Some readers may be unaware that, for a few years, I lived in Pennsylvania’s Amish country, a little to the east of Lancaster. My first year there, ten years ago now, I was excited. It was Halloween. There were kids on my road. Amish kids. Halloween! Two years ago, I told the story of thatContinue reading “On an Amish Halloween”
Monthly Archives: October 2009
On the Fissures in the Republican Party
If you’re any sort of political junkie, today has been endlessly fascinating. In upstate New York, a bizarre 3-way special election campaign to fill a House of Representatives seat has been waged. The Democratic Party put up Bill Owens, the Republican Party put up Dede Scozzafava. One of New York’s minor parties, the Conservative Party,Continue reading “On the Fissures in the Republican Party”
On the Consumption of Cashews
This week just past was a week of Mondays. Nothing but Mondays. Even Friday, which started out like a Friday, ended on a Mondayesque note. One contributing factor? On one of the Mondays this week, I ate some cashews. I needed a mid-morning snack. I went to the vending machine, I saw a packet ofContinue reading “On the Consumption of Cashews”
On Reading Republicans
Recently, for Sooper-Sekrit reasons, I have been following the post-Senate career of Rick Santorum, the former Senator from Pennsylvania (though he didn’t really live there). This has meant, for instance, reading Santorum’s newspaper column for the Philly Inquirer. I feel a thousand brain cells cry out in terror, and then suddenly silenced, every time IContinue reading “On Reading Republicans”
On an Upcoming John Lennon Biopic
A friend of mine, Michael Schuster, pointed me to this, the trailer for Nowhere Boy, an upcoming biopic about the teenage years of John Lennon: Aaron Johnson, whom I’ve never heard of, plays the young Lennon, and Thomas Sangster plays Paul McCartney. While Sangster doesn’t look especially much like McCartney, Johnson, particularly when he putsContinue reading “On an Upcoming John Lennon Biopic”
On Lunar Exploration
An image taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has just been released. It’s of the Apollo 17 landing site. The last place where man set foot on the moon. You can see the descent module sitting on the surface, and the American flag. Very nifty!
More on Some Reading and Writing
A week ago, I read Nick Hornby’s screenplay for An Education, the new film starring Carey Mulligan and Peter Saarsgard. I liked it, I was entertained by the screenplay, and I’m looking forward to seeing the film at some nebulous point in the future, and… Well, there’s a but. The “but” is that it suffersContinue reading “More on Some Reading and Writing”
On Formatting for the iPhone
Mobile devices, capable of browsing the Internet, are becoming more and more commonplace, and to make it easier for people on a mobile device, like an iPhone, I’ve had a mobile plugin for WordPress in my install, the WordPress Mobile Edition plugin, to reformat the blog into something mobile friendly. Earlier in the week, IContinue reading “On Formatting for the iPhone”
On Receiving a Calendar
I received in the mail today a package I was not expecting. It was the Colonial Williamsburg 2010 Wall Calendar. I’ve been contributing to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation for a few years now, even though it’s someplace I’ve never been, though I’ve always meant to go. They produce a nice history magazine, and I enjoyContinue reading “On Receiving a Calendar”
On Blustery Saturdays
Were it not for the sodding rain, today would be perfect for kite-flying. It’s blustery. The sky is overcast. The wind is up. Leaves are falling. It’s over seventy degrees. Only it’s raining. Not heavy, but steady. And the ground is soggy, from the four days of rain we had over last weekend and theContinue reading “On Blustery Saturdays”