Archive for July, 2006

Honest! It wasn’t me!

Honest! It wasn’t me!

| July 14, 2006 | Reply

I haven’t done anything like this since I was was 8 years old and living in Astoria, Oregon.  ..bruce..

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Over the rainbow

Over the rainbow

| July 14, 2006 | Reply

Here’s a photograph — taken in Kansas no less, two years ago — of a tornado and a rainbow together. I keep looking for Dorothy’s house. Hat tip to Fortean Times. ..bruce..

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Link o’ the day

Link o’ the day

| July 14, 2006 | Reply

A complete list of aphorisms from the 44(!) “Charlie Chan” movies. Note that those 44 movies were made in a period of less than 20 years, averaging slightly more than 2 movies per year. And you thought Star Trek was bad…. Hat tip to Language Log (one of my favorite blogs, by the way). ..bruce..

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How we won the Cold War

How we won the Cold War

| July 14, 2006 | 1 Reply

By spreading truly subversive and crippling concepts — via Finland. Hat tip to Sharpeworld via The Consumerist.   ..bruce..

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“Born American, but in the wrong place.”

“Born American, but in the wrong place.”

| July 13, 2006 | 1 Reply

Peter Schramm, Professor of Politicial Science at Ashland University, tells of his long journey from being born in Communist-occupied Hungary to ultimately “teaching…native-born Americans…how to think about their own country.” He ends as follows: But what I do with these American natives is I teach them about American politics and American history. I start with […]

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The Big Dig Starts to Crumble

The Big Dig Starts to Crumble

| July 13, 2006 | Reply

Gerry Weinberg, who has been a leading light in software engineering for nearly 40 years, once famously remarked, “If builders build buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.” Up in Boston, it appears that the woodpeckers have struck, with tragic results. The Big Dig, as it […]

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Adventures in Fund Raising: Democratic Party Conflict

Adventures in Fund Raising: Democratic Party Conflict

| July 13, 2006 | Reply

Jay Cost over at Real Clear Politics does the best job I’ve seen anywhere of explaining the current dispute between Howard Dean (chairman of the Democratic National Committee) and Rahm Emanuel (chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee). The short version is obvious: Dean is trying to build up the Democratic Party on a local […]

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Press bias and multiple sources

Press bias and multiple sources

| July 12, 2006 | Reply

FURTHER UPDATE (7/14/06): This could explain a lot. UPDATE (7/13/06): Having written this post yesterday, I ran across these three pieces today: Who’s determing editorial policy at the New York Times (Jed Babbin at Real Clear Politics) Why the New York Times should not have printed its article about SWIFT (Jacob Weisberg — certainly no […]

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Links o’ the day

Links o’ the day

| July 12, 2006 | Reply

Sandra and I are thinking about getting a new house. The folks at Chocolate Cake City (who did the Brokeback to the Future trailer) have a new one: X-Men: The Last Standing Ovation. Ah, the wonders of Photoshop (though having a twisted mind helps).

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Rules of the Open Road

Rules of the Open Road

| July 11, 2006 | Reply

I am of an age (53) to remember when travel in the United States primarily involved roads that had, at most, two lanes in each direction (and that only if you were lucky). Interestingly enough, once you get out of major urban areas, it still does. Long cross-country stretches of the US Interstate Highway system […]

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