…Because the most horrific consequence imaginable of underfunded public education would be that kids start reading comic books. I’m really tired of people perpetuating insulting myths about my hobbies, especially when those people are Democratic political candidates like Nancy King (running for the MD state senate), whose positions I tend to agree with, especially on […]

Not the greatest week for me, even if it was a short one. Lots of work-related frustrations, which, to be fair, are totally expected in the early weeks of a project’s testing phase, but are, nonetheless frustrating. Otherwise, the weather was a bit cooler, and it made my bike rides very pleasant. Family camping this […]

…I was brave enough, or enlightened enough to come up with something like this when I was in this kid’s position, rather than the by-the-numbers crap ‘n platitudes speech I did end up giving. Outside of a little bit of tone that only a terribly bright eighteen year-old who hasn’t seen much of the world […]

This is one of those times. Like Arizona, Virginia is just too damned pretty to be this damned ugly. True, this is not quite as bad as the AZ law just yet, but this is Cuccinelli we’re talking about here, who’s made his time as Attorney General all about discrimination and Obama bothering rather than […]

Yes, there are words on this image, violating the whole “worth 1000 words” dictum, but in this case, the picture (with words) really expresses what’s wrong with the the ubiquity of the kind of things soulless corporations are marketing to our children (and worse, that we let them). Just take a look (click it so […]

According to yet another reported survey, romantic comedy films mess up people’s relationships (Sorry for the blinky over-advertised link destination) by encouraging unrealistic expectations about what “love” is supposed to be. For some people, this causes much distress when their real-life relationships don’t live up to the storybook perfection presented on the page or the […]

Spam is a fact of life on the internet…thank $diety for filters and moderation queues; they make maintenance a lot easier. Of course, blog admin tools have the unfortunate side effect of presenting moderated comments out of the context of the post they’re attached to. Some of them are really actually quite flattering, giving me […]

Last year (YiB 2009, #5), I went against my better judgment and read Twilight to see what all the fuss was about. Based on what I’d gleaned from the pop culture currents, I was pretty sure it wasn’t something that was going to appeal to me. And, I was basically right. For many reasons, I […]

Returning to hotel living after a couple of weeks does strange things to a person’s sleep cycle. “Baclava” – Arctic Monkeys “Big Big Ugly” – Innocent Nixon “Broken Family” – Julie Schreiber Band “Move On” – The Rentals “Pollution of the Mind” – Miss Kittin “Begin the Begin” – REM “I Pity the Fool” – […]

Long-time readers of this space are probably aware of my general cynicism toward broadcast media, mostly to do with the fact that the “news” isn’t really much about disseminating useful information than about selling advertising slots, and with vast swaths of the american public, the most effective ways of raising ratings (to get eyeballs on […]