tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50198182011-06-02T05:24:40.772-07:00SubtrahendSubreactionary Notes.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.comBlogger2951100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1119644775386736962005-06-24T15:17:00.000-07:002005-06-24T13:30:02.620-07:00· Even some opponents of excessive library scrutiny are concessive. In the Washington Post, "If some terrorist checks out a book about how to make an atomic bomb, that might be legitimate for the government to know, and they can get a search warrant or a subpoena the way we've done it throughout American history," Nadler said. "Otherwise, what you're reading is none of the government's business."Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1119385591103634722005-06-21T15:58:00.000-07:002005-06-24T13:16:56.216-07:00· Nothing says "I have lots of money, please take it away from me before I do something silly" like owning a convertible in Nova Scotia. There have so far been 3 sunny days this year.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1119038175004530952005-06-17T16:55:00.000-07:002005-06-17T13:06:26.943-07:00· Someone was asking about the Cape Breton Gaelic newspaper Am Bràigh; I found its online version. Very interesting, lots of stuff, my goodness ... and Celtic music, and, and baking and games and various activities ... Zzzzzz. But féach ar sin: níl aon focal as gaeilge ann! Cad tá suas le sin ar chor ar bith?Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1119039008006553952005-06-16T17:09:00.000-07:002005-06-17T13:10:08.006-07:00· An Evening at the Explorers' Club"I wonder if Simon has anything prepared. You know --""Yes, if he'll come in with something to show up Alfred again.""Last week it was a good-looking girlfriend, this week, who knows?""Maybe he'll arrive by helicopter," said Hogg, "That would be something."No one replied. After a moment's silence, Hogg looked around and said:"I said, Maybe he'll arrive by Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1119039869052405532005-06-14T15:24:00.000-07:002005-06-17T13:24:29.056-07:00· The worst job might be having to go through the "suggestions" every month. Sure, it might be fun the first few timesall the wacky people with their sense of funbut probably it would become so enervating that you would get ulcers just thinking about it. While it is true that some people write pleasant and complimentary things, these people are, unfortunately, crazy. There are no two ways aboutPaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1109880471139688972005-03-03T12:05:00.000-08:002005-03-03T12:10:09.970-08:00· Once again, we here at Subtrahend try to encourage young poets by semi-occasionally publishing their works, unbeknownst to them:The Entire Score Has Been Re-orchestrated by MeWaiting around for the King of AlbaniaThinking I might replace him if things got rough.Waiting in a room on tape for solo voices Something I almost got in the mail.Elsewhere things were taking shapeAnd moving, yes, moving Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1109088469497853242005-02-22T12:50:00.000-08:002005-02-22T08:07:49.500-08:00· The Arabic for "bibliographical research" is dirasah bibliyumitriyah. You have to put a macron over a few of the vowels, however. (Or use Arabic script, unsupported by many, many sites and browsers).Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1109105041343624142005-02-22T12:43:00.000-08:002005-02-22T12:44:01.346-08:00· His effects were transparent and I was tired of them. He thought those stupid Mooooobius strips (or whatever) meant something; he thought sex meant something; he thought anyone's doing anything meant something; he thought television meant something. He was always trying to uncover the unique in the ordinary (and vice versa), and usually in a powerful way. He tried to be passionate and Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1108994675522955712005-02-21T06:03:00.000-08:002005-02-21T06:04:35.523-08:00· Once again, the National Catholic Reporter has to step up and explain the real danger to be found on "SpongeBob SquarePants":A technosexual is someone whose most significant loving relationship is with a piece of technology. It is the world’s fastest growing PAL, or “perverse alternative lifestyle.” At its current growth rate, in 2042 technosexuality will surpass heterosexuality as America’s Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1105560380498725332005-01-12T12:05:00.000-08:002005-01-12T12:06:20.496-08:00· That night in the fo'c'sle the excitement was palpable! "Let's put another apostrophe in 'fo'c'sle'!" went the cry.Some of the officers were upset at this suggestion. Weren't many nautical terms already so contracted as to be nearly unrecognizable? It was feared there might be a m't'ny.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1102692393194684962004-12-10T07:25:00.000-08:002004-12-10T07:26:33.193-08:00We Recycle
"I thought I asked you to take out the garbage?"
"Just getting around to it, my dear."
"No; take it out now. I'm sick of this."
"Yes, my sweet. My honeyed popcorn. My smiling rhododendron. My jet-puffed marshmallow. My mode d'emploi. My zero tolerance policy. My sweet jar o' nothin'. My junk food snack."
"Are you going to take it out or not?"
"I have the task in hand; I'm taking a Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1102605986918516302004-12-09T07:25:00.000-08:002004-12-09T07:59:08.536-08:00Babelfish!
· It's a handy resource. But you have to watch it closely. Here's what happens if you translate a simple text into a language and then re-translate your result into English (I thought the translation looked a bit funny): I read in the newspaper the other day that some scientists were trying to breed octopus, since they are an endangered species.being interpreted means:I read inside Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1101922469937818832004-12-01T09:32:00.000-08:002004-12-01T09:34:29.936-08:00Quotation of the Moment
· "I ain't never met someone who didn't like parfait. You never hear someone say, 'Hey, you want some parfait?' 'Hell no, I don't want no parfait!'"Eddie Murphy (as "Donkey" in Shrek).Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1101752718875658242004-11-29T10:24:00.000-08:002004-12-01T11:12:27.200-08:00· An interesting photograph I found in a book: Heitor Villa-Lobos on the blower, apparently chortling away at something and looking like George Gershwin: In one hand he's holding the telephone and a cigar, in the other the telephone's earpiece. I would like to know who he's talking to. His agent? Samuel Barber?
margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
ILLUSTRATIONS
BUT NOW HE HEARD A VOICE ABOVE HIM. IT Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1101332732805888412004-11-24T13:44:00.000-08:002004-11-29T10:41:51.163-08:00Fun with Tables
· You can also make your own yellowing news clippings:
FACTS ABOUT CANADA
The distance between Halifax, N.S., and Vancouver, B.C., by the most direct railway route, is 3,646 miles, which is 615 miles more than the distance between London, England, and Constantinople, Turkey, by the trans-European railway.
The distance between London and Paris, France, is only miles times greater Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1101317504033762672004-11-24T09:30:00.000-08:002004-11-25T11:13:32.536-08:00News Typography
· What you have to do to look like a newspaper is the following:
BUSINESS DRIVEL THE DRIVELYOUR SOURCE FOR ALL KINDS OF DRIVEL
Lots of newspapers look like that. Capital letters are a bit harder to read, though.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1101157948922874992004-11-22T13:12:00.000-08:002004-11-25T11:14:01.180-08:00Carnival
Not many people know this, but Camille Saint-Saëns badly needed a vacation after a busy period at the École normale. His students clamoured, "Don't forget to bring us back something! A fugue, perhaps." M. Saint-Saëns chuckled and waved goodbye from the departing train.
A few days later he was strolling along the Boulevard des anglais in Nice and it occurred to him: "I really should get Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1101157305070608632004-11-22T13:00:00.000-08:002004-11-22T13:01:45.070-08:00· If I haven't mentioned it before, people should visit the site of "Kyklops". There should be a button around here somewhere.
Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1100899692953326562004-11-19T13:21:00.000-08:002004-11-19T13:28:12.953-08:00· I wish I had some clear idea (or any idea) about the next four years. A lot can happen in that time. Or maybe nothing can happen. I have the feeling that these next years are going to sound as if they had been in parentheses. If people can keep talking about Paris Hilton then there can't be anything going on. The reason I say this is we've had some cold weather and I can't find my hat. I had toPaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1100724951155301312004-11-17T12:53:00.000-08:002004-11-17T12:56:45.983-08:00Humour, etc.
· A co-worker was lauging at a joke today. That's a good thing. Laughter is the best medicine.However, I couldn't help noticing that the laughter was forced, as if done with an effort. The effect was almost the opposite of what was no doubt intendeda cry for help. And not difficult to see why, since the "joke" was tired, useless and boring. In fact, was it a joke at all? I've no Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1100240113167025842004-11-11T21:51:00.000-08:002004-11-11T22:16:09.956-08:00Entering and Leaving the House is Fun
· I love my neighbours, but whenever we meet on the elevator they look at me as if they've heard that I regularly come home drunk and make my wife get up on the table and dance like a bear. I don't do that regularly by any means.Now I'm watching a queer Québecois movie in which a man is spending time with his girlfiend when suddenly she turns into a large Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1100158074106926672004-11-10T23:26:00.000-08:002004-11-10T23:27:54.106-08:00· Giblets grows tired and bored, and desires entertainment. And so say all of us. Elsewhere, it transpires that Yasser Arafat has died. It will be interesting to see if that breaks up the logjam, or just creates more. No doubt all kinds of people have been making plans for this.Oriana Fallaci met him and didn't like him one bit. But she also disliked Muhammed Ali.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1099866322629618642004-11-07T14:23:00.000-08:002004-11-07T15:44:25.373-08:00· I don't know whether to continue watching The Others or pick up La Nausée. Which is more fun?Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1099530965923249442004-11-03T17:11:00.000-08:002004-11-03T17:49:55.316-08:00Sad Day for Some
· Quite a few people have been feeling a bit moody over the US election results. From the comments at Maxspeak (no. 10):Whether that signals vast stupidity or just horrible voter education, I'll leave the proof to you. But the simple fact is that Bush won because large majorities of his supporters had no idea what he actually stands for.That seems like a common reaction in Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1099463766610250932004-11-02T22:27:00.000-08:002004-11-02T23:08:27.340-08:00Election Night TV Watching
· On another channel: some grumpy Australian police, having a big grumpathon around a conference table. People in Britain and Australia seem to take police work very seriously. Watch Prime Suspect sometime. Whine whine whine. They spend more time in heated office politics than in catching criminals. On Prime Suspect they average about one case per year. Also they sufferPaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1099460184443566582004-11-02T21:18:00.000-08:002004-11-02T22:51:03.730-08:00· Elsewhere on TV ... a crazed Sandra Bullock is running around in a life jacket, her fellow shipmates are arguing with each other about jumping off the boat in the usual downpour. Lifeboats are falling over the side like toys off the edge of a bathtub. Lights are flashing all over the place. There seem to be lots of problems. Oh no! It's stuck. Guys are tumbling out of the jammed lifeboats. If Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1099430763720579802004-11-02T13:22:00.000-08:002004-11-02T13:26:03.720-08:00New Developments
· Everyone seems to be worried about the US elections. I'm not sure the results will mean a great deal for anyone. I mean one side must win. It won't be as important as the Red Sox victory, though. How could it be?Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1099430254994419952004-11-02T13:15:00.000-08:002004-11-02T13:17:34.993-08:00· Kyklops has a new weblog!Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1098944717482097552004-10-27T22:33:00.000-07:002004-10-27T23:28:10.570-07:00Fog of Journalism
· Angua picks up on some drivel in The Guardian a while back. Yes, The Guardian. Some drivel. But I've noticed that, aside from actual axe-grinding, there's an awful lot of confusion in newspapers and magazines on just about every topic. It's not stupidity or ignorance but more a fiendish desire to simplify everything, and so you end up with a collection of bromides which affordPaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1098915164802306062004-10-27T14:49:00.000-07:002004-10-27T15:21:16.706-07:00Words
· Sometimes people want you to "have a look at" something they've written. Well, sure. There might be a few eyes that need to be crossed, a misplaced coma. That's easily done. But sometimes the thing they give you appears to have been hastily translated from some Central Asian language and needs to be reworked into normal English. Awkward participle constructions, perfectly acceptable in Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1098494929760600412004-10-22T18:23:00.000-07:002004-11-07T14:32:12.636-08:00La mer
Oh! si patiente,Même quand méchante!Un souffle ami nous chante:"Vous sans espérance,Mourez sans souffrance!" Verlaine, "La mer est plus belle". · Here's a type of human relatively new, I believe, to cataloguers of human types: the jazz critic. These are usually white males of fairly well-heeled background, well-educated, sometimes British, partaking of a certain donnish gravityin Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1098395133259431902004-10-21T14:44:00.000-07:002004-10-21T15:26:53.090-07:00I'm Asking You to Look into Your Heart And Shut Up
· Paul Krugman, alluded to by Maxspeak, mentions something interesting: Last week, the Republican National Committee sent an angry, threatening letter to Rock the Vote, an organization that has been using the draft issue to mobilize young voters. "This urban myth regarding a draft has been thoroughly debunked," the letter declared, and quoted Mr.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1097881026452092692004-10-15T15:54:00.000-07:002004-10-21T14:54:37.023-07:00Music , etc.
· Some interesting information about Fartein Valen (1887-1952). At the same site you can find "Aviation in British Music".
· The Indefatigable Mr Steyn is at it again, saying bad things about John Kerry:But he won’t win. Because enough Americans understand that going back to where we were means a return to polite fictions and dangerous illusions. You can’t put that world back Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1097877213103190502004-10-15T14:53:00.000-07:002004-10-21T14:55:41.426-07:00Ve Heff Vays of ...
· Maybe I fell asleep in the early 21st century and now here it is the mid 1400s or so. According to Obsidian Wings, torture might be okay... What I don't see, though, in the comments of various postings on this, is the point that if torture is wicked, then surely getting someone else to do it is even worse. Yet the zanies seem to have reasoned in just the opposite way: we Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1097793349960871192004-10-14T15:34:00.000-07:002004-10-15T14:16:30.783-07:00Dumb Mental Health Gag
· The other night I heard a man on TV use the combination "OCD" to mean "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" (on some crime show where they use a lot of Q-tips) Well ... okay. How could an Obsessive Compulsion be Disorderly? And anyway, in most professionsbutcher, baker, banker, groceryou do need to be somewhat compulsive. Supposing you're a brain surgeon. Wouldn't some Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1097707579446343872004-10-13T15:43:00.000-07:002004-10-15T14:27:53.500-07:00· Some interesting reminiscences of Aleksei Batashev, president of the Moscow Jazz Club during Benny Goodman's Soviet tour in 1962.A bit more, in Russian, at Dzhazz Rossii. · I've been looking for information about the underground movie theatre discovered underneath Paris a while ago. In ArtsJournal (scroll down a bit): Urban Guerilla Artists Claim Ownership Of Underground Paris Cinema A Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1097442658304369172004-10-10T14:09:00.000-07:002004-10-10T14:20:10.753-07:00Presidential Poetry
· I think people don't appreciate the poetry of President Bush quite enough. That's probably because as long as he's in office everyone looks only to his performance qua president and disregards any other, irrelevant, thing. Here then is a particularly fine piece from his recent work: Tribal SovereigntyTribal sovereignty means thatit's sovereignYou're aYou're a(you've been Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1097435284018778222004-10-10T12:07:00.000-07:002004-10-10T12:08:04.016-07:00Big Bad Jazz
· Actually, the title of Albert McCarthy's jumbo book about jazz is Big Band Jazz (London: Peerage Books, 1983), and I misread it as above. I think I'm right in saying my version is better, if less specific.If you'll now turn to page 16 of Ole Brask's Jazz people (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1976) you will find James Jones wanted to write a book about Django Reinhardt and spent a goodPaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1097430018209661082004-10-10T10:38:00.000-07:002004-10-10T12:07:15.006-07:00Let's Monitor the Internet
· As usual, terrorists might be using the internet bla bla bla: "While many netizens are leery of any restrictions on the freedom that flourishes on the internet and have a libertarian approach regarding any threats to this freedom, it is incumbent on us to accept some responsible oversight." Etc. Terrorists use the internet, therefore, etc. Notice the language: "Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1097419830075221472004-10-10T07:28:00.000-07:002004-10-10T12:05:04.866-07:00From the Desk of Jane Galt
· Attention!The verdict: gosh, I'm too tired to guess. But expectations were so low for Bush, that I almost think not drooling on himself was a win.Hurray! Gosh! I guess we can score this as a win for the Bushmeister! Gawrsh. (This from someone who was instructing us on the iniquity of Canadian softwood lumber, i.e.., pine and spruce that almost every building has, and Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1097268725682247082004-10-08T13:50:00.000-07:002004-10-15T14:12:50.283-07:00The Trick Is to Not Mind That It Hurts
Pain Incidents by Intensity · A few days ago I somehow blew a rib out of place by excessive coughing and sneezing. I don't think it's very serious. Nothing seems to be broken. It's a bit like a twisted ankle, except it's in my ribcage and causes extraordinary discomfort every time I move.I can still do all the normal things, but I can't cough, sneeze, sit Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1097194800825737922004-10-07T17:15:00.000-07:002004-10-07T17:20:00.873-07:00Fantasia para un Gentilhombre
· I used to know a repulsive kid at high school who, if he thought somebody looked Oriental, would ask if he knew any martial arts. No matter what the answer was, he would go on talking about kung fu, jiu-jitsu, etc. For some people the Far East means nothing but martial arts. For others it's just food, or exotic young women. The same thing with people who tell you Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1097185473651259632004-10-07T14:43:00.000-07:002004-10-07T14:52:33.306-07:00I Suffer from Voice Immodulation. As Do Hundreds of Others
· Bob Harris in This Modern World, comments on a serious matter, the numbness in the media over news of civilian deaths in Iraq. He has a lot to say about this, none of it very cheerful:The military isn't pressed and can't be bothered for a detailed explanation about the incident, other than to blame the victims themselves. "Great care Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1097118192956622872004-10-06T19:51:00.000-07:002004-10-06T20:33:15.236-07:00The Great Debate
This is Your Brain on Drugs · I did manage to watch 30 seconds of the Cheney-Edwards match, but then I decided to watch a few episodes of Spongebob Squarepants instead. Afterwards it struck me how similar Edwards is to Spongebob and, in turn, how much Cheney resembles Squidward, but as if they were both on medication. Edwards, I would say, some mild thing like valium, or perhaps Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1097115939784580892004-10-06T19:23:00.000-07:002004-10-06T20:17:03.190-07:00Truth, Truth ...
· Apparently there is a group to counter the Swift Boat Cranks: Truth & Trust. I hadn't heard of them until I looked in at Letter from Gotham. It seems to clear the air a bit. (Frankly I think the site itself would be better if the design were more straightforward. When it comes up there's a sort of fade-in effect as all the movies and cinemaoids kick in. That's just me, of Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1097103027379150082004-10-06T15:49:00.000-07:002004-10-06T20:29:06.503-07:00Islamic Beers
The Brewery at Rawalpindi, ca. 1941 · People have probably been wondering what the chief Islamic beer is; they may have missed this one.It was founded at Murree by the British in 1861, but the company can't sell its product to most of the population.Therefore they have been seeking an export market, particularly the UK. Write to your local dealer. Or better yet, next time you're in Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1097100320712055052004-10-06T14:56:00.000-07:002004-10-06T17:20:13.480-07:0065 Pfennigs
· My uncle once told me that there was a shop in their neighbourhood in Berlin where bread cost 65 Pfennigs, and so the family referred to it as "65 Pfennigs". Nobody else would know that, though. His point was that a small, obscure, thing can mean something specific to somebody. I think this could be an intelligence-gathering question. It's not enough to know the language because Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1097097554688840302004-10-06T14:17:00.000-07:002004-10-06T14:29:01.763-07:00A Partial List of Musical Reinhardts
Babik Reinhardt
Coco Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt
Jospeh Reinhardt
Lulu Reinhardt
Mandino Reinhardt
Mike Reinhardt
Noé Reinhardt
Nono Reinhardt
Samon Reinhardt
Sascha Reinhardt
Schnuckenack Reinhardt
Sony Reinhardt
Vino Reinhardt
Zipflo ReinhardtPaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1096499820360638552004-09-29T16:15:00.000-07:002004-09-29T16:18:20.966-07:00Tais-Toi et Sois Jeune
· I think it's kind of interesting to know what a nation's young men think about a particular war, current or imminent, and, via Pandagon, I found a bit of an indication at Zogby International: The survey reveals that 60 percent disagree with the statement that George W. Bush made the right decision to go war with Iraq. (Only 40 percent think Bush made the correct Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1096492807255975732004-09-29T14:18:00.000-07:002004-09-29T14:20:07.256-07:00Debate Threats
· CNN has this to report:WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI warned authorities in Florida that Thursday's presidential debate at the University of Miami could be an attractive target for terrorists.... "We do not have any specific information or intelligence to suggest that this first presidential debate is a target," a DHS official said, adding Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1095819490479997002004-09-21T19:16:00.000-07:002004-09-21T19:18:10.503-07:00· Apparently this book by Michele Malkin encouraging the internment of the foreign-born and their children and their grand-children and great-grand-children is taken seriously by some. Well, okay. To be expected. But the cover of the work seems to have photos of Mohamed Atta, the terrorist, and some Japanese man side by side. The Japanese man is one Richard Kotoshirodo, a probable spy, as I learnPaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1095811943720414262004-09-21T17:10:00.000-07:002004-09-22T14:02:05.633-07:00· Amazing the things you only notice by accident. This weblog, Best of Both Worlds, is rich in content. Two authors, different takes, etc. That seems to be the best thing for a weblog, the two-man team. One or the other can do the work for a spell, yet there aren't multiple viewpoints in play. Anyway, there's this interesting entry: from Best of Both Worlds: Where does Karl Rove get the idea thatPaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1095372639825010152004-09-16T15:07:00.000-07:002004-09-16T15:10:39.826-07:00· Here's something on a blog written by some bright young Harvard student, on the problem of getting "young" people to vote:Since old people vote in such large numbers, politicians have turned more and more to discussing “senior” issues - prescription drug benefits, Medicare, the pressure of retiring baby boomers. Taxes and jobs aren’t terribly compelling for college students either.(Italics minePaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1093407270386529592004-08-24T21:09:00.000-07:002004-08-24T21:14:30.386-07:00· Via Unqualified Offerings, Salam Pax's new weblog with pictures from inside Najaf. He seems to be right in the heart of it. Amazing pictures.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1093391627427667792004-08-24T16:24:00.000-07:002004-08-24T16:53:47.426-07:00· Just about every top story on CNN these last two weeks is awfully dull. These trials, for exampleit's not as if they were great mysteries consuming the nation. When they're over they might merit a short note. But that's it. I should think as crimes they're not even unusual. You can't imagine the writers at Law & Order basing a story on one of them, can you?And then the Olympics. There's Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1093388076988070802004-08-24T15:54:00.000-07:002004-08-24T16:01:45.406-07:00· Two quotations:Keep to the left & walk your horses or you will be fined.Sign over the Old Red Bridge at Bridgetown, NS.Television prevents communism because it is post-Marx just as the book is pre-Marx.
—McLuhan, CB, 1954, p. 14.
Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1091121219952671802004-07-29T10:11:00.000-07:002004-08-04T04:35:02.746-07:00· Au cinéma: Killing Zoe. It's either an improbable French Type A love story, or a heist, or drug-taking in Paris. I think these things all work against each other. Maybe I misunderstood something, but the love story concerns Julie Delpy, a part-time prostitute who falls for our hero (Eric Stoltz). After they spend a single evening together, his friend comes along and brutally throws her out of Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1091118407338348392004-07-29T09:26:00.000-07:002004-08-03T12:01:56.866-07:00· I discovered the other day that the mouse on this computer was having a harder and harder time travelling up and down. I was racing it up and down like kid with a toy truck, only to have the pointer make a fitful vertical jump of an inch or two, or else zip along from side to side. Finally I took matters into my own incompetent hands. I discovered small amounts of finely-woven cat hair stuck toPaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1091117417319625112004-07-29T08:59:00.000-07:002004-07-29T09:30:03.690-07:00· Fafblog just keeps getting better and better. (I have corrected the address in the sidebar). It's interesting to read various bloggers who are attending the Democrats' convention. Sounds like a big deal. It's hard to tell from the TV screen though. Unless you've been attempered to the idea of watching speech after speech, and then watching people try to come up with some commentary, it's a bit Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1090394944002338732004-07-21T00:26:00.000-07:002004-07-21T15:23:26.570-07:00· I ran into an old Spring Garden character on the weekend. He told me he had just turned 60. But he has a bit of that old Halifax accent: he calls me "Pwaauwl" and substitutes short "i" for "e": "I rimimbir whin" etc. There's a bit more to it than that, though. He reminded me of the "Doric Restaurant". which I had thought was on the first block after South Park Street, but he correctly told me Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1089929226751157282004-07-15T15:04:00.000-07:002004-07-21T15:24:10.676-07:00·Here's a note that used to appear on Columbia LPs in the 1950s: Music by the hour "Lp", Columbia's registered trademark, denoting the Long-Playing, 33 1/3 rpm system, was first introduced in 1948. The invention of the "Lp" has contributed immeasurably to the realization of High-Fidelity sound, to the ease of playing and storing records and, even to the form music itself is assuming, for with up Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1089325040370463732004-07-08T15:16:00.000-07:002004-08-03T12:01:10.336-07:00· Tom Ridge promises another big attack by al-Qa'ida, according to CNN.cm. I do hope it won't be as bad as the previous monthly alerts. I haven't read the story because I am stupidly going about my business, but I imagine there has been some "chatter". To be serious, though, what's the point of these alerts? What can US citizens do any differently? Be more vigilant? Would that help, given that Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1088988474881998272004-07-04T17:31:00.000-07:002004-07-21T00:48:29.033-07:00· Cranky Vermeer. Always being the temperamental artist. Girl with a Pearl Earring is a beautiful movie. It's quite a view. Plus it has Colin Firth, the most underrated actor of his generation. Ever since Apartment Zero he has been unstoppable. For an interesting review: "Apartment Zero".
Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1088966670795025142004-07-04T11:43:00.000-07:002004-07-04T11:44:30.796-07:00· K.M. Grace is a wonderfully interesting writer, but here's something he thinks: The Conservatives now claim they lost because their “message” was rejected in Ontario. But what they obdurately refuse to understand is that it was non-white voters in Ontario who rejected their message.Whereas the real problem is, of course, that they have no discernible message. Even invisible minorities like NovaPaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1088963215565870272004-07-04T10:45:00.000-07:002004-07-04T10:46:55.566-07:00· If you've enjoyed the work of Bruce Campbell, then you're sure to like Bubba Ho-tep, a remarkable achievement in the world of strange movies. Campbell plays an aging Elvis, and he has "major bug problems" and has to use a walker. Also his best friend is John F. Kennedy, brilliantly disguised as a black man. There is a Bubba Ho-tep site to look at. And here are some reviews. But it's about the Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1088868236915191682004-07-03T08:23:00.000-07:002004-07-04T11:50:42.583-07:00· It seems Marlon Brando has died. My mother, who died in April, was his biggest fan -- oh, let's be honest, she positively adored the man. She liked manly neurotics, and that's why she married my father. But it does seem as if a whole generation is passing away. The whole period of James Dean, Elvis, Streetcar, Ed Sullivan. It's all gone. Well, now I'm watching Bubba Ho-tep, a sort of alternate Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1088865371716556502004-07-03T07:33:00.000-07:002004-07-03T07:45:18.146-07:00· I think not enough is known about Roch Carrier, this country's chief librarian.He is the author of "Le Chandail de Hockey", about a rotten kid who gets the wrong hockey sweater, which causes wackiness to ensue, and a short novel, La Guerre, Yes Sir!, in which wackiness breaks out among the life-affirming Québec villagers during World War II, hugely droll. But he also had a hand in the famous Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1088804727610566022004-07-02T14:41:00.000-07:002004-07-03T07:43:26.936-07:00· "The Editors" at "The Poor Man" quote a news source that says: top officials "exaggerated what the available intelligence said about Iraq's nuclear, chemical, biological and missile programs and left out important caveats." That's good, isn't it? "Left out important caveats", maybe it could be "failed to not lie their heads off". · Much to think about this week. Apparently Canada had an Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1088673696881699912004-07-01T01:52:00.000-07:002004-07-01T02:21:36.880-07:00Whom Do You Like among Tyrants?
· I can remember all kinds of big leaders warmly kissing and fondling L. Brezhnev and others. So how did this relatively small fry, Saddam Hussein, get to be a bugbear? I think he just blew people off. He's the Fredo of the big family, sitting in a *flat in some lake with his executioner. He went too far, invited the wrong people, gabbed about stuff, made the wrongPaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1088629982219788272004-06-30T14:09:00.000-07:002004-07-01T01:32:58.180-07:00Bibliography
· The Emigrant's Guide to New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, Lower Canada, Upper Canada and New Brunswick. London: W. Pearson, 1832. You're probably wondering what the average daily wage was in, say, Upper Canada at that time. It was between three and six shillings; a mechanic could expect to earn five shillings or more. What's that worth? The pamphlet itself, all of 32 pages long, Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1088236543362548122004-06-26T00:52:00.000-07:002004-07-01T01:41:18.143-07:00· Max Sawicky assigns this topic for 25 June: "The sovereign nation of Iraq will not be sovereign, a nation, or Iraq." · Apparently Michael Moore might not be allowed to publicize his new film after July 30 because of the US McCain-Feingold campaign-finance law. Here is a story with more about that. I don't think that's the purpose of the law, to stop ads for books and films that happen to be Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1085039209265053572004-05-20T00:00:00.000-07:002004-06-30T14:50:34.336-07:00· I don't think I would put Guys and Dolls anwhere near ther top of my list of movies. Yeah, Angua likes it. Butin the category of truly good American musicals surely The Music Man beats it hollow. Brando as Sky Masterson stank and the whole irony of having gamblers talk in that stilted fashion sort of died in its bed soon after its author did.
Now, I'm being unfair, but recollect The Music ManPaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1085000671211073002004-05-19T13:34:00.000-07:002004-05-19T14:04:31.210-07:00I am a Bank Statement
I am a bank statement run wildWith figures and signsand devil-may-care additionsof no and certain termsI am amorphousEmbrace meIf you can(Probably not, I guess)My columns are weirdand include acronyms you have never seen,nor were meant do decodeMy bottom lineIs on a page you have lost.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1084741641833122302004-05-16T14:07:00.000-07:002004-05-16T14:08:08.996-07:00· Colin Powell thinks the Arab world should be more outraged at the murder of Mr Berg.
Powell: Arab world should be more outraged
"I would like to have seen a much higher level of outrage throughout the world, but especially in the Arab world, to this murder," he said.Well of course everyone would expect some outrage at all the killing in the Middle East. People there are probably plenty outragedPaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1084563103534938002004-05-14T12:29:00.000-07:002004-05-19T13:33:54.370-07:00·This is interesting:
Morgan quits over 'hoax' pictures
(Filed: 14/05/2004)
Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan has stepped down after admitting that the pictures of soldiers abusing Iraqis were a "calculated and malicious hoax".
The pictures were a 'malicious hoax'
Mr Morgan left his post hours after the regiment at the centre of the controversy demanded an apology.
Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1083965324902826212004-05-07T14:28:00.000-07:002004-05-07T14:33:05.983-07:00Were I in the Pentagon
I'd be pulling up "iraq_exitstrategy.pdf" on my laptop by now. The whole abuse business is sad all around. Sad for everybody.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1083878222538453092004-05-06T14:17:00.000-07:002004-05-07T14:32:42.826-07:00This is a Bit Odd
· From the Southern Poverty Law Center, an untoward piece about a certain Dr Kent Hovind: Hovind, who runs the Creation Science Evangelism ministry from Pensacola, Fla., says the whole Bible is literally true and that the Earth is only 6,000 years old. While that may seem par for the creationist course, Hovind also sells anti-Semitic books like Fourth Reich of the Rich and has Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1083423117638887512004-05-01T07:51:00.000-07:002004-05-01T14:02:35.700-07:00Blood and Homages, pt. 4
· Kill Bill, vol. 1. It's not bad, if you're an admirer of Japanese swordplay. It has its merits. In fact, it's just the sort of movie to give your sister, if your sister is a loud, boozy, depraved teen.The dialogue is a bit stilted: "Before satisfaction could be mine," etc., but I assume that's comic book talk Also, it's dismaying that the only aspects of Japanese Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1082850063363215842004-04-24T16:41:00.000-07:002004-05-06T14:21:14.030-07:00·9/11 changed everything. Rubbish. Two things it did not change are killing and being killed.
Here's what some guy in Iraq thinks; worth reading:
Just Stop… Confess the previous mistakes… and Restart.
The current pattern of failures and policy changing will not lead to any real solutions, the American administration must admit that the last year was a total mess, that nothing positive will come Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1082759150849115802004-04-23T15:25:00.000-07:002004-04-23T15:37:05.043-07:00Something Everyone's Doing
· Yes, a poll. You can go to this "blogpoll" place and design a poll.Of course it only works if people visit your blog. Otherwise it will look pathetic and foolish.I just suggested those blogs because they are well known. I would hate to seem to be implying that any of them is annoying.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1082188435139341092004-04-17T00:53:00.000-07:002004-04-17T15:33:25.340-07:00The Spectator Weighs in
· After publishing a lot of rot by Mark Steyn they have this: "The main US military spokesman, Brigadier-General Mark Kimmitt, is quite clearly a man in denial." An actual article by someone who was actually, factually, in Iraq.I thought the other essays by Mr Steyn were impatient mumbo jumbo: reaffirmation of our goals; important success so far; why oh why does the left Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1081708928214542672004-04-11T11:42:00.000-07:002004-04-11T11:45:54.576-07:00Some More
· Some interesting stuff can be found at e-rocky-confidential, by a soldier in Iraq, and at Turning Tables, by one recently returned. Not to mention Baghdad Burning, by someone in Baghdad, and Healing Iraq, by an Iraqi dentist. (The latter feels that civil war is almost unavoidable).Funny how the sanest stuff about Iraq comes from people who actually know something about it.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1081697612646792382004-04-11T08:33:00.000-07:002004-04-11T08:37:18.950-07:00Raed in the Middle
· Another interesting blog from Iraq; Raed in the Middle. "Lost between the East and the West" is his subtitle. His installment for April 10 is an open letter to the Japanese about the hostages. It's a sad business all around. Juan Cole tells of sporadic fighting just about everywhere in Iraq.On a more cheerful note, Paul Martin's blog remains cheerfully not updated since Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1081363206916401402004-04-07T11:40:00.000-07:002004-04-11T08:20:50.293-07:00May He Rest in Cleanliness
· I saw an ad for toilets this morning. I was watching CNN, and up comes an ad for American Standard. In it a man with a plunger ... well, I don't want to go into it. But the music they use is Mozart's "Requiem". The man in the ad is happy, jubilating and falling to his knees in slow motion because his toilet works okay. I presume the authors of this bit of total sewagePaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1080862365000658282004-04-01T15:32:00.000-08:002004-04-01T15:36:42.653-08:00A Presy
· Whenever I watched old movies or read old novels I would wonder what they meant by sums of money. Is that expensive? Cheap? Good deal? I wouldn't know. What would that be in our money? For example, in High Sierra(1941) Bogart pays for a tank of gas with five dollars and gets something like $3.60 in change. In The Big Heat (1953) Glenn Ford buys a beer for (I think) 35 cents.But now, Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1080503695502792812004-03-28T11:54:00.000-08:002004-04-17T00:58:19.436-07:00I Doubt This Can Be Right
· According to Fox News, the new Hamas leader thinks President Bush is the enemy of God. "We knew that Bush is the enemy of God, the enemy of Islam and Muslims. America declared war against God. Sharon declared war against God and God declared war against America, Bush and Sharon," Rantissi said. "The war of God continues against them and I can see the victory coming up Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1080424115884068162004-03-27T13:48:00.000-08:002004-03-27T13:52:02.670-08:00It's Madison Time
· Well, not yet. But I urge you to see this movie, if you can: Jean-Luc Godard's Bande à part, sometimes called Outsiders. It seems a trifle naive to us now, but there are parts that certainly can stand comparison with anything coming out, particularly the scene in which our heroes get up in a café and perform "The Madison". If this is not the coolest scene in movie history, Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-108040152871906282004-03-27T07:32:00.000-08:002004-03-27T07:35:35.326-08:00A Shropshire Lad
· Over at my parents' house, I was told that "these old books are just in the way". I reshelved a few of them, but I noted that two had belonged to my father: At Swim-Two-Birds, which I gave him, and A Shropshire Lad, which he must have bought in his happy hedonist youth. As for the first book, it is a remarkable description of a Dublin student's life and the complexity of Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1080341389724258302004-03-26T14:49:00.000-08:002004-03-26T14:53:15.013-08:00Not This Again
· Angua has collected some news items about anti-semitic attacks in the Greater Toronto Area. It made me wonder what sort of person goes around spray-painting swastikas and knocking over other people's graves? In general, what sort of moron goes out at night and does anything of the kind? I used to live on Spring Garden Road, Halifax's busy busy thoroughfare. Every morning around 2Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1079651840960682862004-03-18T15:17:00.000-08:002004-03-18T15:22:54.920-08:00Spain's Message
"We went to this war in Iraq and all we got was 200 killed by the real terroristsnot by angry Iraqis. We didn't want this war, because we thought terrorism is best fought by other means, and now it turns out we were right. So goodbye, Aznar."Around 70 Spaniards have died in Iraq; none of them was in a position to stop the terrorists in Spain. They were there just to go along withPaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1079647993768307582004-03-18T14:13:00.000-08:002004-03-18T14:16:29.043-08:00Well, the Thing is ...
· CNN.com has this to say:Pakistani forces believe they have surrounded Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's No. 2 leader, among al Qaeda fighters near the border with Afghanistan, Pakistani officials tell CNN. Government sources say the military plans a heavy air assault once the sun comes up in hopes of preventing Zawahiri from escaping.So things can be done against Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1079129480841847132004-03-12T14:11:00.000-08:002004-03-18T14:24:46.920-08:00Al-Qaida?
·To judge by the latest story on CNN.com, the attack in Spain looks like the work of al-Qaida.:Authorities also said they have found and detonated three more bombs, apparently set on timers to explode later, where rescuers and security forces were on the scene.The business of wanting to blow up rescue workers seems like a Palestinian terrorist move. The IRA and ETA were always trying toPaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1079044955787068952004-03-11T14:42:00.000-08:002004-03-11T14:45:41.436-08:00Terrorist Outrage in Spain
· I don't know what to make of these serious assaults in Spain. CNN.com's story has the confusing headline "Spain looking at link to Islamic militants ETA remains top suspect, ministry says".If you read the rest of the story, and have read Spanish newspapers before, you might think ETA was behind it.But they mention the van with detonators and an "Arabic tape with Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1078962876563629732004-03-10T15:54:00.000-08:002004-03-10T16:07:55.436-08:00Embarrassing Moments in Security
· Mysterious "stolen security item" was Mossad chief's cellphone, according to this story in Maariv:A month after the public was given the disturbing news that "a sensitive piece of equipmant has been stolen from a high-ranking security figure", It was today (Wednesday) released for publication that the person involved was none other than Mossad chief Meir Dagan. Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1078364801525458832004-03-03T17:46:00.000-08:002004-03-10T15:05:07.296-08:00A New Blog
· There's a pretty crisp blogspot at everythingsruined, by someone who seems to know what he's talking about.He is saying that President Bush is a moron. I said that, too, a year ago on some Canadian forum, and all these Americans jumped all over me (on a worthless Canadian forum, mind you; why would they care what Canadians say on Canadian forums?). But I don't seem to discern them Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1078362432119546812004-03-03T17:07:00.000-08:002004-03-03T17:10:07.840-08:00A Note from the Translators
· I haven't seen Lost in Translation. I gather it's about two people who are bored because they have to spend time in in Tokyo. Sort of like in Groundhog Day but worse, since it takes place in a foreign country.People use the expression a lot, but for an interpreter that's the lesser of two problems. It's a good deal harder (and more important) to ensure that you're Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1078357553419304762004-03-03T15:45:00.000-08:002004-03-03T15:51:36.746-08:00The Light of Reason
· According to today's entry, Arthur Silber is giving up his weblog. That's a great shame, since he has consistently written some of the most interesting and thoughtful essays in the format. He writes: "There truly is no point in my spending hours and even days in thinking, reading and writing about these kinds of issues if next to no one is going to be reading what I post Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1078354509719304842004-03-03T14:55:00.000-08:002004-03-03T14:58:05.420-08:00McPiggishe Portions
· Maybe Colby Cosh is right about the ukase from the head office of McDonald's to discontinue the super-size line of their many fine products. I don't know. I don't have a degree in marketing or anything. Also, I missed out on the whole McDonald's phenomenon for several reasons. First, their coffee is no good. It tastes as if some senior citizen tried to make instant coffee inPaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1078047122677368062004-02-29T01:32:00.000-08:002004-03-03T14:56:06.733-08:00Tarzan and the Bibliographer
· Here is a semi-complete list, in more or less alphabetical notation, of the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs which feature Tarzan. (I had no idea there were so many):
Tarzan and the Ant MenTarzan and the CastawaysTarzan and the City of GoldTarzan and the Forbidden CityTarzan and the Foreign LegionTarzan and the Golden LionTarzan and the Jewels of OparTarzan and the Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5019818.post-1077919669694203452004-02-27T14:07:00.000-08:002004-03-10T15:05:56.686-08:00Doctors and their Advice
· Doctors are often not good at the human thing, and neither are lawyers. You would think it would not be so, yet many of them seem to have cut the "How to Talk to Human Beings" classes. Years ago I was taking a small child for a walk, and some old age pensioner drew near and said: "Is that your baby?Yes? Better look after heror else be shot!" I had the impression he wasPaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17240382490448364012noreply@blogger.com0