Posted in Great Moments in YouTube, diversion, hockey, tagged hockey, ice on 22 August 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This has to be my favorite segment of “How It’s Made,” in which they show how the ice surface is created for a hockey rink. It’s a good way to think cool on a hot summer’s day.
Pretty sweet.
And just as sweet is the thought that NHL training camps open in a [...]
Posted in acamademia on 22 August 2009 | Leave a Comment »
First, I would be quite glad if my grad student stipend were that high. I only hit that average if I teach during the summer, and even then I get hosed because the university only pays me for two months of work (with a 20 percent bonus!) even though I do the equivalent of a [...]
Posted in acamademia, tagged academic blues on 16 August 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Posted in diversion, tagged John Hughes, National Lampoon, Vacation on 8 August 2009 | Leave a Comment »
As baby boomers began waxing nostalgic about the unexpected death of John Hughes this week, I caught sight of a link to Hughes’ original story, “Vacation ‘58,” which was the basis for National Lampoon’s Vacation. Let’s just say the film would’ve been much better had it not had to fictionalize the ultimate object of Clark [...]
Posted in news, tagged environment on 6 August 2009 | 2 Comments »
Here’s the Stranger’s endorsement on Seattle’s Referendum 1, which would finally implement a city ordinance charging 20 cents for every plastic bag stores give out.
This was a tough one, as both sides made excellent points. On the one hand, environmentalists who know about things like “science” and “dead sea mammals” have researched the issue thoroughly [...]
Posted in cartoons, send in the Slavs, tagged Slovakia, cartoons, Hungary on 5 August 2009 | 2 Comments »
I absolutely love this cartoon by Martin Šútovec, an outstanding contemporary Slovak cartoonist. In fact, I love it so much that I’m reproducing it here and explaining quite laboriously and awkwardly the wordplay that makes it so humorous.
The cartoon is mocking the new Slovak language law (the Hungarian political scientist and MEP György Schöpflin offers [...]
Posted in baseball, tagged baseball, labor issues, PED, steroids on 3 August 2009 | Leave a Comment »
After half-listening to Jon Miller last night as he spun conspiracy theories about why the names of players like Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz who failed drug tests in 2003, I found Doug Glanville’s perspective much more reasoned, and fair.
The real issue, as Glanville notes more soberly, isn’t that some big names cheated pharmacologically. Rather, [...]
Posted in Obamarama, fun with conservatives, scumbags, tagged Bushed!, Obamarama on 1 August 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Buried in this story about the Obama girls’ summer travels and activities is some of the criticism of the First Family’s jetsetting.
Last month, Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, said the president had some “nerve” to be sightseeing in Paris while insisting that Congress should focus on overhauling health care.
Right. And I’m sure stealing away [...]
