Everyone in southern Louisiana is quietly, calmly, but definitely making preparations for Gustav. Most everyone who’s leaving New Orleans has already done so; evacuations for adjacent parishes (counties, to the rest of you) continue through tomorrow. The dreaded contraflow (transformation of ma… Read full post »

and get me a female vice presidential candidate. And not somebody scary, like Condi Rice. Someone non-threatening. If we can hit a few more demographics--soccer mom, beauy queen--that would be great. And be sure it's somebody the oil lobby is OK with--not somebody like that Christie Todd Whitman. (Sh… Read full post »

So Mrs. Obama stood up and gave a brilliant speech in which she laid out, for all to see, her credentials as wife, mother, and girl next door. Am I the only one who finds the fact that she needed to do this a symptom of a deep national illness?

She… Read full post »

Thanks to everyone who responded with pesto-related suggestions and observations. The batch came out reasonably well, despite a bitter aftertaste that I can't seem to shake. Oh, well.

 To say thanks to everyone who responded, I thought I'd share one of my favorite culinary discoveries. The essenc… Read full post »

So two days ago my neighbor Anita comes to our house with a Whole Foods bag full of basil from her garden (her garden is prodigious, and probably worthy of its own post, or perhaps a documentary), and says, "Make me pesto." She gives me a tiny jar, indicating that except… Read full post »

A belated response to Monsieur Chariot's truly provocative recent visual post :

The Uncanny Valley is one area code over from the Cliff of Cuteness.

Hello Kitty, from her Undisclosed Location, is even now plotting the Emergency Procedures that will allow her to govern our… Read full post »

Today I was waiting at a stop light when I saw an 18-wheeler go by with the following sign, in black and yellow, displayed prominently on its cab:

WARNING

YOU ARE IN MY BLIND SPOT

 Thinks I to myself, if people wore such signs we'd all be better off. How many… Read full post »

I just stubbed my toe for the Nth time. I have to think that the human toe is one of the worst ideas ever--right up there with putting our gums (soft, prone to cold sores) next to our teeth (hard, require brushing and flossing).

Hooves,  Brahma/Yahweh/Ahura Mazda/Mrs. Eddy,… Read full post »

I just read Cintra Wilson's article about Code Pink in That Other Salon (see http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/07/17/code_pink/index.html) As an introvert, things like public protests in the galleries of Congress make me uncomfortable, but comfort seems like something we have a surfeit of… Read full post »

I type this in DFW, one of my favorite airports (by default). I just spent a week in England--in the town of Durham, to be exact, a beautiful place.

The occasion for my visit was a conference on music and ideas pertaining thereto that a whole bunch of us--Brits,… Read full post »

So here it is, Independence Day no. 232. Today I celebrate everyone who ever saw America as a road, not a village.

Walt Whitman, for example. His "Leaves of Grass" is the first great geographic epic of America. A proper reading of his poems would involve hundreds of readers… Read full post »

    I was reading a history of European Christianity in the Middle Ages and watching a Doctor Who episode on YouTube when it hit me: you know those stretches of plot-tying off technobabble that no science fiction TV show or movie can do without? They're the same thing as… Read full post »

I don't want to convey the impression that I sit around and drink rum all day--actually these days my likker consumption is limited to (1) days when I have a cold, and the body's humors must be rectified, and (2) my wife's company Christmas party, when corporate America is… Read full post »

1 quantity rum (it's your call--shot? jigger? hectare? board foot?)

juice of 1 lime

1/2 to 1 teaspoon brown sugar

Mix. quaff.

I find this has  medicinal as well as aesthetic properties. Read full post »

The title of this post intentionally evokes a central tenet of Christianity, but that's a larger topic than I mean to discuss here. I mean, quite simply: who is my neighbor?

We live in a subdivision that was, 30-40 years ago, an outer suburb of the medium-sized metropolis we… Read full post »

Deafening silence in response to my last two posts. That's what I thought; I really am dull. Let's see if this helps:

Hillary Clinton Barack Obama John McCain Hubert Humphrey Harold Stassen Abortion Abolition Acid Amnesty Judicial Restraint Antilock Brakes
Free Trade Fair Trade No Trade No Backsies/… Read full post »

WordSpy defines "The Uncanny Valley" as "Feelings of unease, fear, or revulsion created by a robot or robotic device that appears to be, but is not quite, human-like." The concept originates with roboticist Masahiro Mori, and is probably old hat to true followers of technology. It's a new/… Read full post »

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on RGB1;

I hate Powerpoint.  Read full post »

Back in the late '80s and early '90s, I would while away the hours I spent at a series of day jobs reading, and occasionally posting to, various USENET groups. USENET, kids, was like a group blog which we'd read by gaslight. Topics included spirited discussions of flint arrowhead design,… Read full post »

My first posting to this forum was eaten by the "Save Draft and Preview" feature. So no lengthy enlightenment for all y'all today from this quarter.

My long-winded point was going to be that despite the high-flown rhetoric of the invitation email I received inviting me to join Open… Read full post »