There’s a superb article in BusinessWeek that anyone even superficially interested in the current economic situation in the United States ought to read. The author discusses the disparity between the likely cause of current high oil prices (speculation) and what the government’s economists like to claim is the cause (supply shortages). The author’s point is [...]
I’ve mentioned before the terrapins and eels in the lobby of my work. Well, what I’ve referred to as “the courtyard” is the Tawes Garden. This is a 5-acre plot pretty much in downtown Annapolis that recreates the varied terrains of Maryland. Western Maryland has tall trees and all sorts of forest-y ground-growth. Southern Maryland [...]
<rant> People of the Internet, hear me: Stop using symbols from languages that you do not speak for purely aesthetic purposes! Just because those glyphs don’t mean anything to you doesn’t mean they’re meaningless to everybody! I’m talking to you, Wikipedia/bulletin board posters who always put “ツ” after their names. It may look like a [...]
I’m a stalker from way back, baby. As soon as I got your phone number, your bus-stop, I was all over you like tasty gluten is all over rice. I would find out your boy-scout troop, your class schedule, your after-school activities. I had friends in all places, lurking, watching and passing the information onto [...]
Since I got my amazing binoculars, I’ve been keeping my eyes open. I’m going to list some birds I have seen, but first comment on a few sightings. Most Remarkable Sighting: Bald Eagle, seen at Lake Louise in Crofton, MD. There is no mistaking a bald eagle – they’re huge, brown wings and white heads [...]
Michael and I are trying out the slim-fast diet after a discussion with my bestest friend in the world this weekend. Over the course of conversation, I mentioned that what I really wanted was not to think about food – to eat some sort of healthy loaf with all the nutrients I needed so I [...]
Percentage of Americans who are intelligent enough to remember to breathe: 100% (assumption) Percentage of Americans who believe that “things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track” in this country: 81% (CBS News-NY Times poll) Percentage of Americans who disapprove of the job done by George W. Bush as President: 72% (ibid., 100% [...]
BIG FAT EDIT: After writing this post, I’ve found out that the same Laurence Britt who wrote the essay on fascism which I excerpted also wrote a dystopian political novel entitled “June 2004″, about a future America dominated by right-wing extremists. In my mind this makes him much less trustworthy as a scholarly critic of [...]
I just read an article in the Washington Post about Barack Obama’s position on abortion. But it’s not his political positioning I want to talk about, rather I take issue with the way this article paints Obama and the democratic party’s views on abortion (because, somehow, there is such a thing). I want to preface [...]