Digital Sextant

I just discovered this in my notes from this semester’s “Detective Fiction” class, during a student-led exercise in which small groups come up with an idea for a murder mystery: Student 1: We were tossing around the idea that the killer only kills people with cats.  And then he shaves one of them… Student 2: [… Read More]

ThunderfOOt: You’re in denialism.  You can know nothing, you don’t even know that you’re here having this conversation. Ray Comfort: Well, you can know the Truth.  It’s all in the scripture. ThunderfOOt: Well, yeah, but you don’t even know whether you exist, let alone whether the scripture… Ray Comfort: Oh, I know I exist. Takes [… Read More]

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 [… Read More]

I realized when I was doing my music write up on Friday that I never posted about one of my favorite bands from Jamendo, Intercontinental Music Lab. I’ve only listened to two of their albums (but I’ve now discovered a third that’s being downloaded as I write this. ICL brings together musicians from around the [… Read More]

Two tidbits of childhood joy from Avery the last couple days worth mentioning. First, Avery told Jenny: Listen to my words. They say come into my room. The second needs a little background. Sometimes when Avery does something goofy, I say “Silly girl.” She’s taken to declaring that activities (like putting a sticker on her [… Read More]

The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens; narrated by Debra Lynn for Librivox I haven’t read a ton of Dickens in my day, but the humorous title and description of this book made it a good one to dive into. It was a long one, though. The audiobook was divided into 75 [… Read More]

An interesting overlap of two ethical dilemmas.  First, one of my students mentioned today that one of his friends had been murdered recently, shot 47 times in revenge for having stolen something.  As part of our conversation afterward, my students referred to the “no snitching” rule that keeps people from saying anything to the police [… Read More]

So here’s the poor clerk at Borders, toiling away behind the counter, when I come up and start frowning at the computer. Clerk: Can I help you find something? Me: No, I don’t think so. I know I want a book but I can’t remember enough about it to give you something to go on. [… Read More]

Jenny and I have been looking for a Wii Fit for a couple weeks now, and my sister in law snagged one for us and mailed it here.  It’s pretty cool — I will probably use it to get me to do more physical stuff than I do now.  It’s sad but true.  The yoga [… Read More]

See if you can pick it out. Context: P.Z. Myers grouses about some claims made in an article profiling “Intelligent” Design.  The boldfaced sentence is the claim being made by the article. IDists are correct to say love is not an illusion. Scientists say this. Frankly, this is the most dumb-ass argument in a whole [… Read More]

For my birthday, Jenny took me to see The Comedy of Errors last night, at the Chicago Shakespeare Company on Navy Pier. The company used a wraparound story that placed the acting of The Comedy of Errors in a 1940′s London Movie studio, during the Blitz. It was fantastic. Not only do I generally enjoy [… Read More]

I usually post about my week’s music on Fridays, but here it is on Monday instead: 1: Hootie and the Blowfish – it amuses me that people call Darius Rucker Hootie 2: Husker Du – I heard that Bob Mould has destroyed his ears 1: Impact – one of their songs has a Bill Hicks [… Read More]

My brother in law shot this little video on his camera phone about a year ago. It’s Avery’s first encounter with a lemon.

ManBabies.com (Thanks BoingBoing)

1939.  Bulldog Drummond is back in another gripping adventure.  This time, just one day before his wedding, an absent-minded professor (so absent minded he wears winter clothes in August because his calendar says January) shows up at the Drummond house to explain that there are millions of pounds hidden in the catacombs below the castle.  [… Read More]