Archive for the ‘Briefly Noted’ Category
The Rising Tide
I had a passing thought about the operational platitude for Reaganomics that collided with another thought; the second one bounced off so I don't remember what it was, but consider the platitude: The rising tide floats all boats. Could it be that the platitude encapsulates useful truth, provided we realize that "rising tide" is meant […]
In: All, Briefly Noted, Reflections
Better than Sex?
Thanks to the juxtaposition of advertisements on commercial radio last night (played while we were eating our dinner), we heard the following There's sex — then there's Durex* — But nothing beats a year-end clearance sale! ———- * Durex is a brand of condom. Oddly, in this commercial for the Durex condom, the voice doing […]
In: All, Briefly Noted, Laughing Matters
Delta-Wealth Drives Capitalism
I just read this. I don't have any idea yet whether I agree, whether I think it's a profound observation, or whether it's trivial nonsense. Nevertheless, it jumped out at me and I expect I'll think about it for awhile. … capitalism can only work with great imbalances of wealth, and when it is working […]
Get Free Books
I happened across this nice blog post by "the frugal panda" (pace, Chris), called "17 Ways to Get Free Books". Of course, to an impoverished but avid reader like myself — with a friendly but not quite adequate public library — this title was like catnip to a cat. Such fun and a nice summary […]
In: All, Books, Briefly Noted
Episcopal Bishop: "Refocus on more life-or-death issues"
The bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States says church members unhappy with the ordination of a gay bishop [Eugene Robinson] in New Hampshire [in 2004] should worry about more pressing world problems. "Obviously a handful of our church leaders are still upset and would like to see the church never ordain and […]
Less Successul at English
From the fractured English file: I'm a pretty successful young man, as are most of my girlfriends. [Tony Alcindor, "PSA: The Numbers You Must Have", Huffington Post, 2 November 2007.]
In: All, Briefly Noted, Such Language!
Conversational Time Warp
Yesterday I saw something that, until I actually saw it, I hadn't realized was such an archaic, outdated, never-seen thing of the past: I saw a young person talking on a pay phone.
Bush Coup Finally Realized?
Fascinating, and so, so not surprising. The BBC, in a radio programme* called Document ("The award-winning investigative series returns, in which Mike Thomson takes a document as a starting-point to shed new light on past events.") that apparently aired this past Monday evening asserts that Prescott Bush, the First Grandfather, was once a conspirator in […]
In: All, Briefly Noted, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Park on Prayer
PRAYER: SENATE’S MORNING PRAYER WAS INTERRUPTED YESTERDAY. Hindu priest Rajan Zed, the first Hindu asked to lead a Senate prayer, was just getting started yesterday when protestors from a fundamentalist Christian anti-abortion group began shouting “this is an abomination” from the Senate visitor’s gallery. Abomination? The prayer was as inconsequential as any other opening prayer. […]
Brief Hiatus 2
Once again, for the second time this year, we are taking a tour group to Italy. This time we will be a team of 10 visiting the Tuscany region. Our hotel is in Pisa, and we plan to visit Florence, Lucca, Siena, San Gimignano, and the Chianti region. Leaving late this evening, we plan to […]
An Industry is Born
Here's a provocative fact: The [Los Angeles] Times reports that there are 160,000 troops in Iraq and 180,000 US contractor employees. followed by a trenchant observation (in the form of a rhetorical question): In the longer term, where does this new "war service industry" go when we get out of Iraq? For more, see Dina […]
Brussels Sprouts Wisdom
For years I have cut a cross in the bottoms of brussels sprouts, but this time I bought them ready to cook, I forgot about it, and it didn't make any difference. [Ava Astaire McKenzie, At Home in Ireland : Cooking and Entertaining with Ava Astaire McKenzie (Niwot, Colorado : Roberts Rinehart Publishers, 1998), p. […]
In: All, Briefly Noted, Food Stuff
In the Mood for Mystery
Melanie (The Indextrious Reader) had this to say recently upon reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, by Agatha Christie: Suffice it to say I read this over a long weekend, sitting in the sun with a cup of tea. Is there any better way to read Agatha Christie? It puts me in mind, almost needless […]
In: All, Briefly Noted, Crime Fiction
Feeling Subdude
Isaac reported recently on an amusing spelling error that he spotted the other day: someone reported feeling a little "subdude". This seemed to me a very useful word, particularly as I found myself feeling a little subdude today. The word seems to me roughly as versatile as that coinage from over a decade ago — […]
In: All, Briefly Noted, Such Language!
Brief Spring Hiatus
It may seem unusually quiet around here for the next 10 days or so, but this time by choice. Isaac and I are going to Rome, Italy again, this time with a much smaller tour group — there will be only 5 of us, one of whom is one of my four regular readers. The […]
The $3-Million Book
Here's a nice little story that says there's still hope for a bribe-free, morally just society. I'll cut-and-paste it just as I found it at Avedon Carol's ("Interweaving the Internet"). Bookslut: In May 2005, Cary McNair told the St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Austin, TX that if they did not remove Annie Proulx's short story […]
Welcome Equinox!
To welcome the Vernal Equinox tonight (at roughly 2010 EDT), we were out for a bite to eat and then a bit of shopping. The day was clear and warm, and the evening sky was clear and mild. At the time of the equinox we were outside strolling, and observed Venus and the crescent moon […]
In: All, Briefly Noted, It's Only Rocket Science
Server Indigestion
For the last few days access to this blog for you, my four regular readers, has been spotty and for long stretches non-existent. Same for me, actually: I couldn't write, you couldn't read. Some, of course, who don't understand our strange symbiotic compulsions would think this, at worst, a minor inconvenience. How little they understand. […]
So Usable
This chilling vignette came to me from Maud Newton*, who went to see the movie Jesus Camp so that I don't have to: Becky Fischer, the leader and mastermind of the actual Jesus Camp, believes in indoctrinating kids as early as possible — preferably starting before the age of seven. Palestinian children are ready to […]
Another Evangelical Tragedy
A month ago, the Rev. Paul Barnes of Grace Chapel in Doug las County preached to his 2,100-member congregation about integrity and grace in the aftermath of the Ted Haggard drugs-and-gay-sex scandal. Now, the 54-year-old Barnes joins Haggard as a fallen evangelical minister who preached that homosexuality was a sin but grappled with a hidden […]
In: All, Briefly Noted, Current Events