The Jarrow of the Oughts

OK, I haven’t thought this topic the whole way through, but after listening to this This American Life episode (recommended by Reid), I have this thought to share with the assembled:
The advent of the Internet and the globalization of the attendant technology does not contribute to a more-informed populace. In fact, it ghettoizes information to [...]

The future? You murdered the future.

Spent last night driving to Merrillville and back to pick up the kids. They had been spending a week with the grandparents, and the McDonald’s at the intersection of US30 and I-65 is the closest to a halfway point that we can manage. I have a little bit of a longer drive, but my parents [...]

I can haz Copland?

Looking up the Czech composer Zdenek Lukas after I heard his Missa Brevis on the great internet radio station Czech Radio D-dur, I found that I’m the last person to know that the music publisher Boosey & Hawkes has ringtones. Not just ringtones, but music nerd ringtones, like John Adams’ Short Ride in a Fast [...]

This is what I had for lunch

Good Monday morning to all of you out in the blogosphere. Or at least the six people who read this blog regularly. I hope you had a blessed Easter, if you are of that persuasion. Given the earliness of the holiday this year, I was glad we had a nice, temperate, sunny day yesterday. We [...]

Colin Mozart (Ratcatcher)

So, I’m working away at my desk yesterday when the phone rings. I lean over (because my phone is to my right and behind me in order to be in the perfect position for me to wrench my back out) and notice it’s the Rector of the church I attend. As always, my first thought [...]

Taking apples, making pie

To reach my 500 word a day goal, I must mention this song, Fake Empire by The National. The groove in it is very cool rhythmically. The right hand of the piano starts out in even quarter-note chords. The left hand accompanies with a lazy triplet rhythm. The disjointed vocal is third in line, reinforcing the right hand, [...]

Would you like to play Global Thermonuclear War?

It’s always fun when your alma mater gets mentioned in a news story, especially when it’s high school and it’s not in the sports section. So this caught my eye:
Student hacks into New Trier computer system
Now, besides the mention of the high school, the most important thing at the top of this article is that [...]