Culture
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Another Useless Bit of Trivia….
Ted’s friend/sometimes coworker, Ramzi, called Ted last night to ask him who wrote the lyrics to “New York, New York”. Somehow, I thought that song was OLD. Like from the 1940s or 1950’s or something. Nope. I never knew it was written for the 1977 (ok, still almost 30 years old, but really, not what I meant) film, New York, New York, and starring Robert De Niro and Liza Minelli, directed by Martin Scorcese. Actually, I never knew that such a movie existed. Live and learn. Thanks Ramzi, for the question, and thanks to NPR for the info. 🙂
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Water Babies…
I like this picture. It’s so different from swimming lessons that Maya has taken…
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The Trouble with Boys? Or the Trouble with Schools?
Have you read about Newsweek’s article on “The Trouble with Boys“? Well, BitchPhD had some interesting points to make, and I can’t say it any better than she did, so I’ll just say, “Go, Bitch, Go!”
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Why My Daughter is “Underprivileged”…thankfully
From the truly nausiating world of people-with-more-money-than-God-who-should-learn-about-charity-or-savings-or-maybe-just-give-me-some-of-it, comes this column from Salon, on the hyperconsumeristic spending habits of very wealthy parents of overindulged infants.My favorite quote? “…and what’s more anxiety-provoking than, My god, I have a baby?” Or maybe: “I have never seen a clearer acknowledgement that children have been reduced to accessories.” I believe you have to have a subscription to Salon to read the whole article, so I’ll copy and paste it into my ‘comments’ section, in case you’re interested. 🙂 And I know what you’ll say…”My goodness, who cares.” And you’re right, except for the editorial comment that I feel sorry for these poor kids, and the…
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Rambling Thoughts on MySpace, et. al.
I was listening to my favorite radio station this morning, and they were talking about “MySpace.com”, and whether it is dangerous for kids or not. One man called in and said that he doesn’t think that legislating or policing the site is the ultimate answer, because kids are smarter than we are, and if they’re going to do something, they’re going to do it. So, the key is to TEACH your kids what is safe, what isn’t, and why. Teach them why they shouldn’t want to do something, like go meet people that they’ve only met online, because it might not be safe. Coincidentally, I just started a new book,…
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Feminist Polygamy?
Do you ever listen to “This American Life” on NPR? It’s an interesting program, where they basically choose a theme and put together different kinds of stories on that theme. It’s a lot more interesting than that sounds. I download the show via audible.com onto my iPod, and listen to it when I’m walking the dog, or walking back to work after dropping Maya off at school (though we haven’t been doing that as much lately…gotta work on that). You can listen to it for free on the radio, of course, or if you are willing to sit in front of your computer and listen, but my mind wanders when…
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Why I Prefer Showers…
So there’s this website called Post Secret, which is an ongoing community art project where people mail-in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. This one pretty much sums up my feelings for bathing (see # 76). A jacuzzi, however, is different. Take a look…some of them may speak to you. I found it via The View From Crazy. Mail your secrets to: PostSecret 13345 Copper Ridge Rd Germantown, Maryland USA 20874-3454
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In Case You Were Wondering…
What’s wrong with missionaries, and why I don’t give my ‘charity’ dollars to religious groups…I mean, they go and bring education and medicine and try to help people, correct? But at what price. The fact of the matter is that the whole goal of missionaries is to try to convince the ‘other’ that the best course of action is to change from being ‘other’ to being ‘self’. To be a bit more clear, those people over there have a problem, and the best way to fix it is to make them more like us. Because, you know, we’re doing so damn well over here. We don’t have problems with poverty,…
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A Day in the City
Saturday, after a lovely breakfast at Lafayette Circle Cafe, we drove into the city, with the intention of going to Morrison Planetarium. We knew that it was being redone, but weren’t completely clear on the details…Ted knew there was a new museum in where the old City Library was, but he had forgotten that we had actually gone there a year or so ago, and that it is the new Asian Art Museum. I remembered reading that the aquarium was near the Moscone Center, downtown, but wasn’t sure where. So we parked near Moscone, and went into the Metreon to use the bathroom and find out more. Of course, I…
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Teaching Intelligent Design
Hot off the presses, the L.A. Times is reporting that a small school in Lebec, CA has begun teaching Intelligent Design in the guise of a Philosophy class. They’re getting sued by a small group of parents, represented by the Americans United for Separation of Church and State. This is kind of a murky issue…my first reaction is that Intelligent Design belongs in Church, not in school. Then I read that it’s not a Biology class, or any kind of Science class…it’s a Philosophy class. That makes it murky. If you can’t talk about this kind of thing in PHILOSOPHY CLASS, where CAN you discuss it? But wait, there’s more.…
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Who Knew Santa likes to Dive, and Festivus is sort of real?
Have a Merry Christmas Everyone! Also, Happy Hannukah, Happy Festivus, Happy Solstice, Happy New Year, Happy Happy!
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War on Christmas?
This whole “War on Christmas” thing has gotten a lot of stupid press this year…and it’s just lame. I’ll put in my two cents, and then we can all forget it, OK? Please? Who in hell REALLY thinks that Christmas is in danger in this country? The religious holiday may be in danger of being overrun by rabid secular (and religious, to be fair) shoppers, but how does wishing someone “Happy Holidays” threaten anyone? Seriously, have you been overwhelmed by Pagan Winter Solstice songs on the radio? Hannukah specials on TV? Or is it Christmas Christmas Christmas everywhere you look, with Santa and lights and trees and wreaths, candy and…