tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75164022011-04-21T22:24:26.160-04:00Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.comBlogger1611100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-53885669331179858042009-01-12T22:48:00.002-05:002009-01-12T23:10:40.339-05:00

Almost 4 years ago, we went out to Seattle for some friend's beautiful wedding. With some of our extra time in the city, we made a trip over to the Space Needle... not actually for the Needle, but for its neighbor, the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame.They've done a good job representing the villains of science fiction in the museum. Darth Vader. Klingons. Ming the Merciless. They had a

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-40475120493790288962009-01-06T23:45:00.001-05:002009-01-06T23:47:03.436-05:00

Years ago, I wrote my answer to the question "why do you blog". It seems like the right time to address the question "why start blogging again."An author can take a hiatus, but the little hit counter on each page just keeps ticking along. And it's not a bad reality check to look at those logs and discover that, in two-and-a-half years, I wrote one post that gets any continuing readers.I'm

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-86077428391439943492008-12-17T07:39:00.003-05:002008-12-17T08:11:22.546-05:00

Wil Wheaton suggests this cure for holiday stress: take a moment to think about three things that make you happy."The exercise is awesome, because the first thing is always very easy to list, but it's a challenge to just pick two more things."(Actually, I'm not feeling a lot of holiday stress. It's still a good exercise.)1) My son has his mother's ear for music. Seriously... I have an almost-two

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-72113066393876397082008-10-21T07:49:00.002-04:002008-10-21T07:49:54.072-04:00

...we'll continue with our story.Holy smokes, is this thing still on?

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1165294592160344432006-12-04T23:53:00.000-05:002006-12-04T23:56:32.203-05:00

Since Bob "Freedom Fries" Ney resigned, I don't have a Representative in the House. Which is a shame, because H.R. 5388 is important.There are a pretty limited number of things you can do to invalidate your franchise in the United States. You can repudiate your citizenship; that'll do it. Being convicted of a felony will ding it, but even then a couple of states will let you vote from prison, and

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1164764519469718602006-11-28T20:26:00.000-05:002006-11-28T20:42:01.096-05:00

According to one of these weird photographs taken with a machine I don't understand by a person I've never met before... It's a boy.(I don't really understand why I distrust my eyes more than my ears... it's not like the Doppler of the heartbeat would be any harder to fake. But I have to admit a certain reaction of c'mon, now, you expect me to believe something on TV?)

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1164606101123032972006-11-27T00:36:00.000-05:002006-11-27T00:41:41.153-05:00

It's been a glorious weekend in Central Ohio. It's gotten up to the mid-60s every day, and on Thanksgiving, the sky was impossibly, flawlessly blue, the color of television tuned to a dead channel.Poor William Gibson. The guy writes one of the all-time great opening lines of a novel, probably the best in science fiction since "Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time", and 10 years later, the

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1163078859792324372006-11-09T08:24:00.000-05:002006-11-09T08:27:39.816-05:00

Voting in Maryland was terrific in the '80s and '90s. You got a paper ballot and put it in a hole punch. You lined the big red arrow up with your chosen candidate's name, pressed the gleaming steel handle, and exercised your franchise with a satisfying basso Ka-CHUNK. Repeat for each race. I can't ever recall hearing someone complaining about a hanging chad or unclear technology, and we always

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1162532147040646472006-11-03T00:30:00.000-05:002006-11-03T00:35:47.043-05:00

Professor Sergei Lobanov-Rostovsky gave a wonderful address at Founders' Day today, centered on the metaphor of the well which Philander Chase dug when he founded Kenyon College.And I thought of my favorite words from Bertolt Brecht...Caesar conquered the Gauls.Did he bring not even a cook with him?An interesting metaphor for All Souls' Day. I was raised to remember this as the day when we pray

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1161262854632609962006-10-19T08:50:00.000-04:002006-10-19T09:00:54.666-04:00

Most of you already know the Big News.Yesterday, I heard my kid's heartbeat for the first time. And something exciting and abstract became joyful and absolutely real. It's still giving me a stupid grin just to think of that 150 beats a minute "wubwubwubwub" sound. Wow.Anyway, the point of this post was to challenge you to come up with an even less appropriate title. The working title was "Find it

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1159242807750052002006-09-25T23:48:00.000-04:002006-09-25T23:53:27.786-04:00

Irma Thomas and Allen Toussaint were laying down the national anthem in the Superdome, and a cute blond girl looked up, saw herself on the Jumbotron, and started to bounce up and down and point.She remembered what was going on and put her hand back on her heart about half a heartbeat before her cute blond friend elbowed her in the ribs.I told you those folks had class.The Francophones in the Gulf

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1159119145992232642006-09-24T13:31:00.000-04:002006-09-24T13:32:26.043-04:00

The Columbus Clippers have become the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals!Sure, there's some chatter that this may not be a long-term relationship. That's OK. Considering I thought I'd never even see baseball in DC, I think it's awfully nice of them to give me a couple of years to meet the kids in the minors.There's a pretty good argument to be made that minor league ball is just as

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1157980652691764232006-09-11T09:12:00.000-04:002006-09-11T09:17:32.716-04:00

I wrote this essay a few years ago for a contest at Powell's. I offer it today in memoriam.-----Lynn walked into our morning meeting in tears, and announced that a plane from Boston had flown into the World Trade Center. My stomach flipped as I thought of my friends who were moving out of Massachusetts that week. I didn’t know their plans. I didn’t know where they were. All I could do was run to

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1155500774896838672006-08-13T16:23:00.000-04:002006-08-13T16:26:14.966-04:00

What's more primal than food cooked over fire? Well, food eaten raw, I suppose. But this isn't a post about salad or sushi. This is a post about that ancient desire to master fire, to use our intellect to enrich our bodies.For our anniversary, Alison and I bought ourselves a Lodge cast iron grill grate. Not that we're unhappy with the steel grate of our Weber grill... only that it can't store

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1153956604780679552006-07-26T19:16:00.000-04:002006-07-26T19:30:04.890-04:00

I hate to scoop the Big Man... but, I'm gonna.Things that go through your head when a ballplayer loses his grip on his bat:Whoahhhh, that's not good.Hey, it's coming this way.Oh crap, it's coming right here!Duck!((you know, if I jumped up I bet I could...))DIE. You could DIE. Duck down further.You're not ducking deep enough.BANG!Is it gonna bounce my way?Is anybody hurt?So... how are you scoring

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1153451674467562852006-07-20T23:14:00.000-04:002006-07-20T23:14:34.533-04:00

I notice that most of the references I've seen to Syd Barrett's death reference "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," the track recorded in tribute to him on Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here. It strikes me as a little funny that these commemorations use Roger Waters' words, and not something of Barrett's.Of course, that's not a great sample, since I wouldn't know a Syd Barrett song if the refrain were "

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1150690206524390352006-06-19T00:06:00.000-04:002006-06-19T00:10:06.556-04:00

Our Lodge cast iron 10 inch fryer got quite a workout recently. We bought that fryer for one particular purpose: to perfect my secret Maryland panfried chicken. I love to fry chicken in part because it's the only dish I can say I cook by hearing. In a covered pot, it's the tone and frequency of the bubbles that tells me if the oil is hot enough or if it's time to flip the meat. It's just the

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1150562649045590962006-06-17T12:43:00.000-04:002006-06-18T12:33:51.510-04:00

Before this year, I never was into Dr. Who. All I could see was the sets put together by one-armed monkeys. Daleks and Doctors and inscrutable plot lines, oh my!Well, that changed when the Sci-Fi Channel started running Christopher Eccleston in the new series. (Oh my goodness, he's playing Number Six in the upcoming remake of The Prisoner... another BBC classic I couldn't get as a kid.) Lovely

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1149822541947373482006-06-08T23:05:00.000-04:002006-06-08T23:09:01.970-04:00

One of my colleagues says that what he loves about baseball is that, at any game, you're likely to see something you've never seen before. Community softball last night contributed three of these for me:1) I'd never been involved in the fielding end of a rundown before.2) I'd never screwed up the fielding end of a rundown before.3) I'd never seriously injured myself just swinging the bat

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1148781927806737652006-05-27T22:00:00.000-04:002006-05-28T12:05:53.236-04:00

...because you're gonna.Apparently, charred food contains at least two carcinogens. And this being the start of the cookout season, our friends at NPR's Morning Edition tested out some of the "recipes" which are supposed to keep those chemicals from forming.Steamed hamburgers? Cherries in your ground beef? Is it worth it to lengthen your life only by the number of extra minutes you spend griping

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1148438818616070582006-05-23T22:44:00.000-04:002006-05-23T22:46:58.643-04:00

I only watch about three horse races a year. If I'm home and happen to catch the Breeders' Cup races, that's a super-bonus. (Imagine... more than one race in a 3 hour telecast!)But the Kentucky Derby is to me what The Masters is to some people. It's summer's official herald. More than a golf match could be, I think, because it's got colts and fillies getting out in the warmth and running. How can

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1147754191826972732006-05-16T00:33:00.000-04:002006-05-16T00:36:31.853-04:00

A week or two ago, I discovered that the James Beard Foundation now gives an award for the best culinary web site. So I spent a little time poking around Leite's Culinaria, until I found a recipe for grilled asparagus with crab mayonnaise. I immediately sent Alison an email, titled "What we're having for dinner as soon as possible." And then our community supported agriculture folks were nice

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1147230461192928592006-05-09T23:01:00.000-04:002006-05-09T23:07:41.220-04:00

Dan over at We Are Out Of Focus asks us to contact our Congresspeople and support net neutrality. So does Wil Wheaton, and plenty of other folks. Sadly, I'm torn, and I don't know which way to go on this.Larry Lessig makes a great case for net neutrality in The Future of Ideas. The Internet boom has, up until now, been made possible by the fact that the big backbone pipes have been "neutral" -

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1147095450574717942006-05-08T09:36:00.000-04:002006-05-08T09:37:30.576-04:00

I've been having some fun with Pandora, thanks to Hugh. Pandora is a website where you can enter a couple of songs or recording artists you like, and it will create a "radio station" of songs which are similar, according to the Music Genome Project.So far, I'd say it's been amusing. The thing it does really well is provide music I've never heard before. For my lists, at least, it almost never

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1146623965694270022006-05-02T22:38:00.000-04:002006-05-02T22:39:25.723-04:00

When I was growing up, my parents were in that demographic of Democrats who didn't understand why the party seemed to have turned its back on their values. I remember asking them, more than once, why they didn't just switch parties. I'm sure I got some valuable lessons about how the important thing is that you think about your vote, and don't just let the party decide for you. But what I remember

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1145495660067610482006-04-19T21:03:00.000-04:002006-04-19T21:14:20.150-04:00

OK, so I'm seeing these trailers for Mission Impossible 3 and I have just one thought:If Philip Seymour Hoffman and Lawrence Fishburne can't kill Tom Cruise, well, I want a shot at Lennox Lewis. 'Cause there ain't no justice.So here's a topic: past MI3 and Robin Hood: Prince of Wolves Thieves, when else have you really wanted to see the bad guy in a movie kick the snot out of the "hero"?

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1145333996335269582006-04-18T00:19:00.000-04:002006-04-18T00:19:56.346-04:00

The Internal Revenue Service provides a vital civil function by giving all Americans with one thing which we can all piss and moan about as a unified people. And this being the right time of year, here's my entry.I think the USA is a great country, and I'm proud to live in it, and, all things considered, I think the price is right. When I consider what some people have to give their governments,

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1144208455138803482006-04-04T23:36:00.000-04:002006-04-04T23:40:55.166-04:00

Will someone please explain to me why the Order of Ancient Hibernians isn't calling for Lou Dobbs' head?In commenting on the United States' illegal immigration "problem," Dobbs has said that he resents people "celebrating a distant history". In his own words, Lou Dobbs doesn't "think there should be a St. Patrick's Day."This is not a post about immigration policy, but I'll pass on two quotes.

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1144007586549466762006-04-02T15:52:00.000-04:002006-04-02T15:53:06.563-04:00

I prefer to post about our culinary successes, but there is a dark side to being adventurous in the kitchen. In our household, this category of dish is usually called "Mistake a la Joe." So I'm posting this in the hopes that sooner or later, a more experienced baker will find this post and tell me where I went wrong.I wanted to make some munchies to take to our weekly happy hour. There's a recipe

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1143734898305460422006-03-30T11:06:00.000-05:002006-03-30T11:08:18.340-05:00

Talked to a young reporter yesterday about New Orleans.It feels like telling this story is never going to get easier.

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1143003321485045362006-03-21T23:54:00.000-05:002006-03-23T19:17:42.080-05:00

I was pretty surprised to hear yesterday on Marketplace Morning Report that Amazon is over-riding its search engine's automated spell-check. Until recently, when you searched for the word "abortion", at the top of a listing of matching materials from Amazon's inventory, you also got a link asking "Did you mean adoption?" Somebody got miffed, and Amazon pulled the link.Amazon's defense was that

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1142401671103886512006-03-15T00:43:00.000-05:002006-03-15T00:47:51.123-05:00

(Look, this is a bummer, and Alison's already said it just as well but shorter. Don't let this bring your day down. Read it later. Well, you've been warned, bull-head. -Ed.)We had a cat. What did we need with two?Our friends Michael and Ann had found a dehydrated mother cat trying to nurse her litter of four kittens, under Ann's mother's steps, during the height of DC's 1995 heat wave. They took

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1141799305458005082006-03-08T01:15:00.000-05:002006-03-08T01:28:25.473-05:00

So I'm going back to DC today to watch the ACC Men's Basketball tournament. (Eat 'em up! Eat 'em up! Let's go Terps!) And I figured I'd print out my boarding pass before going to bed.Except for my friends at Southwest won't let me check in online. Oh well. No surprise there. Nuts.Better just check my itinerary one more time. One of my coworkers already gave me crap last week about checking my

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1141136123017149112006-02-28T09:12:00.000-05:002006-02-28T09:15:23.030-05:00

I give up.I can't write what's in my heart about Mardi Gras. It makes me too proud, and it hurts too much. Besides, it's already been done better.Editor B explains that it's a lot bigger than the chestbaring boozefest you see on TV.The Krewe du Vieux parade says it all to me... check out B's post about it, and he points to a great pic at The Third Battle Of New Orleans.And Robert Tallant said it

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1140114600767621382006-02-16T13:26:00.000-05:002006-02-16T13:30:00.783-05:00

Depending on semantics, there may or may not finally be a Mac virus out in the wild. Update your antivirus definitions.Leap-A is a... let's call it a "program" for now... which you can probably find by looking for "screenshots of OS 10.5 Leopard". If you find it, and if you download it, and if you open it, and if you type in your admin password to install it, well, you got it, whatever it is. The

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1139892519191948912006-02-13T23:47:00.000-05:002006-02-13T23:48:39.206-05:00

I got to do my favorite kind of cooking Saturday. Most of the time, I either follow a recipe mostly faithfully, or just wing it. Those are each fun in their own way, but what I really love to do is devote a night to researching different recipes for something, looking for the common threads, and coming up with my own version.Years ago, as part of the quest for good frozen food, we bought

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1139577585052018142006-02-10T08:12:00.000-05:002006-02-10T08:20:30.370-05:00

At the end of December, the New York Times published an article about the F.B.I.'s desire to use its PATRIOT Act powers more broadly. Cited in this article was an email in which an agent complained about "radical militant librarians push(ing) us around."Needless to say, this caused a lot of discussion in LibraryLand. OK, not so much discussion as crowd noise. To sum up, the three main points

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1139203682091714322006-02-06T00:25:00.000-05:002006-02-06T00:28:02.106-05:00

TRW brake pads kill people. Don't buy them.Over the last 6 years, at least 107 people who work for TRW in Mount Vernon, Ohio, have developed severe respiratory illness as a result of unsafe and negligent working conditions. The plant was designed by TRW with insufficient ventilation for the machining operation.Then management turned off the ventilation fans in the winter, to save power.Then they

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1138682552163986312006-01-30T23:34:00.000-05:002006-01-30T23:42:32.173-05:00

It's fun to have a post office box instead of home mail delivery. It's like living with Monty Hall... every day, what's behind door number three? It's usually bills and junk mail. Sometimes it's a magazine or a postcard or a card. The canary yellow "package slip" always takes my breath away: is it a present? Did I buy something online? Is it just a lame oversized catalog?Today, I went to the

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1138196545896277872006-01-25T08:22:00.000-05:002006-01-25T08:42:25.943-05:00

Today is National PATRIOT Act Call-In Day. If the overreach of executive power worries you, if disregard for the First and Fourth Amendments offends you, if you don't think the American experiment is over just yet, please pick up the phone and call both your Senators and your Representative.The USA PATRIOT Act (which should always be capitalized, because it's an acronym) does accomplish a lot of

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1138166209393786182006-01-24T23:17:00.000-05:002006-01-25T00:19:39.206-05:00

The blues isn't about feeling better. It's about making other people feel worse. - Bleeding Gums MurphyHerself and I went to the Palace Theater in Columbus last night to see B.B. King and Bobby "Blue" Bland. This was our big Christmas present to each other; she bought my ticket and I bought hers.I knew the name Bobby "Blue" Bland, but I didn't know his music. Turns out he's a vocalist, working in

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1137694864546711902006-01-19T13:19:00.000-05:002006-01-19T13:21:04.563-05:00

Six years ago, due to misunderstanding some directions, we got on New Orleans' Leonidas bus line. At the time, that bus went through some really rough blocks... areas where, as near as I could tell, the bus was the only city service being reliably delivered. The bus was a vital social center as well as necessary transport. The driver knew the neighbors, and chatting on the bus was how they all

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1137423171172494192006-01-16T09:51:00.000-05:002006-01-16T09:52:51.176-05:00

Oh, Lord, but it's good to be in my own home. I think the endorphins ran out Saturday; I don't think a bus ride is supposed to make me as sore as it did......After 4 days of looking at spraypainted messages from the LASPCA documenting animals found, not found, or found dead, I'm really happy to be home with my cats. Which doesn't even begin to compare to how glad I am to be back in Herself's safe

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1137246941140716282006-01-14T08:55:00.000-05:002006-01-14T08:55:41.190-05:00

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1137124311631962892006-01-12T22:51:00.000-05:002006-01-12T22:51:51.680-05:00

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1136951076263063092006-01-10T22:44:00.000-05:002006-01-10T22:44:36.330-05:00

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1136671105339114302006-01-07T16:55:00.000-05:002006-01-07T16:58:25.350-05:00

Tomorrow is the feast day of Mary, Our Lady of Prompt Succor, patron saint of New Orleans.Tomorrow is also the day when I get on a bus at 9 AM to drive down to New Orleans and work on rebuilding.How about that?Thanks to the students who organized this trip, and the Episcopalian Dioceses (local and in New Orleans) who we're working with.Lafitte, we are coming.

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1136508143974439002006-01-05T19:38:00.000-05:002006-01-05T19:42:48.436-05:00

According to StatCounter, 85 of my last 100 page loads have come from computers using either Windows XP or 2000. I have a message for the owners of those computers:Run Windows Update. Run it now now now. Just trust me and come back and I'll explain why.Back already? See, that wasn't so bad.OK, here's the deal. As you might already know if you're reading Chesterley, there's a new significant

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1136174876186453642006-01-01T23:07:00.000-05:002006-01-01T23:07:56.200-05:00

Nice big pot of hoppin' john simmering on the stove. New haircut. Cleared a ton of space in the "throw stuff here" room. Washington won the NFC wild card. No hangover; no leaking roof. I'm having a pretty good feeling about this year, I don't mind telling you. .....Tom Bodett says there's no reason to take our small grudges with us into the New Year, and I think he's right. People will be plenty

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1135992931699670382005-12-30T20:34:00.000-05:002005-12-30T20:35:31.716-05:00

Merry Christmas from the family.Had a wonderful visit back east. The weather cooperated with all the driving, although I'll admit that there's something anticlimactic about leaving snow on the ground and arriving in light jacket weather at Christmas. Could've used maybe one more day for visiting old friends and family, but I am enjoying my own house and my own bed and holing up with my own remote

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1135258206165404782005-12-22T08:22:00.000-05:002005-12-22T08:30:06.176-05:00

Happy Solstice! (Yes, yes, I am behind my time. I was making rather merry last night. Yule Bowling might be a new tradition.)I feel like the period from Thanksgiving to Christmas is just a long hard slog toward the solstice. Every day it's a little darker when I wake up, every day it's a little darker when I leave work, until I'm trying to do both in the pitch dark. My animal nature says that if

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1134928617406449762005-12-18T12:56:00.000-05:002005-12-18T12:57:00.210-05:00

For your listening pleasure, NPR enters the No-Spin Zone. (Or perhaps the Forum Anti Devolvo?)Yo Saturnalia!

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1134536405468536892005-12-13T23:46:00.000-05:002005-12-14T00:00:05.480-05:00

Oh, you know he'd laugh.R.I.P. Richard Pryor.In my book, Pryor stands with Cosby and Newhart as the great geniuses of American standup. (Carlin is a close fourth and everybody else is sucking wind.) His word association skit with Chevy Chase has to be one of the top 5 moments in Saturday Night Live history.Thanks, Richard.

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1134289037447397852005-12-11T03:11:00.000-05:002005-12-12T17:52:04.236-05:00

It was in 1991 that I took a fantastic course on "Theologies of Liberation." For a whole semester we looked at different ways to understand that God loves us as equals, and demands that we love each other as equals. Further, that this respect is not a reward waiting for some in the next world, but a reality we should both expect and grant to all in this one. And further still, that to support, or

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1133933673609538312005-12-07T00:30:00.000-05:002005-12-07T00:34:33.626-05:00

Since TRP opened the debate about what Christmas songs should be forever banished, I'm going to put in a plug for my favorite Christmas albums. Every time the radio plays something off that list, we ought to call up and ask for a tune from this one.I first saw Vinx opening for Sting during the Soul Cages tour in 1991. It's an amazing thing to watch one man, alone but for a drum and a hell of a

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1132961886853600842005-11-25T18:37:00.000-05:002005-11-25T18:39:27.030-05:00

Got a bunch of hits the other day from Technorati searches on Penn Jillette's essay on atheism. (Note to the overeducated: is atheopistis - faith that there is no god - a word?)It's no surprise to me that a lot of the posts were basically "I heard this and it was good" (or "I heard this and it was bad"). What surprised me a little was the number of posts which were just a wholesale reprint of his

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1132896616610470152005-11-25T00:26:00.000-05:002005-11-25T00:30:16.623-05:00

I am writing this with my laptop on my knees and Gus the cat on my lap, with full tummy and Iron Chef Battle Tofu on TV. The beautiful Herself is asleep on the couch, under a blue blanket Lemming knitted us as a wedding gift, with Hardee the cat sleeping next to her.If I just had a Jedi Mind Trick to get the remote and a beer (not necessarily in that order), it would be perfect. As it is, it's

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1132727014169121652005-11-23T01:23:00.000-05:002005-11-23T01:23:34.183-05:00

Tom asks for more statements of faith. I've got one for him... I was most impressed by Penn Jillette's active faith that there is no god.Jillette and I don't agree on this point. But we do agree on a rather low tolerance for bullshit and intellectual inconsistency. I think we agree that there's too much of both in theistic and atheistic/agnostic circles alike. (As he puts it, the atheism part is

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1132550958160607022005-11-21T00:23:00.000-05:002005-11-21T00:29:18.163-05:00

Spent a good chunk of this weekend preparing the house for Thanksgiving. The schedules are just too tight this year for us to get back east, so we're doing the big shebang and having friends over.We really should entertain more, because it's the only thing that makes us do a proper top-to-bottom cleaning. (To be fair, a proper cleaning combined with top-to-bottom throwing of clutter into a room

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1132237266249658372005-11-17T09:17:00.000-05:002005-11-17T09:21:06.263-05:00

Lemming is nice enough to give me a reason to talk about iTunes again. Two months ago, I wrote that iTunes should let you give specific songs as a gift, and sure enough, Apple has introduced that feature just in time for the holidays. Cool. Also, the iTunes Music Store now features some collaborative filtering (recommendations based on your past purchases) - about which, more someday. Suffice it

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1131821614245808372005-11-12T13:53:00.000-05:002005-11-12T13:56:44.483-05:00

Stop reading this post and go see MirrorMask. Go see it now now now.Herself loves the L. Frank Baum books, so I surprised her once by taking her to see The Wizard Of Oz on the big screen. And on the big screen, surrounded by darkness, it was still magical when the sepia-toned world suddenly exploded with color. It took my breath away.I saw an interview with David Crosby on one of the PBS rock and

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1131647224871278552005-11-10T13:25:00.000-05:002005-11-10T13:27:04.883-05:00

Greetings from (finally) sunny Monterey!I woke up pretty stoked yesterday. Last day of a pretty good conference, enjoy an unscheduled afternoon in Monterey, take myself out for a nice dinner, wake up at Oh-Dark-Hundred and get to the airport, home a-bed Thursday night. So I headed to the conference email room to print out my boarding pass for the next day. Except it won't log me in. That's odd.

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1131292787350866532005-11-06T10:59:00.000-05:002005-11-06T10:59:47.363-05:00

I never knew any guy who wanted to be Luke Skywalker. Anybody worth his salt wanted to be Han Solo. The funny one, the charming one. The one who didn't wear his nobility like a white bathrobe. The one who always came through in the clutch. The one who heard "I love you" and said "I know." The one the princess would rescue. The one with a Wookie best friend and his own spaceship.But Han's not who

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1130732256941004332005-10-30T23:14:00.000-05:002005-10-30T23:21:07.876-05:00

The truth about stories is that's all we are. (Thomas King, The Truth About Stories)Some months ago, Rob at Chesterly was kind enough to ask why I blog. I responded by taking about a month's hiatus from blogging. Sorry 'bout that.In part, it's because I thought the question was asked and answered back at the beginning. One reason I blog because the concept came up on some library listservs I'm on

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1130242907059220832005-10-25T08:11:00.000-04:002005-10-25T08:21:47.080-04:00

There was a particular lyric which I was trying to get into the Big Overserious Book Review, below, but I couldn't quite get it to fit.Fortunately, I had a look at Wil Wheaton's Blog In Exile this morning, and found the link to Jonathan Coulton's cover of the song.And then I snorted coffee through my nose.(NOTICE: that link goes straight to the MP3, which may not be safe for work if your

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1130099016858080042005-10-23T16:19:00.000-04:002005-10-23T16:23:36.873-04:00

You can't exactly call The Obesity Epidemic: Science, Morality, and Ideology a "ripping yarn." You can call it "a stinging critique of the obesity science industry, hidden in the body of a review of the health sciences literature," but then people would fall asleep.Oh, ha ha. Wake up. This is important.Yes, it's a dense academic tome with 19 pages of footnotes. You can handle it. And you should,

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1129901860427426522005-10-21T09:22:00.000-04:002005-10-21T09:37:40.456-04:00

Fuzzy robe and fluffy slippers. Check.Big pot of coffee and bag of donuts. Check.Drafted PowerPoints on the definition of an information commons, residential network security, and how to use PowerPoint well, all of which need to be finished within 2 weeks. Check.It is not either a sad way to spend my birthday. Actually, I'm rather looking forward to it.By the way, it seems that somebody at a site

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1129598858196186322005-10-17T21:26:00.000-04:002005-10-17T21:28:28.856-04:00

I do not know who the blond woman was in the Baltimore airport. I do know she had a cell phone and a loud Texas accent. I do not know who she was talking to. I have forgotten the initials of the organization she talked about. I do, however, know:That she was flying to Columbus and probably on to Houston.That she talked about somebody named Tom and somebody named Bob Roberts.That she's trying to

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1129316083777913942005-10-14T14:53:00.000-04:002005-10-14T14:54:43.783-04:00

In honor of Harold Pinter winning the Nobel Prize, we bring you this pause....(This joke stolen wholesale from Neil Gaiman.)...(And if you can come up with a better title for this post, I'm all ears.)

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1129093830682278432005-10-12T00:34:00.000-04:002005-10-12T01:10:30.716-04:00

I just ran upstairs and dragged Herself to the TV so she didn't miss an annual highlight of TV watching.The Mrs. America Pageant Costume Competition.It's hard for me to embellish the strange blend of tackiness and state pride that shows up on this runway, so we'll just start with the fact that Mrs. Georgia came out carrying a big cracked egg, which split open to reveal her yellow feathered bikini

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1128831730139552482005-10-09T00:16:00.000-04:002005-10-09T00:22:10.146-04:00

I ran across this meme rather by accident, but I liked it, so I figured I'd give it some legs.1. Pick one of your favorite blogs (not including your own; we'll get to that), and suggest a theme song for it. Explain.2. If your blog (see, I told you) had a theme song, what would it be? Explain.3. If your blogging career suddenly collapsed into a steaming mass of putrid refuse because of your

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1128567914935510872005-10-05T23:03:00.000-04:002005-10-05T23:05:14.943-04:00

The Administrator of the EPA was on NPR this morning, talking about "Change A Light Day." (Which, apparently, was today. Surprise!) The EPA would like you to know that compact fluorescent bulbs use one-third the energy of an incandescent bulb. Supposedly, if every household in America would just switch to use one compact fluorescent, we could save one million cars' worth of pollution. Change a

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1127883519333536392005-09-28T00:56:00.000-04:002005-09-28T00:58:39.336-04:00

A colleague of mine says that what I should've written is a post about how libraries have to manage "free" access. He thinks that people don't think of librarians as freedom fighters because they think of us as bun-haired shushers, more interested in restricting information than letting it go free. Talk about how library rules ensure equal access to ideas for the whole society, he suggests, and

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1127792216618496772005-09-26T23:33:00.000-04:002005-09-29T13:53:57.776-04:00

This was supposed to be my annual post on Banned Books Week. I was going to say all kinds of things about how I'm almost a First Amendment absolutist and exhort you to go read books that scare people and talk to your local librarians about it.Then the power went out at work pretty much all day today. (Again. I will not comment on our service level from the local electric utility, but this shirt

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1127354442846667142005-09-21T21:40:00.000-04:002005-09-22T21:04:56.540-04:00

Courtesy of TRP and Hugh, because this blog gets too serious.What do these photos have in common?Oh, and by the way? Thanks, everybody. You're important to me and I appreciate it.

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1127274597491707992005-09-20T23:47:00.001-04:002005-09-21T08:01:07.106-04:00

You may well have already heard about the authorities in Gretna, Louisiana, who blockaded pedestrian evacuees out of New Orleans. If you've seen the first reports from the tourists who were turned back, you might want to hear NPR's reporting on the incident as well.It's a good piece of journalism because I think they do allow the police to present their side of the story. You get a glimpse into

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1126662464743428902005-09-13T21:44:00.000-04:002005-09-13T21:47:44.750-04:00

About a week ago, The State Library of Louisiana put out a call for assistance to the library community. Library use is through the roof, as displaced people look for a place to file for assistance, to look for jobs and homes, and to search for and contact their loved ones. There just aren't enough computer seats for them all, and they were looking for help.One of my bosses saw this call, and got

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1126482635879953002005-09-11T19:39:00.000-04:002005-09-11T19:50:35.890-04:00

We made a lovely trip to Barnes and Noble yesterday, because it's not like the house is full of books we haven't read yet or anything.1 At the checkout line, we found the tiny impulse-buy music display. This was not too hard to pass up, being filled with things like That's What These Damn Kids Today Call Music Volume 6,702.But I took a little closer look, and found Herbie Hancock's new release,

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1125843855296309942005-09-04T09:32:00.000-04:002005-09-04T10:24:15.323-04:00

Our Catholic community sings a beautiful gospel-style Alleluia. Most weeks, we only have a standup piano for accompaniment, and the effect is near perfect. Even the most funk-impaired central Ohioan can get into the swing of this one. It hit me square in the chest yesterday. I knew I was going to Mass to pray for the Delta; it had slipped my mind that for a moment, it would sound like a small

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1125664512340222412005-09-02T08:34:00.000-04:002005-09-02T09:26:45.893-04:00

I got up yesterday morning, and for the first time in my life, I was the primary breadwinner for my household. It's a weird feeling. Kinda scary.And like everyone, I have a job where little things can set me off. $20 cables. $40 books. Users who don't read instructions or error messages literally. Not enough hours in the day, things that should've been done yesterday.Life is good.My house isn't

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1125363241571455822005-08-29T20:51:00.000-04:002005-08-29T20:54:01.576-04:00

The domestic tranquility in our household is ensured by a reasonable number of rules. Very high on the list is: one chef in the kitchen at a time. Not zero. Two is right out. The number of the chefs shall be one.This lesson was learned the hard way, but is not actually a hard lesson. We both like to cook; we can each follow the other's lead. Each of us has certain specialties, which helps.

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1124770003564551682005-08-23T00:01:00.000-04:002005-08-23T00:06:43.566-04:00

Now, I've never read two sentences of Hunter S. Thompson's work. And I have a strong feeling he could be a real pain in the ass. And there's nothing gonzo about suicide.But damn, that's cool.I was counting on the whole Gram Parsons "steal the body and illegally cremate it at Joshua Tree" thing. But, damn, fireworks... yeah, I want fireworks.

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1124667544484416882005-08-21T19:38:00.000-04:002005-08-21T19:39:04.493-04:00

My "Joe Redskin" jersey is not the oldest garment I own, but it does date back to the "going to college" shopping trips. It's held up better than anything else from that era, though, partly because of it's better fabric, and partly because I only grew into it a year or two after I graduated. (What can I say, I was a stick. Now, I'm more of... well, a branch, anyway.)My shirt from the 2001

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1123966031531851432005-08-13T16:45:00.000-04:002005-08-13T16:47:11.536-04:00

Full Disclosure: I root for the NFL team which has the single most offensive team name in sports. And then I spend baseball season looking for garb without a shocking racist caricature on it. I wish they would change, but I don't do much about it. So let me say that I think the NCAA is getting there with its decision to prohibit colleges with racist mascots from hosting championships.(It's also

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1123477111764525112005-08-08T00:56:00.000-04:002005-08-08T00:58:31.770-04:00

I've got myself a bit of an ethical quandary, and since I know this blog is read by people with interests in the scholarly publishing domain, I thought I'd air it out here.Months ago, I submitted an abstract for a conference this November. (It's about the history of network security at Small Liberal Arts College. The paper, not the whole conference. I mean, I'm in a navel-gazing profession, but

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1123357026418844422005-08-06T15:31:00.000-04:002005-08-06T15:37:06.426-04:00

(I can use the spoken word part of a song as a lyric. It's my darn blog.)The great thing about the Internet is how it proves, over and over, that you're not all that weird. Or more to the point, that there are other people out there about the same level of weird as you.This is also the scary thing about the Internet.Whatever your interests, habits, quirks, tendencies, beliefs... there's somebody

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1122560465372715592005-07-28T10:07:00.000-04:002005-07-28T10:21:05.380-04:00

The Irish Republican Army has ordered its members to stand down, disarm, and use exclusively peaceful and legal means.(I feel a little weird linking to the Beeb for that story, but I got most of my news about it courtesy of the BBC World Service, carried on my local NPR station. The Irish Times still considers it "breaking news", and I'm not convinced a link to their story will be stable.)I can't

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1122440591848377192005-07-27T00:59:00.000-04:002005-07-27T01:03:11.860-04:00

There's been a lot of talk lately about whether public broadcasting shows too much lefty bias. Generally, I don't put much stock in this talk, but I had to listen to this Morning Edition piece on the John Templeton Foundation twice to decide what I thought about it.(Sidebar: More than once, my very wise brother has called me on not really listening, but thinking about my response to the part I

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1122336456557853182005-07-25T20:04:00.000-04:002005-07-25T20:07:36.566-04:00

From the "What the hell is wrong with you people" department:Herself and Meself went to Pittsburgh yesterday for Anniversary Weekend (Observed). The highlight and reason for the trip was a concert at the Chevrolet Ampitheatre, Elvis Costello and the Impostors, with special guest Emmylou Harris. Between their two very different but very heavy accents, I figure I understood about 14 words of

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1122009174421735952005-07-22T00:25:00.000-04:002005-07-22T01:12:54.426-04:00

I don't have anything to say myself about the passing of Gen. William Westmoreland. Truth be told, my grasp of the history of the last half of the 20th century is pretty weak, especially when it comes to the complexities of the Vietnam War. (But my rant about how history is taught in American high schools is for another time, and besides, I've been out of high school for 17 years now; there's

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1119414679008452982005-06-22T00:20:00.000-04:002005-06-22T00:31:19.016-04:00

Rep. Bob "Freedom Fries" Ney and I don't agree on a lot of things. Even past our political differences, it looks like he's got some ethical issues coming from some inappropriate lobbyist donations.But he stood up to the overreach of the "Patriot" Act, and for that, I'll thank him publicly. On behalf of all of us who thought conservativism means less Big Government snooping into our private lives,

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1118923776944503852005-06-16T08:07:00.000-04:002005-06-16T08:14:38.546-04:00

Dammit, Frank DeFord and Morning Edition, no making me cry before my second cup of coffee.Seriously. This is a sad piece. It starts with Alex Scott and her Lemonade Stand and the famous tie to Afleet Alex, and gets sadder from there. You may need a tissue. If harm to children or animals affects you deeply, you may need many. I'm talking to everyone, but I'm looking at you, Mom.Frank DeFord does

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1118595622499112262005-06-12T12:50:00.000-04:002005-06-12T13:00:22.506-04:00

It was about a week ago that Matt pointed out the list of most harmful books from Human Events Online. I let this pass without comment, because (cough) I haven't read any of them.Then Patricia Storms asks the next question... can a book be harmful? (Click the link and make sure you see the illustration of her answer... I'll wait.)I'm prepared to stipulate that some books are, in fact, harmful,

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1118356148345298742005-06-09T18:27:00.000-04:002005-06-09T18:29:08.350-04:00

As a rule, I don't blog about my workplace, but this morning threw me a bit. We're doing some rather significant redesign at Small Liberal Arts College Library this summer, and they're putting up a new wall not far from my office. They're hanging the metal studs for the drywall now, and I have to walk through them to get to my desk.The funny thing is, there's a semi-natural inclination to walk

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1118286872052375472005-06-08T22:59:00.000-04:002005-06-08T23:14:32.056-04:00

Before I moved to Ohio, I did not know the difference between "butternut" and "dried hydrangea." I didn't even know they were Martha Stewart brand paint colors. I didn't know the difference between poppies and peonies. I did not use "product" in my hair. Dress shirts mostly came in white and light blue, and pants came in navy or khaki, and shoes were black. And I certainly didn't think about my "

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1117124014278582932005-05-26T12:11:00.000-04:002005-05-26T12:13:34.283-04:00

I'm proud of my Republican Senators.Mike DeWine signed the filibuster compromise. George Voinovich is fighting the good fight against the eminently unqualified (anti-qualified?) John Bolton. And they're both drawing fire from the radical right wing of their own party to do it.So as soon as I post this, I'll be sending them each a supportive email. They need to know that they're not out there

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1116899262938964112005-05-23T21:39:00.000-04:002005-05-23T21:47:42.946-04:00

(Official Hip Deep No-Prize to the first person to get the title reference.)I just got through watching an ESPN show called You Can't Blame... Generally, this is a reasonably entertaining show which makes the argument that guys like Bill Buckner and Chris Webber take a lot more heat for their flubs than they deserve. And today's episode?You can't blame the 1919 White Sox for "throwing" the World

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1116549922925862312005-05-19T20:40:00.000-04:002005-05-19T20:45:22.930-04:00

Tom Cruise : Katie Holmes :: Joe : Charlotte Church.Ewwwwwwww.(Also the Olsen Twins, but that joke's just too easy. And still, eww.)On the other hand,Ashton Kutcher : Demi Moore :: Joe : Christie Brinkley.Well, she is the Uptown Girl, but Billy Joel's my boy. Then again...AK : DM :: Joe : Ellen Barkin.Oh my Lord, Ellen Barkin. Two words: Buckaroo Banzai. Three more words: The Big Easy. Where's

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1116353983574094332005-05-17T14:14:00.000-04:002005-05-17T14:19:43.580-04:00

Hugh asked me about 5 things I don't get, and obviously my essay on intellectual property isn't getting written. So here are some.1) Pot. I just don't get it. Tried it a couple times in college, and it basically made me bouncy and hungry. I later realized that being 19 made me bouncy and hungry, and didn't involve a federally controlled substance. I switched to booze and never looked back. (

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516402.post-1115396719961752562005-05-06T12:18:00.000-04:002005-05-06T12:25:20.043-04:00

Caught an interesting documentary on AMC called Bleep! Censoring Hollywood. I found myself torn on this, because I think there are pretty clear copyright issues on one side, and then some interesting larger intellectual property questions on the other.At issue are a small number of copies which sell DVD "sanitizing" services. The basic model for these companies is pretty similar. They buy a

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385463369182392891noreply@blogger.com5