On the way home from the pool the other day, a couple days before we’re going to go camping with our friends Michelle and Christopher and their daughter Jordan: Avery: I love you, Daddy. Me: Well, thank you, Avery. I love you too. Avery: I love you, Mommy. And I love Finn. And I love [...]
I went to the national PCA/ACA conference last week in beautiful St. Louis. It was a great event, with lots of fun people and good scholarship to see. As usual, I did not get to see as many panels as I would have liked since I’m on the executive board and so have to attend [...]
During a student presentation in my Detective fiction class today, the small groups were assigned to come up with the idea for a police procedural novel. One of the groups proposed a story involving a “cat lady” who was murdered in her home by a mysterious killer. As they finished their description, one member of [...]
Tagged funny, mystery, studentsMy favorite answer on the Talk Origins archive. Creationist claim: Homosexuality is considered acceptable and even desirable by most evolutionists, who point out that homosexuality is common in many species. Evolutionist respose: 3. The Biblical objection to homosexuality is hypocritical, because those who condemn it do not condemn just as vigorously other prohibited behaviors such [...]
Tagged creationism, evolution, homosexualityWe went to the Flogging Molly concert at the Congress Theatre last night. I enjoyed myself immensely. A few comments: Turns out I need to think a bit more carefully about the challenges of being less than six feet tall in the general admissions venue. We found a good spot eventually, but it was [...]
I just finished listening to a bunch of old radio shows I downloaded a while ago. I love radio plays, with their hilarious sound effects and atmospheric storytelling. The Mike Shayne stories were the best, with Mike regularly registering surprise by saying “Whaa?” or “HUH!?” Awesome stuff. A few more thoughts: The Case of the [...]
I’ve been watching Penn Gilette’s youtube channel lately, and while I think some of the stuff he says is outrageously stupid, some of it is lovely and smart. His commentary on Freakonomics and athiesm here is pretty interesting, and reminds me why I watch his channel. You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view [...]
READ NIETZSCHE! Books are for girls! (and guys who like to read!)
Found via Slashdot and Digg 1. The judgement in a cyberbullying case has the potential to make Terms of Service into laws. By the use and abuse of an anti-hacking statute, a woman was charged with a crime for violated the TOS of Myspace. Think about this: TOS are the click-throughs that very few people [...]
So iTunes just shuffled “Country Death Song” by the Violent Femmes and I found myself pondering it. I used to really like this song. I felt that its melancholy meditation on the hell of rural poverty and horror of infanticide couched in the jaunty back-beat of a country song was both amusing and somewhat moving. [...]
Riding the El home from work one autumn afternoon, a man walked into the car and sat behind me. I sat in bookish silence, staring down at the page without reading because the man behind me was talking on his cell phone. From his conversation, I gathered he was in his mid- or early-twenties. “Oh [...]
A thought, not fleshed out. Entertainment Weekly had an article this week explaining that product placement is up and going to keep going up in television shows. The newest debacle is Jingles, the reality show in which contestants come up with ad campaigns for real products. Why don’t they just televise ad agency spitball sessions. [...]
Tagged jingles, product placement, state and main, the apprenticeDear Brendan, You spoke, and we listened. We are keeping Profiles. Thank you for all the calls and emails telling us how important Profiles are. We are sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused. We hope the next time you hear from us we will delight, and not disappoint, you. -Your friends at Netflix [...]
Tagged customer, netflixDear Brendan, We wanted to let you know we will be eliminating Profiles, the feature that allowed you to set up separate DVD Queues under one account, effective September 1, 2008. Each additional Profile Queue will be unavailable after September 1, 2008. Before then, we recommend you consolidate any of your Profile Queues to your [...]
Tagged netflix, queue, stupid
Why I Am Not a Christian & Other Essays on Religion & Related Subjects
Lingua Fracta: Toward a Rhetoric of New Media
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
The Ig Nobel Prizes 2: An All-New Collection of the World’s Unlikeliest Research
