Life
I spent last week in Thessaloniki, Greece, visiting a Thessalonian whom I had dated when we were at Ohio State. What a city! What a country! I had a great time. I didn't want to come back. Some random observations: The food in restaurants was fresh, good, and
TV / Film / Radio
Good movie, though heavy-handed with its anti-capitalist framing. Go see it. (I have to add that it was strange to watch a movie owned by Mark Cuban in a theater owned by Mark Cuban while the Rockets play Cuban's Dallas Mavericks in the NBA playoffs.)
Books
Mark Hasty tags me as someone who reads. (It's the librarian job that tips people off, isn't it?) You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be? I've never read Fahrenheit 451, but I think I understand the question (didn&
Politics
Tom Kirkendall posts Paul Johnson's tribute to Pope John Paul II. One paragraph from it: Not that the pope condoned terrorism in any form. He was never among those clergy in the West who mitigated their disapproval by pointing to legitimate grievances. ...which reminded me of another paragraph
History
Before Albino Luciani took the name "John Paul I" upon his accession to the Holy See in 1978, the last time a Pope had chosen a name that no Pope had chosen before was in 913. Before the two John Pauls, the last Pope whose name ended in
Intellect
From an interview with baseball statistics guru Bill James: [Question: ] I have to ask you this. On an internet baseball fan site, I recently saw you quoted to the effect that veteran leadership had enabled the Red Sox to come back from down 0-3 in the ALCS. But, in
Intellect
If there are any fans of cryptography out there, here's a little fun for you: 2662 5076 3265 6648 3858 1602 1838 3842 6644 3856 4516 3844 6655 3885 4021 4360 3243 3642 6645 4804 1602 5607 I don't expect this cipher to provide any unusual
History
The Houston Chronicle for October 12, 1932 had this front-page, five-column top headline: Movie Director Kills Himself After Texas Woman Spurns His Love The second subhead for the article: Beautiful Former Actress Tells Police That Film Ex- ecutive Nailed Her in His Room. That's Hollywood! But
Me
For one of my library school classes a few years ago, I was asked to come up with a goal statement for my career. Here was my first draft: A. Five years from now, I will be...working behind a reference desk in Laredo and getting smashed on tequila every
Remarks
Not that much of what we now think of as reporting was done [in newspapers] until well into the 1800's. The typical end product was well summarized in the complaint of Franz Josef Grund, soon to turn newspaperman himself, that "An American paper . . . is said to be
Sports
Maybe I just haven't been following baseball much lately, and there is an obvious answer to this question, but: Why not move the Houston Astros from the NL Central to the AL West? Three advantages: One, it would even up all of the divisions at five teams; two,
Music
The Fort Worth Weekly writes a great cover article about the "The Good Show". One of my fondest memories of Texas is sitting in on the show last August. The article gets the atmosphere just right. If you want to listen to the show for yourself, click here