1) There are a remarkable number of cars that careen in to people’s houses around here. Often these accidents are occurring in 20-25 mph zones. As Leia would say, “Whyyyyy?”
2) The Phillies won the World Series! Pigs are now cleared for take-off on runway #5. No, seriously, I think this calls for [...]
Archive for October, 2008
Two observations
Posted in tactless observations, tagged festival of bad driving, Phillies celebration on 29 October, 2008 | 3 Comments »
A stunning use of readability formulae
Posted in Backstory, Festival of Bad Writing, Language failure, Musing about Teaching, tactless observations, tagged Flesh-Kincaid, readability formulae, SMOG index, statistical analyses, surprises, threshing the Dancing Queen on 29 October, 2008 | 2 Comments »
I’m still laughing: who would have thought to thresh Lionel Ritchie’s “Three Times a Lady” through Flesch-Kincaid and the SMOG index?
This paper would!
And who would have thought that Ritchie’s song would score “better” than ABBA’s “Dancing Queen”?
The only bad thing is that I shouldn’t be drinking alcohol before teaching an evening class. Drat.
A few fewer watchmen
Posted in Uncategorized on 28 October, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
From the NY Times, just now:
New Jersey, a petri dish of corruption, will have to make do with 40 percent fewer reporters at The Star-Ledger, one of the few remaining cops on the beat. The Los Angeles Times, which toils under Hollywood’s nose, has one movie reviewer left on staff. And dozens of communities served [...]
I’m grading..
Posted in Uncategorized on 20 October, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
And yet I’ve probably had a better day than the poor fellow who reviews perfumes for the NY Times. What’s he been sniffing? Danielle Steel, apparently, and it’s just as bad as you suspected:
Review of Danielle Steel Perfume
Pardon me while I go back to marveling at what students think will impress me.
More workmen in the attic
Posted in Uncategorized on 8 October, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Sounds above:
{Thud}
{Crunch}
{Assorted rolling noises}
{Thud}
“…I have NO idea what that is….”
Eventually, two of the workmen come downstairs, coughing. Are any of them wearing dust protection? Of course not. Personally, I prefer to keep my inhalation of fiberglass to a minimum, but I’m not in charge of their choices.
Sorting things out
Posted in Musing about Teaching, travel, tagged duty and beauty, Gold Medal Park, Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis, planning for semester, stress, trick photography on 7 October, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The image on the right is not compositted.
It’s a view Gold Medal Park, out the south windows of the “Endless Bridge” off the back of the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. The window frames are deep, and lined with polished metal, so a picture out those windows gives you a strip of “real” surrounded on several [...]
Back from the Midwest
Posted in Filking, Uncategorized on 5 October, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Yeah, you betcha I had a great time — Minnesota is a lovely state, the conference I was attending is always a pleasure, and the weather was quite lovely until this morning, when it was cold and drizzly, and I had to drag my suitcase through the rain to the metro stop, because roads were [...]
