Ephblog has mentioned Connecticut Congressman Chris Murphy, Williams class of ’96 several times, but until yesterday’s announcement and an email from somebody else pointing it out, I never connected the name with the Chris Murphy who was a freshman playing rugby when I was a senior. Having looked at his video announcing his campaign for… Continue reading Chris Murphy for Senate: The “Hey I Know That Guy” Quasi-Endorsement
Category: Politics
Stewart Gets It Right, Again
As usual, the best commentary on this weekend’s shootings comes from Jon Stewart: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c The Daily Show on Facebook If you prefer your sensible commentary in convenient HTML form, John Scalzi’s got you covered. Comments closed, because I don’t want to host a discussion… Continue reading Stewart Gets It Right, Again
Solidarity in Egypt
A story to improve your opinion of humanity: Egypt’s majority Muslim population stuck to its word Thursday night. What had been a promise of solidarity to the weary Coptic community, was honoured, when thousands of Muslims showed up at Coptic Christmas eve mass services in churches around the country and at candle light vigils held… Continue reading Solidarity in Egypt
Bad Words and Great Books
There’s a new wrinkle in the endless controversy about Huckleberry Finn, with NewSouth Books preparing an expurgated edition replacing “nigger” with “slave” throughout. Sentiment in the parts of the Internet I frequent is mostly against the change, which has been made with the goal of getting it back on high school reading lists, which it… Continue reading Bad Words and Great Books
Presidential Hoops Challenge
Barack Obama will be visiting Schenectady next Tuesday, and local notables are suggesting things he might do. Particularly notable was this: Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, R-Glenville, a basketball enthusiast like Obama, suggested that some hoop should be organized for the occasion. “I’d like to challenge him to a two-on-two game .â.â. at the new YMCA in… Continue reading Presidential Hoops Challenge
Humor Matters
What with one thing and another, I forgot to tag anything for the links dump yesterday, which means no links dump this morning. But that’s all right, because Fred Clark’s post about humorless prigs deserves a more prominent link. The proximate cause is yet another story about a crazy religious group working themselves into a… Continue reading Humor Matters
None Dare Call It Treason
As usual, the most sensible commentary on the Southern organizations celebrating the 150th anniversary of secession comes from the Daily Show. Specifically, Larry Wilmore: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c The Daily Show on Facebook This whole business makes me think the British have the right idea regarding the… Continue reading None Dare Call It Treason
Monday Miscellany
A bunch of smallish items that have been failing to resolve into full-fledged blog posts for a little while now, thrown together here because I don’t have anything better to post this morning: — When is doubt, start with self-promotion: Physics World includes How to Teach Physics to Your Dog in their holiday gift books… Continue reading Monday Miscellany
24 Hour News Ruins Everything
Lance Mannion has a good post on the fake outrage of the moment in sports, where Derek Anderson, the terrible quarterback of the godawful Arizona Cardinals, was caught on camera maybe laughing with one of his receivers during their drubbing by the not at all good San francisco 49ers. When questioned about it at a… Continue reading 24 Hour News Ruins Everything
Science Is Not Irreducibly Complex
The poor coverage of science in the media is an evergreen topic in blogdom, to the point where I’ve mostly stopped clicking on links to those sorts of pieces. This ScienceProgress post about newsroom culture bugged me, though, and it took me a while to figure out the problem. The author worked as a reporter… Continue reading Science Is Not Irreducibly Complex