http://www.englishrules.com/ en-us Karl Swedberg 2008-09-14T23:09:00-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://www.englishrules.com/archives/2008/the-candidate-who-shall-not-be-named.php If it weren't for my father-in-law, I'd have no idea that Ralph Nader is running for President of the United States. That's right, folks: Nader is running again, he's on the ballot in 45 states, and my father-in-law is a supporter. After reviewing the Vote Nader web site, reading about his views on a number of issues, and watching a handful of videos of him speaking, I have to admit that Nader almost has my vote. He at least has me thinking more about some of the issues that I care about, such as... 1301@http://www.englishrules.com/ family 2008-09-14T23:09:00-05:00 http://www.englishrules.com/archives/2008/sara-is-dining-with-squirrels.php Last year I bought a little gift for my wife, Sara: a domain name and free web development services. Two days ago she used it for the first time, writing about the kids going off to school in her brand-new blog, Dining with Squirrels. It was worth the wait... 1300@http://www.englishrules.com/ family 2008-09-07T19:40:00-05:00 http://www.englishrules.com/archives/2008/reluctantly-i-accept-the-nomination.php Forget McCain and Obama. A new presidential candidate has burst onto the scene. Watch the video to find out who this mystery candidate is... 1298@http://www.englishrules.com/ society 2008-09-03T12:11:10-05:00 http://www.englishrules.com/archives/2008/running-in-america.php Peter Hessler has a fascinating article about American distance runners in The New Yorker this month. Running to Beijing" focuses on Ryan Hall, a marathoner from California, but the part I enjoyed the most was this description of American marathons... 1296@http://www.englishrules.com/ society 2008-08-18T23:44:09-05:00 http://www.englishrules.com/archives/2008/gardening.php Two weeks ago my neighbor Kevin was kind enough to guide me through the process of converting a fairly sizable portion of my back yard into a garden. He even gave me all the plants out of his own yard. 1295@http://www.englishrules.com/ friends and neighbors 2008-07-25T23:04:02-05:00 http://www.englishrules.com/archives/2008/the-end-of-four-friends.php After nearly fourteen years of operation, Four Friends Coffeehouse in downtown Grand Rapids opened its doors for the last time yesterday... 1292@http://www.englishrules.com/ friends and neighbors 2008-07-13T23:23:00-05:00 http://www.englishrules.com/archives/2008/obama-fights-back.php I was really excited to hear on NPR today that Barack Obama's campaign has decided to deal with slanderous accusations head on. They've put together a new site, Fight the Smears, that calls these accusations what they are: lies. 1289@http://www.englishrules.com/ society 2008-06-12T23:32:10-05:00 http://www.englishrules.com/archives/2008/switzerland-tout-le-monde.php A little over two months ago, I received a surprising email via the contact form of my Learning jQuery web site. In the email Gwendal Tanguy, an employee at Switzerland's only online trading and financial services company, asked... 1288@http://www.englishrules.com/ work 2008-06-04T00:04:00-05:00 http://www.englishrules.com/archives/2008/100-percent-hybrid.php Sara got a pair of shoes in the mail from Zappos today. On the shoebox, in big, bold lettering, were the words "100% HYBRID" ... 1286@http://www.englishrules.com/ language 2008-05-08T23:40:45-05:00 http://www.englishrules.com/archives/2008/mr-smarty-pants.php I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that not one of you is wondering why I haven't been writing as often on this here website as I used to. Well, I'm going to tell you why, anyway. It's not because I don't have enough time. Never had enough time. And it's not because I've lost interest. The sad truth is that I have too much interest... 1283@http://www.englishrules.com/ miscellany 2008-04-26T16:36:00-05:00 http://www.englishrules.com/archives/2008/book-report.php As many of my friends and relatives know, I spent the first half of 2007 writing a book with my friend Jonathan Chaffer. The book turned into two books, and they were both published last summer. Since a couple people have recently asked me about how it all turned out in the end, I thought I'd post a quick progress report here, in case anyone else is interested, as well... 1260@http://www.englishrules.com/ self-indulgence 2008-04-15T00:22:00-05:00 http://www.englishrules.com/archives/2008/artful-books.php Whenever I see something about books as objects, as opposed to books as reading material, I think of my friend Vernon Wiering. Vern is one of the most talented people I know: a masterful bookbinder, carpenter, and tailor. At a time when many people, including myself, spend an inordinate amount of time in the virtual world--for work and entertainment and communication--Vern has remained grounded in the physical world of tangible objects... 1275@http://www.englishrules.com/ miscellany 2008-03-22T23:10:00-05:00 http://www.englishrules.com/archives/2008/staying-up-late.php This week I took a break from my usual freelance projects to work on a couple web sites that are a little closer to home--one for my wife and the other for a friend. Because they were both rush jobs, I've been getting very little sleep the past few nights. Still, it's always fun to be able to help out people I love... 1274@http://www.englishrules.com/ technology 2008-03-15T01:25:00-05:00 http://www.englishrules.com/archives/2008/taking-employee-morale-to-the-next-level.php The Chicago-based web-application company 37signals just announced in a blog post that they are conducting a set of "Workplace Experiments" in an attempt to make their company "one of the best places in the world to work, learn, and generally be happy." So far they've implemented three new policies 1273@http://www.englishrules.com/ society 2008-03-06T21:59:00-05:00 http://www.englishrules.com/archives/2008/hope.php On the bus ride to work this morning, I was listening to the podcast of a sermon given by Rob Bell, in which he quoted Cornel West, a Princeton University religion professor... 1272@http://www.englishrules.com/ miscellany 2008-02-25T19:00:00-05:00