning […]
In: All, Food Stuff, Personal Notebook
Granderson on "Gay Uncle Toms"
The gay and lesbian community has plenty of Uncle Toms trying to blow us up from inside, but what we don't have is our own word or phrase to identify them. Some call them "closet cases," but there is a difference between someone who is unwilling to live openly and honestly, and someone who takes […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Free Depending on Payment
This morning, at Starbucks, I went up to the counter to get a coffee refill. As I handed the barista my cup, I removed the lid as that is often their request. She takes my cup and promptly throws it away. She then gets a new cup and "refills" my coffee, though I'm not technically […]
Prunus 'First Lady'
A few weeks ago (28 March 2010, actually) we took an afternoon to visit the US National Arboretum, happily not at all far from our house. Daffodils in our neighborhood were blooming so we thought to see the Arboretum's collection. They were going full tilt and we enjoyed them very much. I was also delighted […]
In: All, Personal Notebook, The Art of Conversation
Bad Analogies
At the moment there are at least two tools of language and writing whose abuse puzzles and irritates me substantially, perhaps out of proportion to logic, but there you go. One is stupid puns, by which I mean a punning word drawn against its will into a sentence because it might sound somewhat like another […]
In: All, Feeling Peevish, Such Language!
A Minuscule Pullum Miscellany
Oh, dear. Again and again and again, American professors with absolutely no background in English grammar insist that their 21st-century college students should study this unpleasantly dogmatic little work, written by men born in the 19th century. But the dictats given in The Elements of Style range from the redundant to the insane. Anyone who […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Such Language!
The Answer Is: All of the Above
It probably won't surprise you to learn that I found this animated "quiz show" about contradictions in the bible rather amusing (not to mention how the winner was determined and what his prize was). Actually, I laughed audibly. I also quite liked the voice of the quiz-show host; is it someone I should recognize? [YouTube […]
In: All, Feeling Peevish, Laughing Matters
SPLC on AZ's New Anti-Hispanic Law
Arizona’s controversial anti-immigrant law was written by a lawyer at the legal arm of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which the Southern Poverty Law Center has listed as an anti-immigrant hate group since 2007. The law, a recipe for racial profiling, would make the failure to carry immigration documents a crime and give […]
In: All, Briefly Noted, Current Events
Lesbians Biblically Approved
So I'm reading a short news item (here) in which I leaned that the Westboro Baptist "Church" plans to picket Constance McMillen's graduation because they hate lesbians because their god hates lesbians, for which they cite the following "justification" from their book of rules: Thou shall not lie with mankind, as with womankind, it is […]
Stories Old & New
Some of my stories have been published lately and I thought I'd mention them. Two of them are reprints; one has not been previously published. Let's start with Bi Guys: The Deliciousness of His Sex, R. Jackson, editor, just published by Lethe Press. In 2004 I wrote the story "Duck Tails […]
In: All, Personal Notebook, Writing