Month: January 2007
The Tragic Irony of the Broken Men
One more case in someone Sue was talking to, but we know of enough cases already to establish the pattern: men who want to control all facets of their wives’ lives, including controlling their access to money and cutting them off from friends and family. {armchair psychology warning}As far as I can tell they need…
Does this make me a bad person?
Report in the paper yesterday that the Great Barrier Reef is doomed within decades. It’s horrible news and a complete disaster, but I have to admit that my first thought was ‘wow, better go see it soon then!’ Of course ‘better cut down on energy use and look for good alternatives’ is there as well,…
Pattern Recognition
With thanks to Kradlum at the William Gibson Board: World’s oldest woman dies (Aug 28 2006) World’s oldest man dies (Oct 12 2006) World’s oldest person dies (Dec 12 2006) World’s oldest woman dies (Jan 19 2007) World’s oldest person dies (Jan 24 2007) World’s oldest person dies (Jan 29 2007) I think I see…
Hybrid Vigor (or something)
Mowed the lawn early yesterday morning, before it got too hot. Was still streaming sweat and blinking it out of my eyes the whole time. When we first arrived the front lawn had been fairly recently turfed with a small, low-growing but dense (lots of blades per square metre) variety of grass. The ‘verge’ along…
Flying The Flag
Went to the beach for a picnic on Friday, which was Australia Day (January 26). Most of Australia seems to have had the same idea, so it took us a while to find a parking space and a relatively unbusy bit of beach, but we did and it was fantastic. Clean, fine white sand that…
…aaaand… we’re back
OK, enough with the hiatus already, got stuff to talk to you about. 😉 Mithel (a guy at a forum) on motorcycle commuting: When i started to commute, i told my boss my work day was about 2 hours shorter. The drive is part of work, the ride is mine. I feel the same way.…
Hiatus – Let’s Make This Official
I’m just not at all motivated to blog at the moment. Sorry. I will be again, some time, and will be back.
Dangers of A Flailing Bush
From Glenn Greenwald: http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2007/01/collapse-of-bush-presidency-poses.html
Pretending I Don’t Hear
…the drumbeats of war between the US and Iran. Pretending that Bush’s references to Iran and Syria in his ‘surge’ speech were just sabre rattling, and the US attack on an Iranian (nearly-)consulate in Iraq wasn’t really an act of war. Pretending that the insistence that Iran’s nuclear program is a nuclear weapons program, despite…
Cutting Their Own Throats1
This article from Salon’s ‘How The World Works’ is a nice example of the phenomenon I want to talk about. It talks about the American car industries long and stubborn fight against government mandated standards for emissions control and fuel efficiency of vehicles. The article makes the point that it’s a losing fight: while the…
They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To
Bruce Dickinson, the lead singer of heavy metal band Iron Maiden, has an ear for the power and majesty of the old English hymns. In the Iron Maiden song ‘Revelations’ he uses these lines from a hymn by G.K. Chesterton: Oh God of love and altar Bow down and hear our cry Our earthly rulers…
Couldn’t make it up
From Salon: The failed Oprah blackmail plot? The FBI was involved in setting up a sting to catch a man allegedly trying to blackmail Oprah Winfrey’s company over recorded phone calls he said would “not destroy but hurt” her reputation. Keifer Bonvillain was arrested Dec. 15 in Atlanta after reportedly trying to extort money from…
Bruce Sterling on the state of the world
Jon Lebkowsky mail-interviews Bruce Sterling on The Well – and Bruce has a fair bit of interesting stuff to say: http://www.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/topics/289/Bruce-Sterling-State-of-the-Worl-page01.html
Seven Deadly (Driving) Sins
(I include riders along with drivers in these, at least for the ones that apply) 1. Talking on the phone – some people (usually those who do it) get defensive on this one, but I have both real evidence from this study (and others by the same team) and anecdotal evidence from my time on…
700 posts
Didn’t even notice the milestone as it went by: I just noticed that today’s post was number 704.
Whitewash!
So, Australia just defeated England 5-0 in the Ashes. OK, that probably means virtually nothing to most readers of this blog! All right, without getting too complicated, The Ashes is a serious of Test cricket matches between Australia and England. They started in 1882. The trophy is an urn contain the ashes of the bails…
Happy New Year
….aaaannnd: We’re back! Actually, I’ve been home for about a week, but still kinda in holiday mode and not blogging. Back in work mode now, ‘cos I have lots to do in January, and back to the blog (well, hopefully with some actual content tomorrow, rather than this kind of ‘waffle about the blog’ stuff).…