For reasons that are obscure even to me, on a bulletin board I frequent there is a discussion going about whether or not, in the United Kingdom, holidays like Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July are celebrated. To those reading across the Pond, I apologize for the obtuseness of my fellow countrymen. We have aContinue reading “On the Meaning of Thanksgiving”
Monthly Archives: March 2011
On the New Peanuts Special, Happiness Is A Warm Blanket
For this Peanuts fan, yesterday was a doubly significant day — not only did Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown come out on DVD, but I discovered 3eanuts, a “Garfield Minus Garfield”-esque reworking of Charles Schulz’s comic strips. 3eanuts takes the classic four panel Peanuts comic strip, then tosses the fourth panel out theContinue reading “On the New Peanuts Special, Happiness Is A Warm Blanket”
On Policy Debate and Actual Politics
I drove to work today; I needed to get a few extra things done at the office. It was, surprisingly enough, a peaceful, even pleasant drive. Normally I hate driving the Beltway. I had NPR on this morning, and I heard a story that, somehow, provoked a random thought. I can’t imagine how policy debateContinue reading “On Policy Debate and Actual Politics”
On Allyn’s Adventures With Unicorns
It all began last year, on April Fool’s Day. As a longtime WordPress user, I frequently visit Planet WordPress, an aggregation blog of a number of top WordPress-specific blogs. And on April Fool’s Day, there was a post from the Gravatar blog on a new gravatar algorithm — Unicorns. A gravatar, for those unfamiliar withContinue reading “On Allyn’s Adventures With Unicorns”
On Peanuts and Sudoku Puzzles
I like Sudoku puzzles. I love Charles Schulz’s Peanuts. And, curiously, there is a book that combines them both — the Peanuts Sudoku Comic Digest. I say “curiously,” because there’s nothing intrinsic in Peanuts that lends itself to Sudoku. Schulz had passed away before the Sudoku craze became a craze, and there are no PeanutsContinue reading “On Peanuts and Sudoku Puzzles”
On My Grandmother’s Decline
I’ve written very little on the subject of my grandmother recently. In truth, there’s been very little to say. Two weeks ago, I thought she wouldn’t last a month. It could be longer than that. She is nearing the end, though. The thing about my grandmother’s decline is the way her mental age seems toContinue reading “On My Grandmother’s Decline”
On An Unlikely Author Encounter
It would have been almost fifteen years ago now. It was a Sunday afternoon in spring. I was driving US Route 29, from Lynchburg north to Charlottesville. It’s a four lane highway the whole way, and a little north of Lovingston, a small town in Nelson County, the highway turns twisty, and for the nextContinue reading “On An Unlikely Author Encounter”
On the Brutally Honest Personality Test
Because I love personality quizzes… Your result for The Brutally Honest Personality Test… Pollyanna- INFP 20% Extraversion, 80% Intuition, 27% Thinking, 20% Judging So, you want to make the world a better place? Too bad it’s never gonna happen. Of all the types, you have to be one of the hardest to find fault in.Continue reading “On the Brutally Honest Personality Test”
On Doctor Who, the Celestis and The Eyeless
While Doctor Who fandom this weekend has been preoccupied with questions of predestination and Amy Pond’s flirtatiousness thanks to “Space” and “Time,” the two Doctor Who mini-episodes produced for Comic Relief while waiting for the season debut in five weeks, I’ve had other Doctor Who thoughts in mind, specifically about a two-year-old Doctor Who novel,Continue reading “On Doctor Who, the Celestis and The Eyeless”
On Chinese Divination Methods
Years ago, in college, I used to do what I called “binge reads.” One semester, I’d pick an author, and I’d read as much of that author’s work as I possibly could. One semester, it might be Orson Scott Card. Another semester, Larry Niven. I was young, just twenty or so, and I had theContinue reading “On Chinese Divination Methods”