Our elected officials have been arguing over the details of healthcare reform for a long, long time now. It remains unclear to me whether Congress will be able to pass a reconciled bill before its recess — and when it… Continue Reading
So I’ve been worried about teaching an undergraduate class. Here’s my solution, and the rationale. Returning undergraduate students have their strengths and weaknesses. For instance, they deal poorly with ambiguity. That means that if I give them this question: Paul… Continue Reading
To begin this tenth edition of Weekend Weirdness, I give you tens. Tens of weird commercials. Ten half minutes of a guy in a chicken suit playing “What is Love?” from Ring Mod on Vimeo. Okay, “ten half minutes” is… Continue Reading
At lunch today, my friend pointed out that the proposed initiative to legalize and tax marijuana in California had recently announced that it has obtained half again as many signatures as needed to qualify for appearing on the ballot in… Continue Reading
Inspired by this post over at Hit Coffee, I should point out two things that are good about the two municipal governments that I have noticed recently. First, Soffit House is located on the very edge, but still within the municipal… Continue Reading
I don’t know why I should feel guilty about taking several days off in a row or why I should feel a need to explain why I haven’t written anything in a while. I kind of do feel that way,… Continue Reading
I wrongly predicted that most of the money spent by both the Bush and Obama Administrations bailing out the big banks would not be paid back. This appears to have not turned out as I had predicted. Of the many things… Continue Reading
I accepted an assignment to teach another class in January. This one will be an undergraduate class, not nearly as much fun as a room full of bright grad students. This forces me to confront a problem, which is how… Continue Reading
I reported a while back that a friend who works at a bookstore told me that the Sarah Palin book was gathering dust on the shelves. Now she says that it’s moving well. This little video shows what might be… Continue Reading
LOLCats — annoying the hell out of you since 1929! After Japanese stereoscopic photography was rediscovered, so was the lost art of stop-motion photography, this time by disaffected Spanish college students. Living on a cliff: probably not a good idea… Continue Reading