Texas
Ike's toll
Thomas Gray posts pictures of the storm damage near his house in Houston. I spent a lot of time in that neighborhood when I lived in Houston, and I remember those trees and houses. Staggering. Just staggering.
Steve Casburn
Music
Norman Whitfield, 1940-2008
Norman Whitfield, the leading songwriter and producer of Motown's psychedelic years, died Tuesday of complications from diabetes. He was the producer for The Temptations from 1966 to 1973. "Ball of Confusion"? That was his. "I Wish It Would Rain"? Him, too. "Ain'
Music
Ain't got the Mojo
I love Mojo magazine, but I do not subscribe to it and I never read it. Why? Because I lack the time to listen to the music I already know to buy. Why pay $150/year to be frustrated?
Life
20 years ago
It was 20 years ago last night that I spent my first night in the dorms at Ohio State. Last night, I dreamed that I was checking in to Morrill Tower all over again, but this time I was 38. (The number of people who know me who would be
Books
A sub-blurb
A cover blurb from the paperback edition of Jonathan I. Israel's Radical Enlightenment: One of the truly great historical works of the decade. The book and the blurb were published in 2001.
History
Tippecanoe and Tyler 2.0
Very old presidential candidate? Check. Campaign presents wealthy presidential candidate as a simple man of the people? Check. Campaign fetishizes presidential candidate's military experience? Check. Campaign focused on insults to the exclusion of issues? Check. Little-known vice-presidential candidate with uncertain party loyalties, chosen purely for balance?
Life
A splash of determination
If there is a better motivator to clean a messy desk than spilling a half a glass of water across it, I do not know what it is.
Yardwork
When is a lawn not a lawn?
Before moving into my current rental, my lifetime experience with yardwork was nearly nil, which means that I am learning as I go. Earlier tonight I took my first close look at the front lawn (most of my work in the front yard so far has been pulling ivy, weeding
Yardwork
Weekday weeding window wanes
The days are quickly getting shorter and weeding the yard after work will soon become impractical, so I am getting out into the yard now every chance I get. The upside is that I will probably get the yard into the shape I want it to be before the rainy
Texas
Hurricane Ike
When I lived in Houston, I worked in the building that is in the upper right of this photograph. Wow. Worse than Allison, and Allison was bad. I hope things are better than they seem… Update: Thomas Gray survived the storm and Rob Booth seems to have thrived during it.
History
GOP words of wisdom
For the 1916 presidential election, Republican leaders tried to find a candidate who could unite the party, after the Progressive split of 1912 had cost the GOP the presidency. The elders' first choice for a unifier was Elihu Root, who had won the 1912 Nobel Peace Prize and been
Politics
Here we go again
The GOP message to the base in 2000: "After eight years of that elitist liberal Bill Clinton, we need to send a good, earthy Christian like George W. Bush to Washington to clean up politics." The GOP message to the base in 2008: "After eight years of