Ten Gallon Liberal
Brain Food of the Highest Order
While the crema builds up on that last post, here’s something completely different. This morning, I sat eating my Weetabix, and suddenly the speakers nearby launched into the air a gorgeous melody. It’s really quite unlike any other melody I can think of....Obama, Bush and Romney
Glenn Greenwald and Ibrahim Mothana illustrate why this fall is, in some ways, unimportant: Mothana, in the New York Times: Unfortunately, liberal voices in the United States are largely ignoring, if not condoning, civilian deaths and extrajudicial killings in Yemen...From “Freedom Fries” to Frying Cheney
I never would have dreamed I’d be writing in praise of Rep. Walter Jones (R, N.C.), formerly of “freedom fries” fame. But, well, here you go: “Congress will not hold anyone to blame [for the Iraq War]. Lyndon Johnson’s probably rotting in...That really was the end of the world right there
So I was wrong. The world did end, as predicted, at 6:11 a.m. this morning. Yet I awoke to find everything the same, and was pretty okay with that. But then. Ah, then I stumbled upon the ugly(?) truth. The world did end, and was replaced with an exact replica....Friday Food Madness: An Advance in Pastry Science?
Too bad this machine strips the cookie of its essential nature. This is just the kind of thing Mary Shelley warned us about. The video is beautifully done, on the other hand. Very wry. (And creamless.)Blue Means Go
Ever wonder where, say, purple ends and pink begins? Here’s an extraordinary post exploring the linguistic, cognitive, and neurological basis of how many colors we perceive. Part two explores yet further, and offers a very cool BBC video about language/color...Low non-Earth Orbit
A crazy planet? Well, yes, but no. Here’s something for everyone who’s imagined what it would be like to walk on the ceiling (outside of Lionel Richie), or imagined a textured ceiling as the surface of a planet: An artist who shoots photos of the tops of...Can the gun control conversation grow up?
This is the best article I’ve yet read about the conflicting cultures of gun owners versus gun control advocates. Makes me realize that, though it’s talked up as uncrossable, I straddle this cultural divide. I bet there are plenty of others who do as well....Big Brother Wears Glasses
Sometimes profound social change happens so fast no one is prepared for the new reality (yep, Future Shock, still relevant). I assumed Google Glass would fizzle out because its wearers look absurd. But then again, so do those bizarre pointy shoes some women still...Not in the World with Supermarkets
An oddly poignant quote from 108-year-old Alice Herz-Sommer: “In my opinion musicians are privileged people. It brings you from the first tone to another world, not in the world with supermarkets, and not with money, in a world with peace and beauty.”...Uncomfortable Questions
Do the political realities behind the destruction of an overwhelming symbol of empire point to some uncomfortable conclusions?Crazy for guns!
Can the conversation grow up? Alex Jones says no. Very, very loudly. (As does our comment section.) And if you can make it a couple of minutes into this video without turning the volume to mute, he gets even louder. Me, I want to see how he’s going to use his...Carrying a Gun: A Very Big Deal
Here’s an interesting case to examine: former Marine with handgun stops a crime. It’s a fine example of the sort that gets trotted out by our NRA friends to say, “See, it works! And all you crazy liberals want to take away our protection!” And...A Noseful
In case you were wondering, yes, there are people who have far too much free time. Here, several of them compete to see who has the roomiest head.Still a big deal to own a gun…
In contrast to the last post, here’s the story of a teenager sneaking into the neighbor’s house by accident instead of his own and getting shot as an intruder. How this story gets interpreted is something, I’ll maintain, that’s likely to vary...Bats and Guns
More stories like this one would be in the newspaper if guns were harder to get. I expect the usual arguments imagining a victim shooting an attacker. But any, or even all, of these people might be dead if attacker or the adult victim had a gun; no guarantees...Prince Rupert must have dropped a lot of molten glass in his day
I love the name “Prince Rupert’s Drop.” And the object itself? Spectacular. Go, science! The world is weirder than you suspect sometimes.The Moustache of Understanding Strikes Back
Of the many blowhards masquerading as media figures, few are so frustrating in their pompousness, air of reason, and sheer insanity as Thomas Friedman. Glenn Greenwald today uses the occasion of a singularly spectacular Friedman statement to go after said insanity,...Chicken Little, certified member of the Tennessee GOP
I hate it when my fellow Southerners make the stereotypes stick: Building managers and legislative staffers have sought to reassure some concerned Tennessee lawmakers that recent renovations at the state Capitol did not install special facilities for Muslims to wash...There are Good Guys and There are Bad Guys, and There are Folks like You and Me
TPM’s Josh Marshall, in a long post about being a “non-gun person,” offers a particularly distilled summation of the problem with the pro-NRA argument about “good guys with guns” being the answer to pretty much everything:...Devolution
Jan. 17: 1) “The president of the National Rifle Association (NRA) on Thursday said that the organization was ‘generally supportive’ of strong background checks on firearm purchasers.” 2) “A CBS News poll released Thursday shows 92...Storm Clouds?
The eight years of political misery that began with the Supreme Court’s Bush v. Gore decision might be but a harbinger of a rough November. From the New York Times: Twelve years after a too-close-to-call presidential contest imploded in a hail of Florida punch...Lending Dancing Larry a Hand
If you’ve ever met the man known as Dancing Larry, you know he’s as generous and friendly a soul as you’re likely to meet. He’s been a longtime fixture in the Valley, dancing with joy at local music shows for years. Play a show with him at the...Thatcher Oof
When I heard that the Iron Lady had left us, I wondered, “What do the Oak Ridge Boys think about this?” They quickly obliged: From: Webster PR To: jheflin@valleyadvocate.com Subject: The Oak Ridge Boys comment on the passing of UK Prime Minister Margaret...Is authorship about to pay even less?
Last November, I wrote about a thorny Supreme Court case, Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons. In short, it revolves around the right to import copyrighted works intended for overseas use and resell them. Kirtsaeng, a Thai student who made a load of cash reselling...Bad all over
Quite the bodycount of innocents killed in the past few days around the world, including in our own horrible events. Here’s the beginning of the list: SYRIA Syrian warplanes swooped over the quiet town of Saraqeb in the country’s north Saturday, dropping...A Tough Week Gets Worse
Meanwhile, in Congress, expanded background checks for gun ownership, supported by an overwhelming majority of even NRA members, are voted down. Gabby Giffords says this: They looked at these most benign and practical of solutions, offered by moderates from each...A Matter of Important Semantics
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said yesterday regarding the Boston Marathon bombings: 1) “…we need to know everything we can about why this happened, what the motivation was, how it happened, and all of those issues are under investigation.”...Austen will Destroy You
When I first was required to read Jane Austen, I thought, “Uh-oh. Chick lit.” I was surprised and pleased to find that my preconceptions were not only ill-founded, but absurdly off-base. I have nothing but admiration for her deadly wit and humor, and now...Triumph of the Swill: Why Amanda Palmer's poem about Dzhokhar Tsarnaev needs a replacement
I often try to temper talk about musicians or artists I don’t personally care for with a healthy dose of understanding that making good art is quite hard to do. I often look back at my own earlier works of poetry and wonder how I thought they were worthy....Where the Christmas decorations went
Some weird stuff: 1) Google Earth offers some unwitting insight into William Gibson. Namely, the idea of experiencing/manipulating computer code as if it were an object. It never makes a whole lot of sense to read, in science fiction, of people manipulating code...Life imitates Science Fiction again
Something to think about next time you weed the garden: Plants use underground fungal networks to warn their neighbours of aphid attack, UK scientists have discovered. The study, published this week in Ecology Letters, is the first to reveal plants’ ability to...NRA: Violent Movies Bad, Except When They're Cool
Goldurn violent movies keep turning people crazy. Only now, says the NRA, those violent movies are pretty cool. From their Top 10 list of “Coolest Gun Movies,” there’s this about The Godfather: “While not rip-roaring with action, this film...Gun Control: We Agree, Yet…
This ought to be easy, according to these new Pew numbers: Gun control supporters can point to broad and consistent public support for expanded background checks. Fully 81% favor making private gun sales and sales at gun shows subject to background checks, little...Gun Control: If We Build It…
Between 3-D printers and the “gun build” phenomenon, it’s safe to say that gun legislation battles are a sideshow. Despite the tendency of gun arguments to quickly concretize into opposing cartoons, the grand-scale issue of gun violence isn’t...Banksy has a Coke
If you can’t read it above, check it out here. I wouldn’t call this his most successful effort by a long shot, but his take on what advertisers do is particularly intriguing. I would certainly rather look at a work of Banksy art than an ad.Frankenstein's Arrested Development
For months, I anticipated the return of Arrested Development. Best comedy, well, ever, in my estimation. At least, outside of the U.K. Office. I’ve watched three of the new episodes. Total laugh count: approximately one per episode. It’s like watching an...Who Could Have Predicted?
A friend of mine gave me a “Yes We Did” sticker the day after Obama won. I threw it away. I’m glad I did. No politician deserves unquestioning adoration. In fact, I’d argue that they all deserve relentless scrutiny and skepticism about their...Daniel Ellsberg weighs in on the NSA leaks
Daniel Ellsberg, leaker of the Pentagon Papers, has a few choice things to say regarding Edward Snowden’s current leak of NSA documents. I find it curious that this issue is being treated as if it is new and suddenly urgent, when it has been a matter of concern...Now that Racism isn't a Problem…
Back from vacation today and I still have sand in my shoes. Takeaway from Connecticut shoreline visit: Connecticut beachgoers love them private beaches. If they only had walk-throughs allowed, it wouldn’t be so absurd. We’re talking razorwire, machine gun...Friday Listening
Two musicians I’ve recently heard for the first time: Bambi Lee Savage and Anna Calvi. They are similar in some ways, offering moody, expansive songs with heavy guitar presence. Calvi sports about as huge a Telecaster plus Vox AC30 tone as you’re likely to...Gun control via actuaries
The experiment begins: here’s what’s happened in Kansas with a new law allowing school staff and faculty to carry concealed weapons– The EMC Insurance Cos. insures 85 percent to 90 percent of all Kansas school districts and has refused to renew...The Plight of the Modern Author: Anakana Schofield
Canadian author Anakana Schofield offers a provocative and scathing takedown of the current plight of the author. She also touches on (in the bold below) the problem all writing teachers face: you simply can’t teach someone to write who hasn’t read. Even...Worldometer
Just stumbled upon Worldometers. It induces a weird sort of urgency to see the numbers, in real time, on things like births, deaths, energy, population, media and more. Check it out, and see if your brain doesn’t go a wee bit wobbly, too.Worldometer
Just stumbled upon Worldometers. It induces a weird sort of urgency to see the numbers, in real time, on things like births, deaths, energy, population, media and more. Check it out, and see if your brain doesn’t go a wee bit wobbly, too.Good Guys without Guns
Somehow I think Wayne LaPierre isn’t going to amend or complicate his binary good guy/bad guy gun talk. It is nonetheless interesting that what stopped the recent gunman in Pennsylvania was a pair of good guys without guns: “[Bernie Kozen and Mark Kresh]...An incredible piece of audio
Listened to the audio of Antoinette Tuff’s 911 call in which she talks down the potential school shooter in Georgia? The woman certainly has a lot of grace under fire. The most astounding thing in it: she tells the shooter she loves him and is proud of him for...R.I.P. Seamus Heaney
One of the great voices of Ireland has died at 74. Here’s the Irish Times piece. Below is the Heaney broadside I am fortunate to have on my wall at home:A Big Bad Bollock
At present, I’m at work on the next Advocate cover story, a catch-up with John Allen of Big Bad Bollocks fame. He’s compiled a set of tales of his English upbringing and pursuit of America called Marmite Cowboy. Along with it, you’ll find this highly...Bad, Broken
Today is a weird day for me: I don’t have cable, so I don’t usually see shows as they are aired. For that matter, I seldom care about any TV show. But today, I am quite in thrall to what is, I think, the best drama on the airwaves since The Wire. Most of...This Does Not Bode Well
It’s hard to pull yourself up by the bootstraps, American Dream-style, if you aren’t clear on the concept. Via AP: In math, reading and problem-solving using technology — all skills considered critical for global competitiveness and economic strength...The Shutdown: brought to you by the Religious Right
The intransigence we’ve seen of late from the Tea Party minority in the GOP is just the tip of the iceberg. The motivations are becoming clearer, and the source of this great “we’re gonna get our way even though we are a small minority”...Showdown at the Blue Mesa Grill: Guns and Lunch
Hard to know quite how to feel about the tempest that resulted when four members of the organization Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense got together for a lunchtime chat at Blue Mesa Grill in Arlington, Texas (a few miles from my own home turf, as it happens). Members...More Complete Numbers on Obamacare
Obamacare is hardly an unqualified success, but the folks who want to return to the status quo are clearly not a majority, despite the current caterwauling. Interesting stuff via a CNN/ORC poll: A CNN/ORC International poll also indicates nearly six in 10 Americans...Gun Control: Homicides, Suicides, Accidents; Raccoon Man for Governor!
Back in the saddle after a mad round of holiday, family, friends, birthdays, and such. Been a good December. Since my most faithtful reader needs a place for his orphan comment, here’s a subject to which his commentary might appropriately be appended. Long story...A New England Question
This morning, I filled up with gas at a station on a busy corner. Across the street were businesses and restaurants. I wore my warmest gloves, but of course holding onto a metal gas nozzle for a couple of minutes when it’s 7 degrees and windy makes your hands...Books–who knew?
When I read this article–“Why I Dropped eBooks”–I didn’t feel older than before I read it, just something like amused. I would have called it “Why I Never Adopted eBooks.” It’s someone discovering that, by gum,...From the Stranger than Fiction Department
If you need some truly wild reading (and viewing), check out this case of supposed possession, documented by case workers, police, and the clergy. And all of it in contemporary Indiana.In which we fix “America the Beautiful” for Republicans
I despise television advertising. I’m convinced watching the stuff lowers your IQ within seconds. However, the conservative collective freakout over Coca-Cola’s “America the Beautiful” ad is entertainment of the first water. No absurd...E-Edition
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