Science man Myers try say science people more handsomer than orcish not-people? Kerschplat begging difference. In spirit of reason argument, he present contrariness evidence, exhibit A: Christopher Hitchens.
‘Nuff being said.
Mar 272009
While performing a much-needed pruning of the comment ads that my spam filter didn’t quite catch, I came across an actual comment – and I only approved the poster a month and a half too late! Thanks, George! Uh, sorry about the delay…
My domain disappeared for a while because it expired without warning and the e-mail account the registrar was sending password reminder e-mails to has been defunct for a while. Anyway, everything seems to have been straightened out now, and in the meantime I’ve finally found a new job after the one I’ve had for 11+ years disappeared in August. It’s a pay cut and a more annoying commute, but I really like the new place and it’s a good career move overall; assuming the overall economy can survive the next few months, in the long run it’ll probably all work out for the better.
Nov 052008
No, I’m not talking about the fall of right-wing dominance in our government. Nor am I talking about the election of a president who is anything other than a wealthy white male.
I’m talking about something much more deep and profound: Opus.
Yes, Opus the penguin, star of Bloom County, Outland, and eventually a comic strip of his very own. He retired this week; his creator, Berkely Breathed, decided that the world is going downhill fast, and he wanted to save Opus from being corrupted by what is to come. In a letter to the LA Times, he says:
I’m destroying the village to save it. Opus would inevitably become a ranting mouthpiece in the coming wicked days, and I respect the other parts of him too much to see that happen. The Michael Moore part of me would kill the part of him that was important to his fans.
and:
With the crisis in Wall Street and Washington, I’m suspending my comic strip to assist the nation. The best way I can help is to leave politics permanently and write funny stories for America’s kids. I call on John McCain to join me.
I’ve been a Bloom County (etc) fan since I first saw the strip in the 80s; in my mind it along with Calvin & Hobbes and possibly The Far Side – all tragically lost to us now – are the comic strips to which I’ll always compare all others, and probably to the newcomers’ detriment. Opus and his cohorts are childhood friends I’ll likely never see again except in old pictures, but in the years to come, whatever they hold, I’m sure I’ll think of them often.
Opus’ final comic strip is here.
A letter from Breathed on his web site has this to say:
Opus is napping. He sleeps in peace, dreaming of a world just ahead brimming with kindness and grace and ubiquitous bow ties.
Sleep well, Opus, and may your dreams come true for all of us. Except for the bow ties.
Aug 172008
Sorry for my absence in recent weeks; I’ve been job-hunting after finding out that the government grant which was paying for contract work I was doing had gone away rather suddenly, and I haven’t often mustered up the right combination of time and inclination to get a post up here, even with all the interesting things that have happened in the world lately.
So what’s happened to finally break my silence? Conservative-pundit-inspired shooting? Nope. The irony and hypocrisy of the Bush admin trying to tell Russia that invading a sovereign nation is a no-no? Nope.
It’s this horrible, horrible website. Somebody found one of those list of web design “don’t”s and tried to squeeze in as many of them per page as possible. It burns.
Jul 092008
There’s a new social networking site geared toward atheists, agnostics, etc., called The Atheist Nexus. I’ve never had much interest in these things, but maybe I’ll hang around this one a bit and see how it goes.
There was a time, back before parenthood set in, when I would get up early a few Saturdays during the summer and spend most of the day applying multiple coats of polish to my car. It was, oddly enough, a zen-like, stress-relieving exercise for me.
The old Mustang needed some repainting on the front end after some local kids (or so I assume) decided to draw some pictures on the hood with a sharp object a few weeks ago, and I’ve been meaning to re-apply a few layers of protectant to help extend the life of the new finish and prolong the life of the old, so over the course of the last two days I’ve slathered it in all the best the Zaino Brothers have to offer.
The picture below doesn’t really do it justice (today was a grey, overcast day – when it’s sunny the car is a mirror!) but it does hide the myriad scratches along the sides, water spots and fading on the roof, and my horrible, horrible attempts at patching some minor scratches and paint dings. Still, I think it looks pretty good for a 13 year old car that’s been driven in all sorts of weather on all sorts of roads (many of them de-surfaced by DelDOT to provide a convenient source of tiny pebbles for my own and other motorists’ tires to fling around) and never seen the inside of a garage in its 150,000ish miles.
Jul 062008
When I created this blog I threw on the subtitle “Infinite Monkeys, Infinite Keyboards” as a spur-of-the-moment attempt at a little self-deprecating humor, implying that if I cranked out enough words, some of them might end up worth reading. Turns out, though, that several of the several blogs and one blogroll that link to here do it using that as the name of the blog – which admittedly may be better than just plain old “drl2Blog”.
Anyway, I’m far from the first to make that connection between monkeys and blogging (monkeyblogging?) – as I suspected but couldn’t prove until the other day when I came across this image:
Jun 232008
This morning on the way to work I heard on the radio about George Carlin’s passing over the weekend. I live in Delaware and don’t get out much, so I have, of course, never met George, but I have an odd sort of personal connection with him: I was at a friend’s house watching a Carlin HBO special the night I got the call that my own grandfather had died. From that day on whenever I saw George I jumped that mental hyperlink to thoughts of my grandfather, even though the two were not alike at all (and in fact, were my grandfather exposed to Carlin’s humor, he would most likely scowl and leave the room).
George kept us all a little healthier by being brave enough to point out our own collective stupidity. George’s life was proof that humor can change the world.
I’m sure fifty thousand other bloggers will be linking to these clips or to the famous ‘Seven words’ that made their way to the Supreme Court, but I feel obligated to join in with a few of my favorite Carlin bits:
