Please, J.K. Rowling, More Stories
“The Potter stories give me hope during what I consider to be rather dark times. Please – more stories. The world so desperately needs them.”
The War Prayer
Disgusted by the aftermath of the Spanish-American War and the then-current Philippine-American War, Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) wrote The War Prayer in 1904. It was considered too sacrilegious and provocative for the times. Twain agreed to bury it, but wanted it published after his death (“I have told the truth in that… and only dead men can tell the truth in this world”). He died in 1910, and it was published in Harper’s Monthly, November 1916. I have always…
Fun with Watchtower Covers
Fun with Watchtower covers, from TruthBook Blue (this is number ten in a series!) [youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=4l3WNTu1oZk[/youtube] If you read this blog, I am quite sure that you already have an idea of what I might have to say about the following question: Does “the faithful and discreet slave” endorse independent groups of Witnesses who meet together to engage in Scriptural research or debate? This question – and its answer by the Governing Body – appeared in the September “Q&A” section of…
Adobe Semaphore Pynchon
The semaphore (four rotating disks of light) atop the Adobe tower in downtown San Jose is indeed transmitting a message. Never heard of a semaphore? There are multiple meanings. In programming, it concerns methodology for mutual exclusion (see “excluded middles” below), parallel processing, and synchronization. Predating the electrical telegraph, the semaphore was defined as an optical telegraph that conveyed information via visual signals – towers with blades, shutters, flags and so on. semaphore I wonder to what extent the Adobe…
Laughing at Attempted Theocracy
You’ve probably heard by now (via the attorney firing scandal, Monica Goodling) that the Bush administration has appointed more than 150 graduates of Regent (Pat Robertson‘s 29-year-old bottom-tier law school) to prominent positions in the US government. No? Regent itself estimates that “approximately one out of every six Regent alumni is employed in some form of government work.” Their students aren’t interested in attending top-ranked universities which might challenge them. They want to become “God’s instrument” in changing the policies…
Explosive Opportunity, Like 911?
The Daily Show’s new Middle Eastern correspondent, Aasif Mandvi: Does the inevitable mushroom cloud have a silver lining? Video – WMV Video – QT Thanks to Crooks and Liars for hosting this (or view it at YouTube) and to BB for passing it along.