Monthly Archives: January 2007

Invisible Friends

January 28, 2007
Last night Ben said he was playing with his invisible friend. When Sara asked what his friend’s name was, Ben said, “Pathetic.” …
Posted in family | 10 Comments

Taking Stock and Slowing Down

January 17, 2007
I’ve lost track of how long the English Rules website has been running, but its transformation from a simple online reference for my students to a multifaceted weblog occurred in August 2003, when I installed the Movable Type Publishing Platform and posted my very first entry, The Economist Steven Levitt and Other Heroes, which was based on a New York times article I had just read…
Posted in self-indulgence | 15 Comments

Overzealous Comment Spam Detection

January 4, 2007
It was recently brought to my attention that some legitimate comments have been captured by my spam trap and held hostage. Unfortunately, because I had never checked the junk-mail bin on my blogging system until this morning, and comments were being summarily executed after having sat in the bin for more than five days, there is no way to know how many innocent comments were killed without a fair trial…
Posted in technology | 2 Comments

Unusual Day

January 3, 2007
Today was an unusual day in my town. Five blocks down the street from where I live, there was a funeral for a former President of the United States. Lucy got out of school in time to walk to the Episcopal church with Sara and see the honor guard and the secret service and the hundreds of onlookers. They also caught a fleeting glimpse of Dick Cheney. Apparently Jimmy Carter was there, too…
Posted in miscellany | 10 Comments