Archive for the ‘All’ Category
Christian Soldier Sexuality
It's about Jesus. But the fact that so much of the language used to discuss Christ is homoerotic is no coincidence. The first miracle of Jesus to believers is that his appeal crossed so many boundaries of the ancient world. Rich and poor, Jew and gentile, men and women — every kind of person loved […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Splenetics
Quantum Theory & GNP
I am reading Galileo's Finger: The Ten Great Ideas of Science, by Peter Atkins. It's refreshing reading. Anyway, as I continue to fret about the current faith-based insurgency attacking science in America, I was struck by this comment of Mr. Atkins' about the effect of science on society: …No exception to the predictions of quantum […]
In: All, Speaking of Science, Splenetics
NPC ID "Debate"
Bob Park, a physicist who writes the brief "What's New" reports for the American Physical Society with a great deal of wit and withering obervation (archives here, subscribe here), apparently attended a recent press "event" at the National Press Club put on by the irrepressible [so-called] Design [so-called] Insitute: EVOLUTION: DISCOVERY INSTITUTE FINDS A SCIENTIST […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, It's Only Rocket Science
Whose Pyramid?
For one thing — probably because I'm one of those radicals who tend to think that MicroSoft is the evil empire (recently confirmed) — I've always turned my nose up at anything quaintly called "My_____", since it always sounds to me like an unwarrented intrusion into already decaying standards of discourse by the evil empire's […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Speaking of Science, Splenetics, Such Language!
Toxic Homo Fungus
The following tidbit, saved from an article I read some weeks ago, reinforces two well-known facts: 1) homosexuality is common in nature; 2) homosexuality can be toxic. The new spin on the old trick is that this time the guys (or gals) can have kids: Same-sex mating found in toxic fungus An infectious fungus has […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Manifesting the Human Experience
Even as the heartland state [Kansas] was enshrining bigotry in its constitution [by passing an anti gay-marriage amendment], a bipartisan legislative majority in Connecticut this month approved same-sex civil unions — and, unlike the laws allowing same-sex marriage in Massachusetts and civil unions in Vermont, this one was not in response to a court order. […]
My Pointy Ears
I'm such a sucker these days for personal validation — I suspect it's a condition brought on by this over long period of being ungainfully unemployed. So, I could hardly resist the temptation to follow someone's pointer to the "How Logical Are You?" quiz. I took a few minutes and answered the 8 questions (which […]
No One Expected the German Inquisition
I have no more reason to talk about the new pope really than I did to talk about the previous one (they can always make more, no matter what happens), despite the fact that Isaac was convinced that this particular Bavarian homophobe would never be elected. (Sound familiar to any other elections we've been through […]
Poseur Presidents & Prime Ministers
And, are there any Great Men in the world today? Where — this is a question I've been asked by several readers recently — are the Churchills, the Roosevelts, the Trumans, the Eisenhowers, the Titos, the Lloyd Georges, the Woodrow Wilsons, the de Gaulles and Clemenceaus? Our present band of poseur presidents and prime ministers […]
Antonin Scalia: Judicial Activist
Justice Scalia likes to boast that he follows his strict-constructionist philosophy wherever it leads, even if it leads to results he disagrees with. But it is uncanny how often it leads him just where he already wanted to go. In his view, the 14th Amendment prohibits Michigan from using affirmative action in college admissions, but […]
Too Rich for Democracy
In a letter to Joseph Milligan on April 6, 1816, Thomas Jefferson explicitly suggested that if individuals became so rich that their wealth could influence or challenge government, then their wealth should be decreased upon their death. He wrote, "If the overgrown wealth of an individual be deemed dangerous to the State, the best corrective […]
Don't Ask!
This statement confuses me: At a crowded news conference, Mr. DeLay said he would not entertain questions about his political activities. ["DeLay Asks House Panel to Review Judges", by Sheryl Gay Stolberg, 14 April 2005.] Since Mr. DeLay is a politician, what else would he talk about?
In: All, Common-Place Book, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
What a Slime-Mold Beetle!
Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld are now species of slime-mold beetles U.S. President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld may not all get a library, airport or highway named after them. But each has a slime-mold beetle named in his honor. Two former Cornell University entomologists who recently had the […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Friendly Links / Dirty Pix
Arthur Silber, with personal finances on his mind, says (in "Dirty Pix Means Cable!") …Anyway, that’s my pitch about this for today. Hit the tipjar, send a check via snail mail (write me for my address if you like), send positive thoughts my way, whatever works for you. … And when I can get cable […]
Wisdom of Old Jokes
Old jokes seem to embody enduring truths for me, and sometimes their punch lines become mental summaries for many of the categories (conceptual file folders) into which I slot this and that bit of ridiculous information. (I was just talking yesterday with someone about the gag that ended a McDonald's TV commercial once: "Feet! You […]
The Crow's Ear
I am now certain that Avedon Carol (of The Sideshow) is a person after my own heart for pointing out this gem from The International Herald Tribune Just 15 hours after he died on Saturday night, the great pageantry around the death of a pope began Sunday morning, with a huge public Mass in St. […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Such Language!
Black is White
Expanding on the tradition of death-bed conversions: WASHINGTON, April 8 – Arthur J. Finkelstein, a prominent Republican consultant who has directed a series of hard-edged political campaigns to elect conservatives in the United States and Israel over the last 25 years, said Friday that he had married his male partner in a civil ceremony at […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
Gender Wars: The Shower
In the war over the question whether gender differences are nature or nurture, some of the more important skirmishes take place in domestic settings. For instance, the disagreement whether it is more "natural" so keep the toilet-seat lid up or down. This particular question is outside the scope of this meagre posting, although I note […]
In: All, Splenetics, The Art of Conversation
Scholarly Attention
INCLUDING its three seasonal specials, the [Boston] Globe publishes about 150 full pages a year filled with stories about high school teams, their games, scores, summaries, prospects, and interviews, often with pictures of coaches and athletes. At the same time, high school academic achievement is almost completely ignored. Science fair winners, AP scholars, Emerson Prize […]
So Many Threats
"It didn't occur to me that there would be as many threats, and I do receive them," [Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day] O'Connor said [in remarks at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland]. "I don't think the harsh rhetoric helps. I think it energizes people who are a little off base to take actions that maybe […]