April 2007
45 posts
Misery lit →
I will confess to a voyeuristic fondness for this type of literature, and this article is pretty interesting. (via news.bbc.co.uk)
Vitamin D casts cancer prevention in new light →
Better start taking your Vitamin D, kids.
“The decline of literature indicates the decline of a nation. ”
– Goethe
WatchEarth has a case of the humans. Pretty nice little animation, and not tendentious in an obnoxious way. (via Google Video)
Being Smart Doesn’t Make You Rich →
Well, of course this isn’t news to anyone who’s represented an imbecile who makes three quarters of a million dollars a year, as I have, but still. Nice to see it scientifically confirmed.
Highway Engineer Pranks
(via xkcd.com)
Me: Hon?
Ron: Yes?
Me: Does it make you feel bad to be married to a woman who likes to watch "Cops"?
Ron: No. (pause) The "Intervention" thing gives me some pause, though.
CD Tray Fight
(via xkcd.com)
Repeal the Second Amendment →
The title says it all. Via salon.com.
The Impulse to Exclude →
Ralph Ellison wrote one great novel and then lived a life that is hard to admire … (Phyllis Rose, from The American Scholar)
“I am a lover of truth, a worshipper of freedom, a celebrant at the altar of...”
– Stephen Fry
“Und wann der Mensch in seiner Qual verstummt, gab mir ein Gott zu sagen, wie ich...”
– Goethe, Torquato Tasso
Chess Photo
(via xkcd.com)
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees? →
Well! Looks like the death of the bees will kill us all long before the brain cancer will. What a relief.
"They Flee from Me That Sometime Did Me Seek," by...
They flee from me that sometime did me seek With naked foot stalking in my chamber. I have seen them gentle tame and meek That now are wild and do not remember That sometime they put themselves in danger To take bread at my hand; and now they range Busily seeking with continual change. Thank’d be fortune, it hath been otherwise Twenty times better; but once in special, In...
Most Controversial Films of All Time →
I made sure this list had credibility by checking to see whether Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salo was on it. It was.
No more whining excuses →
Pretty good column from Joe Conason on Don Imus. Via salon.com.
Christopher Hitchens, Welcome to the You Decade →
Christopher Hitchens on “You” run rampant.
Labyrinth Puzzle
(via xkcd.com)
“Pauline Wallin, a clinical psychologist in Camp Hill, Pa., said that Americans...”
– I’ve been saying this very thing for years now. Thank you, Dr. Wallin. ( via The New York Times)
"The Door is Half Open..." by Anna Akhmatova
The door is half open, The sweet smell of limes … On the table, forgotten, A whip and a glove. The lamp’s yellow glow … Things rustle all round. Why did you go? I don’t understand. More clearly I’ll see Tomorrow with fresh eyes That life is beautiful. Heart, just be wise. You’re completely worn out— Beating sluggishly … You know, I read somewhere That...
Like Blood from a Deep Cut, by Joe Wenderoth
Like soap-opera deaths, these days are not believable, but make a week, a summer, a few years, caught in the only plot, quickly, muted now, repeating. Every rough stone is smoothed, every push of this warm river slower, colder. This has become obvious. What is not obvious is daytime itself appearing in a pointed silence like a dead relative in a good dream. The closer that face comes ...
Scientific American: The Science of Lasting... →
Confirming what I already knew: staying in high spirits is hard work.
WatchIn the immortal words of The First Guy, “First, motherfucker!” (via Video Dog)
'Christmas Story' director dies in crash →
Man, this is a sad story, and yet another reason to believe that most people who drive SUVs are selfish, irresponsible assholes.
Tabletop Roleplaying
(via xkcd.com)
Appropriate Term
(via xkcd.com)
“I share the outrage expressed in the British press over the treatment of our...”
– Terry Jones in The Guardian Unlimited
Happy National Poetry Month! →
April is National Poetry Month. You can sign up for the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day at the link above.
“Looking back, Mr. Dowd now says his faith in Mr. Bush was misplaced. In a...”
– Ex-Aide Says He’s Lost Faith in Bush - New York Times