In a recent episode of Scriptnotes Craig Mazin mentioned the 2001 movie Rat Race, which reminded me that I haven’t watched it in about 20 years. So I corrected that the other evening. It’s a totally wacky screwball comedy about greed, and you can’t find a subject much wackier than that—other than sex, of course. … Continue reading Rat Race
Picking Up the Pieces
After I flunked out of Penn State my first thought was to try to get reinstated, so I applied to take a correspondence course. Big mistake. The course I enrolled in was Economics, a subject that I had always hated and did poorly in. I figured that as Terry was an Econ major that I … Continue reading Picking Up the Pieces
Lavalier Not Cavalier
I bought a lavalier microphone a few days ago as I want to make some videos where it will come in handy. A lavalier mic is one of those tiny little gizmos that you often see TV announcers or others clip onto their shirts when they are away from their studio and don’t want to … Continue reading Lavalier Not Cavalier
Model Shmodel
Several presidential election cycles ago Nate Silver emerged as a media darling statistician with his model that seemed to beat all the other pundits in accurately predicting the outcome of the voting. Then he was poached away from the site that he built and after that he was poached away again and with all that … Continue reading Model Shmodel
The Dividing Line
Ulysses S. Grant, in 1875: Where the citizen is sovereign and the official the servant, where no power is exercised except by the will of the people, it is important that the sovereign — the people — should possess intelligence. The free school is the promoter of that intelligence which is to preserve us as a free nation. If … Continue reading The Dividing Line
Learning from Anyone
The other day CJ responded to this question: What have you learned from someone you don’t like? I rather liked the question and it got me to thinking. Not very hard, of course, but right off the bat I came up with a couple things. Back when I was living in State College, I worked … Continue reading Learning from Anyone
Florida Threatens Catholic Schools
Oh, no! Don’t tell me that I’m on the side of the Catholic bishops?! According to Letters from Leo: Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sent a letter Friday to the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops demanding that the state’s Catholic schools grant religious exemptions from vaccination — exemptions the Church’s own moral theology says it … Continue reading Florida Threatens Catholic Schools
A Gadget That Mostly Works
I was over at Fante’s looking for something else, when I spied this thing. It purported to be a 3-in-1 Avocado Slicer. As if I needed one. But wait. I eat about five avocados a week, and I’m always worried that when I cut into one with my sharp knife I might slice my hand … Continue reading A Gadget That Mostly Works
Dial a What?
Here’s a Bob Newhart routine from 1969, you know, when Richard Nixon was president and Spiro Agnew was vice-president. The video is labelled “Dial an Atheist” but that’s misleading. That’s from the opening banter that Bob uses to get into the routine.
Demolition
They’re finally getting around to tearing down the other Rite Aid building near me that closed down last year. Why it needs to be torn down, I don’t know, as it seems perfectly fine to me. I’m sure it could easily be repurposed and renovated. I would hate to be living in that neighborhood. Especially … Continue reading Demolition