Infinite Monkeys
"...a sparkly blog..." - James Lileks"Read them only with extreme caution."- Hugh Hewitt
Infinite MonkeysQ: Why doesn't Rep. Foley use bookmarks?
A: Because he likes bent over pages!
"Complexity can be a hard thing to render in journalistic prose." Especially when it comes to copyright law.
"A personal library is an X-ray of the owner's soul," writes Jay Parini in the Chronicle of Higher Education. "It offers keys to a particular temperament, an intellectual disposition, a way of being in the world. Even how the books are arranged on the shelves deserves notice, even reflection. There is probably no such thing as complete chaos in such arrangements."
Parini hasn't seen my study. Oh, how I wish I had more room for my books. As it is, my library is scattered across three locations, and I have hundreds of volumes boxed up in my garage. I can sympathize with the novelist Anthony Powell, who once told Parini, "I can't give a book up, if it's a book that meant something to me... I always imagine I'll go back to it one day. I rarely do, but the intention is there, and I get a warm feeling among my books."
Actually, that's a bit of a rhetorical question. Or is it? Although I do not fully agree with Mark Oppenheimer's essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education, I can sympathize with his lament that too many Americans are too poorly read. But I wholly endorse the following statement, and would enthusiastically extend it beyond graduate students:
I have long believed that admissions committees at graduate schools should work very differently. Instead of asking for letters of recommendation from undergraduate thesis advisers, admissions committees should try to figure out if an applicant is an intellectual. They should ask: "What do you read outside your proposed field of study? What are your favorite books? Where would you most like to travel, and why? What periodicals do you read?" If a student has no aspirations to travel, doesn't seem to read much except within her undergraduate major, and shows no interest in academic debates — well, that's a bad candidate for academe. A bright, kind, loyal person, perhaps, who could be a success in many ways. But a bad candidate for the academy that America needs.
One could, I suppose, quibble with the verbiage. But let's stipulate that it is 98.9 percent correct. A friend of ours recently recounted a series of interviews he'd help conduct with candidates for national and state office. And the theme was a depressing one: earnest people who desire to serve the public but who know nothing or next to nothing. Now, I would like to ask those aspirants to public office: What are you reading? Could be the daily paper (bare minimum) or it could be Boswell's Life of Johnson. But it had better be something.
What am I reading?
Well, I do read The New York Review of Books, although I much prefer the Claremont alternative. And I just renewed my subscription to the New Criterion for two years. Right now, I'm juggling Paul Johnson's "Creators," Jaroslav Pelikan's "Vindication of Tradition", the new edition of "War: Ends and Means," by Angelo Codevilla and Paul Seabury, and "God's Terrorists," by Charles Allen.
I'm a big fan of the Scrubbles website, but Matt's really outdone himself with a look through his music collection for songs that have three or more versions--the "indestructibles."
I know someone who has at least a dozen versions of "Stardust"...
"Our own age is not the summit and end point of all human understanding. In many respects it is a stupid and frivolous age."
In the 1980's, one of my favorite quotes was from Nelba Blandon, of the Nicaragua Interior Ministry: "They [La Prensa] accused us of suppressing freedom of expression. This was a lie and we could not let them publish it."
This quote from a spokesman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry Tasnim Aslam seems to be the 2006 version: "Anyone who describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence."
Okay, am I the only one who'd like to see The Pope kick the Shi'ite out of a "mullah-to-be-named-later" on Celebrity Deathmatch? Or, at least, I'd like to see him walk out on the balcony of St. Peter's and raise the Super Finger toward Mecca.
Wouldn't the world be a better place if we resolved our religious and other disputes via classic playground methods? Who needs bombs when you can triple-dog-dare your opponent to stick his tongue to a frozen slab of unclean animal?
Remember when David Letterman had Rudy Giuliani get on the Jumbo-Tron in Times Square and say, "My city can kick your city's ass!"? That's what I'm talking about.
It appears that Time Is Running Out.
Why, exactly, is time "running out"? Will he taunt them a second time?
The Italian journalist who spent the last several years living in New York to avoid prosecution for "vilification" of Islam, has died after a long bout with cancer. I cannot vouche completely for her books, but she was a truly courageous woman. "War you wanted, war you want? Good. As far as I am concerned, war is and war will be. Until the last breath." A fitting epitaph for one of the West's most ferocious culture warriors.
How many BROWN Zune players do you think Microsoft will sell?
Brown - it's the new, uh, Mustard...
Some conservative luminaries (and Ramesh Ponnuru) are playing Robb's song. I'd prefer it did not come to what Jeff Hart portrays as "a tsunami of rejection," but such is the reward for perfidy and frivolousness.
I'm going into work late today, and flipped over to "The View" (Regis was having a splinter removed from his foot by Kelly--really). It looks like it didn't take long for Rosie O'Donnell to go off the deep end:
"Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam."
"Iraq and Afghanistan never threatened to kill us…ever."
"You’ll never bring peace at the hands of war."
I can't believe that the target audience for "The View" is going to stick around for much of this nonsense.
Robb and I got a chance to see Neko Case play live over the weekend. It was stunning. I no longer have any need for The Cowboy Junkies or Chris Isaak. Here's a page featuring an mp3 of one of her live shows.
Hopefully, Robb is typing up something about our epic road trip to the second annual Camper Van Campout. I have no idea which MT InfMonk's category tag he will settle on for such a post.
BoozeThe trip, in some way or another, had it all.
Cycling
Geek
Grub
Kids
Monkeys
Politics
Quizzes and Lists
Song
The Soul
Wine
Women
I know it's too much to hope for from the President's speech tonight, but what's called for is something like the Gettysburg Address. Short, to the point, and making clear that we must be dedicated to the great task remaining before us.
Robotic frisbees of death? Perfect for the kids!
I tell you, it's nigh on impossible for a man to get a decent beverage in America these days. You can't drink first-rate wine, good brandy, acceptable rum or even half-decent bourbon. Now, evidently, beer is right out. As far as I know, only a certain gin is safe.
I'm as patriotic as the next fellow, but these boycotts are proving difficult on the liver. I'm not about to brew my own beer, or ferment my own wine, or even distill my own whiskey. So I guess I'm going to have to betray my country -- at least, in the eyes of some -- and drink whatever the hell I like. (Except for the beer. It gives me horrific gas nowadays.)
Forgive me. It's... a weakness.
Crikey! The Crocodile Hunter was pierced through the heart by the tail of a stingray. Experts are calling it a truly freak occurrence.
I didn't agree with Steve on everything. But I appreciated his drive, his joie de vivre, and his aw-shucks admiration for the armed forces. I own one of his documentary / bio dvd's. My kids and I have watched it several times.
Sincere Monkey condolences go out his wife, Terri. But the "Infinite" condolences go out to Steve & Terri's two young children, Bindi and Bob.
As always, Wikipedia has a section of their Steve Irwin page dedicated to covering this unfortunate chapter in the Croc Hunter's saga.