I used to read The Onion online regularly, but for some reason have lapsed in my faith. So, it took colleague Michael Bess to alert me to this funny article spoofing the idiotic “intelligent design” proponents in Kansas (What’s the Matter With Kansas? Answer: The same thing that’s the matter with the U.S. — the [...]

I had a half-day pre-major advising workshop today and the most animated discussion came when Vanderbilt’s new director of something explained FERPA stuff to us. That’s the Family Educational and Rights Privacy Act. The main thrust behind this well-intentioned but ultimately stupid law is to keep students’ educational record private to all except those with [...]

A sure sign of China’s modernity–no, not it’s phenomenal economic rise over the past 15 years; no, not its capture of the 2008 Summer Olympics; no, not campaigns for modern hygiene; rather, the fact that Fudan University in Shanghai is offering the country’s first course in gay studies.

Off to First Grade

One of two traditional photos (if two years can constitute a tradition) that we took of Safa as she left for the first day of first grade. Once in class, she promptly learned that she wasn’t in Kansas anymore — Miss Brumleve is not quite as bubbly [...]

… I’d be at “Camp Casey” with Cindy Sheehan and supporters. This woman has guts and I like what she’s doing. As a bereaved mother of a son killed on duty in Iraq, she is virtually unassailable by the Bush Administration. She has been attacked by the Right as politically motivated–well, duh! And WTF is [...]

That’s what the iTunes review of Autour de Lucie’s album Faux Mouvement says about lead singer Valérie Leulliot. And it’s true. I chanced upon this French alt-pop act while in The Apple Store at the Green Hills Mall testing speakers on the Macs there. The opening song “Je reviens” was on a featured playlist so [...]

In its rush to cut the Soviets off at the path to Japan and to get its bang for the two billion bucks spent developing the atomic bomb, the United States dropped a second unnecessary nuclear weapon on the city of Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945 at 11:02AM Japan Time. While one might respect [...]

The donuts don’t compare to Mister Donuts in Japan (the best donuts in the world), but Fox’s Donut Den on Hillsboro Road is a welcomed relief to strip mall hell of the same bogus stores. It’s been around 50+ years, I think, and it looks it. Overpriced donuts, but it’s worth the extra to keep [...]