Archive for the ‘All’ Category
Where's Kansas?
I am from Kansas. Kansas City, Kansas in fact. We're the smaller city on the other side of the Missourie River from Kansas City, Missouri. We are the ones with the attitude: why does everyone think Missouri when it's called Kansas City? It's a fine city — either one, actually, since they rather merge together […]
Original Meaning Means…?
From "Justice Scalia critical of 'living Constitution'", by Rachel Graves (Houston Chronicle, 5 May 2005): COLLEGE STATION – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia portrayed himself in a speech here today as one of a dying breed of judges who strictly interpret the Constitution. "The Constitution, when it comes before a court, should mean exactly […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
Borrow @ the Fetish Bank
In my continuing fascination with the search strings that bring visitors to my blog or other websites, I was momentarily slackjawed to see this phrase as a search string: Fetish Bank What in the world could it mean? What might a "Fetish Bank" be? At first my thought was that it might be a place, […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Superior Richard
Herewith, more gratitude and boot licks to Shakespeare's Sister for mentioning my blog in her Friday Blogrollin'. I appreciate it. I can see, though, that I'm going to have to write more about bears (i.e., big hairy men with beards, more or less) if I'm to remain a resource. Up to now most of my […]
Conservative Queers Need Self Respect
What in the world, many of us wonder, is really the driving force behind all those Log Cabin Republicans? I know, I've listened for too many years to rationalizations that go along these lines: "Some of us [i.e., conservative queers] just feel that there are more important things than our private sexuality." There are (at […]
Dobson's Group Not "Religious"
Via John Aravosis at AMERICAblog First, Microsoft caves to anti-gay radicals in the name of diversity, and before that, ABC refused to run a pro-diversity ad for the United Church of Christ. The reason ABC gave the UCC for denying their ad: "The network doesn't take advertising from religious groups. It's a long-standing policy," said […]
In: All, Eureka!, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Seven Gummi Sins
I was way behind on my on-line reading today, as I have been for most of the last week or two. This did, however, create quite a curious sensation of other-reality-ness as I caught up on some 300 or so items at Boing Boing. The most memorable was their link to a set of photographs […]
The Appalling Hostility toward Equality
With regard to the "gay agenda" that has certain groups whipped into a frenzy ("Groups say bills push gay agenda," April 25), I would ask that as they proceed with their lobbying against such outrageous legislation as a bill [in the Maryland General Assembly] that would ensure that people can designate medical decision-makers, perhaps those […]
Scopes II in the Land of Dorothy
The not-very-clever farce dealing with what to teach in the biology classroom set to appear on stage in Kansas (my home state, recall), sometimes referred to as "Scopes II", seems almost universally recognized as a waste of taxpayer's money in aid of giving free press to the anti-evolutionary crowd currently crusading under the banner of […]
In: All, Speaking of Science, Splenetics
Men of Faith
Actually, holy alliance would be a better phrase. Bush and bin Laden are really on the same side: the side of faith and violence against the side of reason and discussion. Both have implacable faith that they are right and the other is evil. Each believes that when he dies he is going to heaven. […]
Gay Ed. for Teens
In a fascinatingly frank story, "Bashing Gays and Children" (by Amy Smith, 29 April 2005), the Austin [TX] Chronicle fills us in on the antics of "the gay-obsessed GOP rep from Pasadena [Texas], Robert Talton". It seems that he added an amendment to a Texas House bill that would "launch an $8 million inquisition into […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
"Caused by Physics"
Before the Nazi rise to power, German society bloomed with cultural, artistic, and social openness, as did the United States in the last third of the twentieth century. The dominant culture enriched itself by cross-pollinating with other groups. Creativity, innovation, and freedom held sway in art, music, drama, and dance. In lifestyle choices, openness and […]
Rickets & Windows
File under "unintended consequences": In 1696 a window tax was inroduced in Britain when the financially hard-pressed govenment started taxing properties based on the number of windows. The citizenry responded by bricking up windows and the darker houses are thought to have contributed to an increased incidence of rickets and tuberculosis. [David Whitehouse, The Sun: […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, It's Only Rocket Science, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Eddington on Protons
Famed astronomer & mathematician Sir Arthur Eddington: I believe there are 15, 747, 724, 136, 275, 002, 577, 605, 653, 961, 181, 555, 468, 044, 717, 914, 527, 116, 709, 366, 231, 425, 076, 185, 631, 031, 296 protons in the universe and the same number of electrons. [Quoted in The Sun: A Biography, by […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
A-Felching We Will Go
The past week has been a busy one here at Björnslottet: my father has been visiting, we did two final performances of "On the Twentieth Century" last weekend, we got the house ready for the cast party this last Friday night, I had my forty-ninth birthday on Saturday, and I was preoccupied all week with […]
New Dark Ages?
[Opposition to evolution] comes, I’m sorry to say, from religion. And from bad religion. You won’t find any opposition to the idea of evolution among sophisticated, educated theologians. It comes from an exceedingly retarded, primitive version of religion, which unfortunately is at present undergoing an epidemic in the United States. Not in Europe, not in […]
Patriotic Atheists
It's amazing how easy it is for some people, let's say some political "leaders" — okay, let's make that presidents and their presidential fathers, simply to write off big chunks of their citizenry. This exchange is reported as taking place between G.H.W. Bush & Robert I. Sherman (a reporter for the American Atheist news journal) […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Such Language!
A Star Explodes in Slow Motion
I've thoroughly enjoyed reading this book by Peter Atkins (reference below), and I found his slow-motion description of the process that leads to the creation of a supernova uncommonly gripping and dramatic, as well as enlightening. Stars bigger than about eight Suns have a violent future. The temperature in these giants can rise so much, […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, It's Only Rocket Science, The Art of Conversation
His Humpty-Dumptiness
Watch in amazement as top US military spokesmen try to maintain that we are most definitely winning the war in Iraq (and have been for some time — probably averaging in our military successes for several years before the invasion). Here is Donald Rumsfeld helping the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff maintain his […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Microsoft's Tarnish
More about what one dispassionately hopes is a growing scandal for the Evil Giant (Microsoft): Microsoft Corp. is paying social conservative Ralph Reed $20,000 a month as a consultant, triggering complaints that the well-connected Republican with close ties to the White House and to evangelist Pat Robertson may have persuaded the company to oppose gay […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics