Here's the chance of a lifetime, the opportunity we've all been dying for: playing a victim in a mock terrorist attack. And this isn't just any simulated terrorist attack. This is a terrorist attack on a baseball team! The Reds, no less! As the Cincinnati Reds press release reads: On Saturday, September 30 the Department… Continue reading Simulated Terrorist Attacks; or, Drag Me out of the Ball Park
Category: Pop Culture
Don’t Hug that Tar Baby
It's been widely reported (and not just on the Daily Show) that new Presidential Press Secretary Tony Snow used the racist term "tar baby" in his first televised press briefing. Responding to a question about the NSA's secret wiretapping program, Snow answered: I am not going to stand up here and presume to declassify any… Continue reading Don’t Hug that Tar Baby
Evel Knievel (not dead yet)
It must be a slow news day at the Associated Press. There's an article on Evel Knievel, who's apparently racked with pain, not to mention short-term memory loss. Not sure if this story really is newsworthy, but at least it's written with a sense of irony: Evel Knievel has trouble now just walking from his… Continue reading Evel Knievel (not dead yet)
A Return to Sesame Street (Fisher-Price Style)
Since Elmo was (regretably) such a success with our son, we've rescued a bunch of old-style Fisher-Price "Little People" from my parent's attic, including a few Sesame Street characters. Here we've got Bert and Ernie (circa 1974) tooling around town in a garbage truck. Whose garbage truck? I'm not sure. I don't recall Oscar the… Continue reading A Return to Sesame Street (Fisher-Price Style)
Puzzling over the flight home
How many passengers on a transatlantic flight play Sudoku? Apparently all of them. Another observation from the flight...One of the in-flight movies was The Dukes of Hazzard. I assume this movie was supposed to appeal somehow to the retro-seeking, nostalgia-desperate Gen Xers like myself, who spent many Friday nights in the eighties watching The Dukes… Continue reading Puzzling over the flight home
A lost World Trade Center poem
I recently found a poem I had written years and years ago, in July 1992, which I had absolutely, totally forgotten about. I wrote it in an undergraduate creative writing course with the astounding poet James Reiss. I'm not sure why, but Reiss generally liked my stuff. For an undergrad, I guess it was okay… Continue reading A lost World Trade Center poem
Baby’s First ATM
So yesterday my wife, son, and I ventured for the first time into Kids-R-Us, home of the well-behaved toddler, destination of choice for the stark raving mad parent. Our visit deserves a separate post of its own (suffice it to say that it ended with the purchase of 100 plastic balls, each the size of… Continue reading Baby’s First ATM
Jets! Bombs! War! A Visit to the National Air and Space Museum!
We went to the National Air and Space Museum today, thinking it'd be a lark for our 16-month old son, who loves planes and anything else that makes a lot of noise and moves through the sky. I'd forgotten, though, exactly what the Air and Space Museum memorializes: jets, bombs, and war. Truly, the history… Continue reading Jets! Bombs! War! A Visit to the National Air and Space Museum!
The Pros and Cons of Life Hacking
I've been meaning to blog about Clive Thompson's NYT Magazine article on life hacking for a week now, but, as it happens, I've been operating on "continuous partial attention" myself since, oh, I don't know, weeks, months, maybe years even. While the science Thompson describes is fascinating--when is the perfect moment to interrupt someone at… Continue reading The Pros and Cons of Life Hacking
Disney babies are always dreaming
The following text is from the packaging of an "easy-grasp" fork and spoon set some kind, Disney-loving soul gave our son: Playtime is filled with pixies and princesses. Bathtime overflows with pirate ships and mermaids. Meals are shared with bears who love honey. And Naps take place in castles, not cribs. So whether they are… Continue reading Disney babies are always dreaming
Going in for tests…
Sitting in the local coffee shop I overheard a group of fifty-ish women having their weekly coffee clutch. Their conversation drifted toward doctors and illnesses, and one of them related how the husband of a mutual friend was "going in for tests." I've never thought much about this phrase before, but suddenly today it struck… Continue reading Going in for tests…
Reagan at Disney World, Memorial Day Fun!
LA Times, May 23, 1985 (Larger Image) In honor of Memorial Day, I'm taking a break from my Danger in Suburbia series, and am digging into the archives for this Memorial Day-related post. Twenty years ago, on May 23, 1985, the LA Times ran this article, reporting on President Reagan's plans for Memorial Day. The… Continue reading Reagan at Disney World, Memorial Day Fun!
Killer Robots!!!
From the archives: one of my students dug up a report by the United Auto Workers which details the history of death-by-robot in the auto industry. As the report warns us, "Robot injuries are one of the best-kept secrets." The best-kept secrets where, I'm dying to ask, and I'm hoping they mean "in the industry"… Continue reading Killer Robots!!!
More liberty from the liberty-loving Liberty Baptist Church
Yesterday I focused on the bag I received, like manna from heaven, except it wasn't the desert and it wasn't edible, and it wasn't from God either, from the Liberty Baptist Church. Now I'd like to share, because that's WWJD, what was in the shiny, plastic, shopping bag from what I like to think of… Continue reading More liberty from the liberty-loving Liberty Baptist Church
Liberty Baptist Church Wants Me!!!
Yesterday I had the good fortune of receiving, on my front porch, a gift bag from Liberty Baptist Church in nearby Mooresville ("Race City U.S.A."). At left is this fabulous surprise, which made my day (click the image for a larger photograph). How ironic that just moments before finding the bag, I had been pondering… Continue reading Liberty Baptist Church Wants Me!!!