Music
I was sitting in the Green Dragon yesterday afternoon (with a book, in the corner, with the lights down low) when the Beatles' "Hello, Goodbye" starting playing, and I couldn't help stopping to listen to it. What a great little piece of fluff that song
Music
The entire Dave Clark Five catalog has been out of print for more than a decade (it appears that Dave Clark just likes it like that), but one of their greatest hits albums is now available on iTunes. In case Clark changes his mind again, I have taken the precaution
Politics
To answer the question asked by that Hillary Clinton commercial… Of Obama and McCain, Obama is the one I would want to answer that 3am telephone call at the White House. Obama has the even temperament, keen intelligence, and mental vigor that I would want a leader to have when
Politics
1. The GOP is focusing on tearing down Obama rather than building up McCain. 2. To the extent that the GOP does talk about McCain, the talk rarely refers to anything he has done in the last 35 years. 3. The Democratic National Convention was well-managed, if somewhat boring.
Sports
The first major college football game of the season starts in about four hours. One of these years, I will get cable hooked back up, buy a big-screen TV, and lose myself in football season the way I did when I was a teenager. Every summer, I ask myself
In Book I (345e-347a) of the Republic, Socrates distinguishes between one's ability to succeed at a craft (to be a craftsman) and one's ability to succeed in being paid (to be a wage-earner); and states that the two abilities should be considered in isolation
Tarot
Some say that 20-year high school reunions are the best reunions. By then, your classmates have sloughed off all they will ever lose of what they unconsciously copied from their parents; and reveal those true facets of their personalities that they once kept hidden, whether from fear or from
Life
I have a list of seven things I want to accomplish while I am on vacation. I finished one this morning: Cleaning out the cul-de-sac of my L-shaped bedroom. I had had a big, wobbly desk back there for as long as I had lived here, and
Food
The best, best, best, best, bestest thing about having my weekdays off work this week is that I can eat at Pine State Biscuits without waiting in line for an hour.
History
[…] [People emigrated to America] largely to get away—that most simple of motives. To get away. Away from what? In the long run, away from themselves. Away from everything. That's why most people have come to America, and still do come. To get away from everything they are
History
Tonight's Democratic National Convention lineup is scheduled to include Jimmy Carter and Ted Kennedy. To continue the theme: * Tuesday night will have Walter Mondale and Gary Hart * Wednesday night will have Michael Dukakis and Jesse Jackson * Thursday night will have Bill Clinton and Jerry Brown
Life
During the summers when I was a kid, I would watch two old television shows every weekday: Perry Mason and The Twilight Zone. The first one would have been no surprise: I loved mysteries and puzzles, and had an unhealthy fascination with Los Angeles. The latter one, though…I have