Yesterday’s WSJ tells how the U.S. Army is using video games to sell military service to kids. You might have noticed these at your local state fair or other amusement venues; children are invited to pick up a gun and shoot at targets on a screen. The last time we were near one of these …
I’m hard-pressed to think of a time when otherwise decent, sensible people have argued for something as wicked as what is advocated by The Wall Street Journal’s Holman Jenkins today. Jenkins joins forces with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, among other voices calling for the demolition of housing in order to mitigate falling home prices. …
I don’t know what film-school genius is teaching his students to use handheld cameras in lieu of stationary shots, but once the dizziness fades I’m going to track him down and beat him to death with his seldom-used tripod. The litany of errors that ultimately makes Hancock a disappointment includes the apparent employment of someone’s …
Loyal reader Nichole B. offers a recent example of the reductio ad Hitlerum: “Obama’s sudden plan to pack 80,000 followers into a Denver sports stadium for his acceptance of the Democratic nomination instantly reminded of Hitler’s Nuremberg and Berlin rallies, moves the Nazis made as much to intimidate as acclaim.” But you know who else …
More proof that Education degrees ought to go the way of Phrenology: “The findings show that TFA [Teach for America] teachers are more effective, as measured by student exam performance, than traditional teachers. Moreover, they suggest that the TFA effect, at least in the grades and subjects investigated, exceeds the impact of additional years of …
This is why I don’t often answer emails or phone calls. Money quote: “In 2005, the BBC reported on a research study, funded by Hewlett-Packard and conducted by the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London, that found, ‘Workers distracted by e-mail and phone calls suffer a fall in IQ more than twice that …
This from Elements of Faith, by Christos Yannaras: “The history of western man is a dialectic of submission and rebellion, where rebellion means in each case the choice of a different authority, consequently of a new submission, while the goal remains always the same — individual security, the protection of individual certainty about the truth …
The opposition that fussy Christians voice toward Juno seems to boil down to the fact that it is filled with sinful people who live, think, and speak like sinners. Then again, this used to be true of the Church, at least until recent times. The fussy Christians seem to want morality plays in place of …
From loyal reader John T., following an exchange about bears, and the penchant among wildlife authorities for valuing their lives over the lives of hikers: “When it comes to the safety of my family, I have relegated the government to an advisory role only.”
William Isaac Woodlief: “Where is the tooth fairy’s house? I want to go there.” I don’t believe he’s thought that out. I mean, what does she do with all those teeth? And how does she earn all these coins she hands out? And what kind of person goes creeping into children’s bedrooms? I’m just saying.
The snake ate my grass carp. I think I told you how I stupidly left my pond fountain off long enough to kill all the fish (but not the $#!%!*! snake). As a consequence, an algae problem has presented itself. Thick wide islands of slimy green algae, anchored to the bottom of the pond by …
Newsweek reports on recent research indicating that contrary to popular opinion, having children makes people less happy, at least until the children leave home. This will no doubt please the happily child-free, who seem to have a thriving set of self-satisfied communities. Unlike many of my fellow breeders, I feel no desire to persuade the …
The mistake people make about modernism is thinking it’s old-fashioned. Thus a movie like Vantage Point comes along, built around the premise that it will be clever to show the same events through several characters’ eyes, and people call it “postmodern” because it’s, well, so very different. We are accustomed to being omniscient observers, or …
I hit the heavy bag Monday for the first time in five years. I didn’t have wraps or bag gloves, but there it was, hanging insolently in the corner of the gym, practically begging for a beat down. Which it got. I have a bruised hand now, but it felt really, really good. A therapist …
Caleb broke my heart last week. He told me that he prefers Christian rock to blues and jazz. And not even the good stuff, but what they play on the popular Christian radio station. In an effort to open his ears to the truth, I played him one of Stevie Ray Vaughn’s first concerts. Nothing …
In national news, we are out of gasoline. That recent tankful you got will be your last. We are also out of money. Your local bank will soon be converted to a pawn shop. Finally, we are out of food, because everything but corn is poisonous, and all the corn is going to ethanol production. …
Several people sent me suggestions for the little-boy parts that I was having so much trouble naming with something appropriately descriptive yet not clinical. Some of my favorites, along with the slightly anonymized name of the offender: Juevos (Ken L.) Twig and berries (Jason A.) Nizzles (Jeff S.) The Manlies (Carl H.) And finally, my …
This is a belated thank you for David Anderson of Iowa, who was kind and generous enough to visit my Amazon Wishlist and send me a copy of Hem’s Funnel Cloud. I heart Hem. I’m not sure if this makes me a girl (either the adoration of Hem, or the employment of “heart” as a …
A quote from my patron saint, were I to have one, which maybe I do and simply don’t realize it: “A time is coming when people will go mad and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying: ‘You are mad, you are not like us.’” — St. Anthony the …
The thing about boys who call their thingies by the clinical name is that it’s creepy. This is why my sons call it a wiener, to Wife’s utter mortification. She defers to me nonetheless, as the resident expert on all things wiener-related. The problem is that, as some of you may know, there is more …
Those of you who enjoy fiction, or who enjoy supporting artists, or who simply like the cut of my jib should head on over to your local Barnes and Noble to pick up a copy of Image, issue 58, which carries my third ever published short story. The title is “Name,” and I’m quite fond …
We found ourselves in Wichita last night, where we did some last-minute grocery shopping. My wife and I are southerners, and thus no Fourth of July can be celebrated on our property without watermelon. As we wandered through the wide produce section of the fancy Dillons, I spied this abomination: “Personal Watermelons.” Apparently some farmer …
Yesterday I was supposed to spend the afternoon painting. We have many square feet of wood in need of paint. This was my mission. Instead, we drove into the biggest honky tonk near our wilderness spread, which happens to be the little Kansas town of Newton. Little Newton has two worthy bookstores, and a health …
I hit a snake in the head with a rock the other day. It was a fat water snake, the kind that all the experts say isn’t poisonous, and is more afraid of you than you are of him, and a lot of other baloney that you shouldn’t believe coming from somebody who likely as …
