Fargo S2 Finale Open Thread
(Commenters, please use the “spoil” button/function, on a per-paragraph basis, to prevent spoilers from showing up on the front-page). Whew. Thus ends what is probably one of my favorite seasons of TV...
View ArticleTraveling with Children
Tonight, I take an 11PM flight to Mexico City and then on to Morelia, my wife’s hometown. Although I have traveled a great deal in the past, this is the first time I am traveling with my one year old...
View ArticleGets My Vote for Best Polit-Junkie Think-Piece of 2015
This @baseballcrank piece on Trump, OODA loops, and the GOP primary race is clever, fun, and awesome: https://t.co/jE7xTqzoxO — Reihan Salam (@reihan) December 16, 2015 Ironically enough, this...
View ArticleA common tragedy
Given how many books he has written complimentary blurbs for, it is not surprising that Malcolm Gladwell reads a lot. Judged solely by what he thinks the tragedy of the commons is, however, he does not...
View ArticleTalk to me like I’m stupid
I have gone through nearly my entire life with absolutely no impression one way or the other about Dunkin’ Donuts. Until recently, I had never set foot in one, not because of any negative opinion but...
View ArticleWhoa.
This could change everything – if this eagle-eyed YouTuber is correct about this possible Easter egg, I now want to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens so bad that I can TASTE it (spoilers at link,...
View ArticleFandom Über Alles
Writing in Salon, after receiving poison pen letters for his warmish review of Star Wars: Über Alles, Andrew O’Hehir notes something that I’ve long found weird about the dynamics of fandom: Why is it...
View ArticleTrumpism and Hypermasculinity
Dan Bilzerian is a very rich man because his father was a rich man. In today’s social media world, he turned himself into a C-list celebrity by posting pictures of himself on the Internet doing manly...
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The Montauk Catamaran Company Chronicles, 12/2015: More Help Wanted
(The Montauk Catamaran Company Chronicles is an ongoing series of posts detailing the construction of Mon Tiki Largo, a James Wharram Designs Pahi 63 MkII. The author’s current boat is the catamaran...
View ArticleTexas Gov. Gets History Wrong in Opposing a Monument
You can check out the display in the Patheos article. I don’t find it offensive at all. But then again, I like satire, parody, iconoclasm, South Park among other things. But the Governor claims “it...
View ArticleSongza, I’m Gonna Miss You
I hate to be the one to tell you, but if you don’t use Songza — and at only 6 million users, chances are you don’t — I have two pieces of bad news: first, you’ve been missing out on a great streaming...
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Farewell, Warrior on the Edge of Time
Lemmy Kilmister has died at 70 of cancer. If death can happen to him, it can happen to anyone.
View ArticleStar Collage Wars
I came across this little ditty online the other day and thought that it might appeal to our Star Wars hungry commentariat. It is a shot for shot pre… Well, I am not sure what to call it. It is clips...
View ArticleThe Question of Natural Religion and Syncretism Part I
The idea of syncretism is often derided as some fuzzy New Age concept that blurs the lines between and among authentic religions. Hence the charge that those syncretic systems are inauthentic. When I...
View ArticleWhat If…?
Seriously, what would the response be if the 100-150 heavily armed militia members who took control of a government building were Black? Or Muslim? How would the government respond? Law enforcement?...
View ArticleTwo Perspectives on Tamir Rice
A couple worthwhile pieces on Tamir Rice. The first is from JayFromBrooklyn, who was not itching to come to the defense of the police, but nonetheless came to the conclusion that the non-indictment was...
View ArticleAnother Post I Wish I’d Written
I was thinking about taking to fisk President Obama’s call for “common sense” gun control legislation that I heard part of on the radio driving to work this morning because parts of it… just didn’t sit...
View ArticleFreddie’s Dishonor Roll
For those of you unawares, the media was duped by a fake account purporting to be Ammon Bundy, son of Clive and a part of that mess in Oregon. The most high-profile case is Shaun King, who wrote an...
View ArticleIslamic Shibboleths
M.G. Oprea doesn’t like the way you talk. Or, to be more specific, she doesn’t like the way some of you choose to pronounce Islamic words, but not other words: Pronouncing ‘Islam’ and ‘Muslim’ in an...
View ArticleFrom New Jersey to Illinois…
This: An Illinois appellate court has ruled that part of a law that allows nonprofit hospitals to avoid paying millions of dollars in property taxes is unconstitutional, according to the Chicago...
View ArticleRunning For A Cause
Hey, everyone! I’ve had the good fortune of being selected to run on the Bergen County Habitat for Humanity’s NYC Half-Marathon team. I grew up in Bergen County and am excited to take advantage of an...
View ArticleName That Team!
So I mentioned to my wife that Los Angeles now has a football team again. The Los Angeles Rams, back again after two decades. My wife protested that there are no rams in Los Angeles. Now, there are...
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He Can’t Take It With Him, After All
Image by thecomeupshow Last March, I advised you all about the release of Once Upon A Time In Shaolin, the literal one-off album by the surviving members of critically acclaimed hip-hop collective...
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Stories are everything.
As January winds down, I find myself growing deeply sentimental about this place, and also too about writing, and about telling stories. And so when I came upon this quote today over at Longreads — a...
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Dr. Joseph Waligore’s Latest
On the issue of religion and the American Founding, Dr. Joseph Waligore is one of my favorite scholars most people have never heard of. Here is his latest accessible at JSTOR entitled “The Christian...
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