English Rules

June 2004

Cloud-Cuckoo-Land

June 28, 2004

A friend of mine lent me a book a couple months ago called Violence, which I just picked up this past weekend and started to read. Only 25 or so pages into it, I can already say it is the most intensely disturbing book I have ever read. And for all the right reasons. Author James Gilligan, a prison psychiatrist, … Read more.

God Is a Crutch

June 27, 2004

This morning my pastor, Jack Roeda, told an anecdote about some graffiti he saw in a bathroom stall. Someone had written: God is a crutch. Underneath it, someone else had written: Yes, and humanity has a broken leg—and then some. How true. … Read more.

Chord Guide

June 24, 2004

I just stumbled upon the coolest a cool site for anyone who likes to bang around on a guitar: chordguide.com. You just click on the root note to get a list of chords. You can make your own list of chords, with fretboard images showing the finger positioning, and click on a chord's name to get variations. It's so easy … Read more.

Ben Wipes Out

June 20, 2004

A couple days ago Ben was testing out the playground equipment at the preschool he's going to start attending this fall. I wasn't there to witness it, but Sara assures me that he did a beautiful back flip before his faceplant into the wood chips. I guess he was pretty shaken up after the fall, but not nearly as much … Read more.

Finally, French Fries Fresh Food

June 15, 2004

The Chicago Tribune reports that the USDA has finally come to their senses and declared that french fries are fresh vegetables. According to the article: The Frozen Potato Products Institute appealed to the USDA in 2000 to change its definition of fresh produce under the law to include batter-coated, frozen french fries, arguing that rolling potato slices in a starch … Read more.

George W. Bush: Miserable Failure?

June 8, 2004

Seems I'm quite late in discovering that Google has confirmed my suspicions about our current President. Others have noted the Bush - miserable failure connection as far back as December 2003. Here's what to do: Go to Google In the search field, type: miserable failure Press the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button A BBC News Story explains how, with a little … Read more.

Popeye Doll

June 6, 2004

Saturday morning I took the kids to the YMCA so they could jump around and climb on things in the kids' gym while I tried get a little exercise. While I was lumbering along on the treadmill I glanced up at the closed captioning for a report that was showing on CNN. The first thing I saw was that "Popeye … Read more.

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  • Thought I had to use tables for bottom-aligning some elements. Then remembered display:inline-block and the IE6 hasLayout hack. Beauty! — Thu, Nov 20 at 8:18 am
  • finished chapter 10 before 2 a.m. Not as bad as I thought. Now for my 5 hours of sleep... — Thu, Nov 20 at 1:39 am
  • It's gonna be a long, long night. — Wed, Nov 19 at 9:48 pm
  • What is it about Jackson Browne's "These Days" that makes every musician under the sun want to cover it? (don't get me wrong; I <3 it ... — Wed, Nov 19 at 11:59 am
  • I'd like to go on record as saying that I have no idea what the govt should or shouldn't do regarding the financial bailout. — Wed, Nov 19 at 7:09 am
  • Thanks, everyone, for jQuery plugin suggestions. anyone else have "must mentions" for Learning jQuery, 2nd ed.? — Mon, Nov 17 at 9:03 am

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  • Staggerford: A Novel
  • Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World
  • unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity... and Why It Matters
  • Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting
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  • JavaScript: The Definitive Guide
  • The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence
  • The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World
  • Jesus and Nonviolence: A Third Way (Facets)
On the Shelf
  • Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software (Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series)
  • Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
  • Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
  • The Elephant Vanishes: Stories
  • The Catcher in the Rye
  • The Tenacity of the Cockroach: Conversations with Entertainment's Most Enduring Outsiders

© Karl Swedberg

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Noteworthy Articles

This Math Whiz Called It for Obama Months Ago (NY Times)

In an election season of unlikely outcomes, Mr. Silver, 30, is perhaps the most unlikely media star to emerge...

Op-Ed Columnist: The Obama Agenda

Right now many commentators are urging Barack Obama to think small. Let?s hope he has the good sense to ignore their advice...

Obama for president (Anchorage Daily News)

Palin's rise captivates us but nation needs a steady hand...

McCain's Non-Support for Troops and Veterans: The Master List

Senator John McCain has a very clear, long, and illustrious history of not supporting troops and veterans one bit...

Music & nightlife | A suburban mom's rock-star moment | Seattle Times Newspaper

Though Ketola has a reputation as a singer/songwriter in the Christian music community, she never expected that she'd leave her husband on their 17th anniversary, mind you, and take up with another man. On stage. In front of 20,000 people...

Make-Believe Maverick (Rolling Stone)

A closer look at the life and career of John McCain reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty...

The Palins' un-American activities (Salon)

The Republican ticket is working hard this week to make Barack Obama's tenuous connection to graying, '60s revolutionary Bill Ayers a major campaign issue. But the Palins' connection to anti-American extremism is much more central to their political biographies...

Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes (New York Times)

Ms. Havemeister was one of at least five schoolmates Ms. Palin hired, often at salaries far exceeding their private sector wages.

Obama to Palin: 'Don't Mock the Constitution' | The Trail | washingtonpost.com

Sen. Barack Obama delivered an impassioned defense of the Constitution and the rights of terrorism suspects tonight, striking back at one of the biggest applause lines in Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's speech to the GOP convention...

Attacks, praise stretch truth at GOP convention - (Associated Press

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth.

State of the Art - New Nikon Holds a Secret - NYTimes.com

If you saw it just sitting there, you?d never guess that the new Nikon D90 is a mind-blowing, game-changing camera...

Captcha is broken - now what? (The Guardian)

Websites use Captchas in an attempt to disrupt the spam and malware economy - but they are not working...

Hoping It's Biden (New York Times)

Barack Obama has decided upon a vice-presidential running mate. And while I don't know who it is as I write, for the good of the country, I hope he picked Joe Biden...

The Candidate We Still Don?t Know (New York Times)

Most Americans still don't know, as Marshall writes, that on the campaign trail "McCain frequently forgets key elements of policies, gets countries' names wrong, forgets things he?s said only hours or days before and is frequently just confused." ...

Is Jon Stewart the Most Trusted Man in America? (New York Times)

Mr. Stewart describes his job as "throwing spitballs" from the back of the room and points out that "The Daily Show" mandate is to entertain, not inform. Still, he and his writers have energetically tackled the big issues of the day...