Up until about the eighth grade, the first semester ended about two weeks after we returned from Christmas vacation. Then, some law was passed that allowed school to begin earlier in the year. A few days off and inservice days… Continue Reading
The People’s Republic of China is sea-testing an aircraft carrier, apparently sucessfully. She is believed to have originated as the Soviet carrier Varyag, which was originally designed to support missile-carrying subs and surface ships, and is diesel-powered rather than nuclear. What… Continue Reading
A while back, Derek Thompson wrote a good piece on The Atlantic about the overall costs of employment. Contrary to what some are suggested overall compensation for labor hasn’t actually fallen very much as a percentage of the GDP. Rather,… Continue Reading
Following up on a story I discussed in October and again in November, concerning a Latin cross atop a municipal water tower in the Western Tennessee town of Whiteville, the Freedom From Religion Foundation was apparently unimpressed with the town’s defiant Mayor’s… Continue Reading
This week’s question is going to be a little trickier than some, so I am going to give out several hints at once. Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Oregon,… Continue Reading
Dear sweet baby Jesus, Please please please please please make the bad people at Google change the GMail interface back to what it used to be. I hate the new interface. The mail items are spaced too widely apart. The… Continue Reading
The criteria for the game: the person must have been on an active roster of an NFL team at some point in the active season. On the IR list counts, on waivers counts only if the player was on a… Continue Reading
I’ve had two extraordinary bottles recently, both obtained at reasonable expense, and both of which demonstrated the benefit that comes from cellaring. Now, some Readers find reading about someone else drinking wine an astonishingly insipid subject, like having to listen… Continue Reading
Attempting to arrest his meteoric flameout from the GOP’s good graces, Rick Perry is running this ad on TV in Iowa: I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian, but you don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know… Continue Reading
I loves me them Mythbusters. (Warning — link to the show autoloads to loud audio.) But they can only blow up stuff for so long before something goes wrong. And it finally did — seems that they shot a cannon through… Continue Reading