In Other Music News…

I got an email from Elisabeth Esselink (aka Solex) via her newsletter saying that a new album (“The Laughing Stock of Indie Rock”) is forthcoming, and she might, maybe, possibly, play in Pittsburgh. I hope she does make it here — we wussed out on a road to Cleveland to see her several years ago. […]

Politics

I came across this very interesting interview with linguist George Lakoff. He’s got some intriguing ideas about how progressives should frame their debates against conservatives. I found this bit pretty interesting: Why do conservatives like to use the phrase “liberal elite” as an epithet? Conservatives have branded liberals, and the liberals let them get away […]

A Shared History

I came across this history of rock music today, and after reading through the history of the 1990s, I found that while the author was tracing the patterns of indie music, I was tracing my past, as defined by the music I listened to. I’ve always thought that life would be better with a soundtrack, […]

Rallye Germany Day 1

The season’s first proper sealed surface rally got started this morning. Many people are expecting this rally to be the final nail in the coffin for Sebastien Loeb’s challengers in this year’s championship race, with Loeb holding a 22 point over Petter Solberg, and Loeb gunning for his third consecutive victory in Germany. Solberg has […]

The Olympics

Best observation about the Summer Olympics? Look to Salon’s King Kaufman: What a day for Ahmed Almaktoum, who routed the field to win the gold in the men’s double trap final, thus becoming the first person from the United Arab Emerates ever to win a medal. I did a double-take when I saw him celebrating […]

Flying Babies

There’s been much talk lately on the internet about flying with children (I really wanted to include a Mimi Smartypants entry, but her archives titles aren’t exactly descriptive of their content). I’ve talked briefly about Seb’s behavior on our trip to Bishop last year. My only additional comment is — why didn’t we think to […]

Sickness, Again

What is it about this year? I’m sick, again. This time, I think this is thanks to a co-worker. It hit me Sunday night — fever, aches, pains, the works. I stayed home and in bed yesterday. Today I managed to drag myself out of bed and to work, which meant I had to take […]

Rain

I really don’t mind riding to work in the rain, especially if it hasn’t been raining consistently. Like this morning. It was actually quite pleasant — it was cool enough that I could comfortably wear a rain jacket, but not so cool that it was miserable. It was one of those mornings when Things Were […]

Fair and Balanced

If you have any interest at all in the issue of stem cell research, please read this article by William Saletan. He cuts through the rhetoric on both sides of the aisle, with an emphasis on John Kerry’s insistence that George Bush has made stem cell research illegal (this isn’t the case — read the […]

A New Model?

Comment Magazine (out of Canada) has an interesting article about the ultimate failure of labour unions, and why a new organizational structure (namely, a guild) must rise from ashes. The critiques of the labour movement (again, focuses on unions in Canada) seem to be right on — unions are rapidly becoming the same beasts they […]