Truth & Truthiness

So Ira Glass touched a Daisey and got his fingers singed.*  Glass, host of the popular National Public Radio show This American Life,  aired Mike Daisey’s The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, a monologue about working conditions at Apple’s suppliers in China.  Glass and his staff at This American Life thought Daisey’s assertions […]

Friday Bag o’ Fries

My computer’s back from the shop, and what a pleasure it is to work on it again.  Yesterday I typed a post on the other computer at Donna’s desk, where everything is six inches lower.  I couldn’t get through a single sentence without making multiple typos.  It didn’t help that she has her keyboard on […]

He’s Still on Armed Forces Radio?

First of all, I apologize for the blogging slowdown. Over the weekend the fan in the back of my CPR started howling; Monday I took it into the shop to have a new one installed.  They’re running behind and I may not have my computer back for a few days yet.  I’m posting this from […]

Thursday Tea Bag

No, I haven’t turned into a teabagger.  This is one of my periodic “bag” posts, a collection of links and short observations that by themselves wouldn’t get a post of their own. ——————– As a motorcycle rider, I’ve always thought there’s something wrong with law enforcement and the courts when it comes to cagers who […]

You Can’t Read That!

You Can’t Read That! is a periodic roundup of news about banned and challenged books. Right on the heels of the racially-motivated confiscation and banning of textbooks in Tucson schools (see my previous posts, here and here) comes SB 1467, a bill before the Arizona state legislature that will require teachers to limit their speech […]

Don’t Knock the Liberal Arts

Washington Post columnist Michelle Singletary recently wrote a column titled “Not All College Majors Are Created Equal.”  You can click the link and read the whole thing, but if you’re in a hurry, the first few lines say it all: I have this game I play when I meet college students. “What’s your major?” I […]

Department of Predictable Events

In December, after the death of hereditary dictator Kim Jong-Il, network and cable TV news programs replayed videos of North Korean citizens publicly weeping and wailing in mourning for the Dear Leader.  Many Americans, starting with but not confined to news reporters, made fun of the North Koreans. I wrote a blog entry at the […]

Grammar Nazi

A friend posted this to Facebook yesterday: My drinking friends are always forwarding stories like this.  Sure, booze is good for you.  What the hell, if it makes you feel better about your drinking, you have my permission to believe whatever bogus “study” the liquor industry wants you to believe.  Bottoms up! But it isn’t […]