tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-112143372011-11-22T16:51:21.953-05:00Trying to make sense of things. Art, Religion, Books, Politics, And So Forth.Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.comBlogger4061100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-73148850125516666282007-04-10T14:23:00.000-05:002007-04-11T09:53:12.977-05:00

From recently deceased Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski's Shah of Shahs:Oil kindles extraordinary emotions and hopes, since oil is above all a great temptation. It is the temptation of ease, wealth, strength, fortune, power. It is a filthy, foul-smelling liquid that squirts obligingly up into the air and falls back to earth as a rustling shower of money. To discover and possess the source of

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-82730191141818363382007-04-09T21:02:00.000-05:002007-04-09T21:07:08.555-05:00

Thesis:Bruce Sterling's The Zenith Angle is about five times better, both as a novel and as policy-corrective, than is Richard Clarke's Breakpoint.

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-2803478861090559942007-04-02T00:51:00.000-05:002007-04-02T01:30:34.025-05:00

Oh please, Americans of all stripes, please, please, would you not construct arguments about foreign policy by refering to your own childcare philosophy? I know you think it makes you sound "homely" and "grounded," but really, it just makes you seem ignorant. For one thing, most of your interlocutors are in the wrong conversational mode or lack the professional qualifications to tell you that

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-584694079434907722007-04-01T23:40:00.000-05:002008-11-13T09:53:52.784-05:00

I've been making this recipe for so many months now that I assumed I knew it by heart already, but then I tried to make it without Batmanglij's Persian cookbook to hand and completely fouled it up. So, in the interest of mobility and sharing...Saffron Almond BrittleIngredients:--1 cup sugar--3 T. honey--4 T. corn oil--1.5 cups slivered almonds--1/4 tsp. ground saffron in...--2 T. rose water--4 T.

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-17334779012139206352007-04-01T19:10:00.000-05:002008-11-13T09:53:52.898-05:00

We had a false spring a couple of weeks ago; my honey and I barbequed in shirtsleeves and bare feet one night, and the sky opened up and dumped six inches of snow the next. This time, though, the trend is real. Most of the daffodills haven't yet bloomed, but the crocuses are just popping out of the ground, surprising little mushrooms of color. Birds are going barmy with lust, and humans aren't

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-31187768775263873052007-03-19T18:40:00.000-05:002008-11-13T09:53:53.266-05:00

Friday night, corner of 33rd and Broadway in Astoria.

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-29979611686676027732007-03-14T13:28:00.000-05:002007-03-14T13:30:21.806-05:00

Congratulations to Matt Weiner, who has accepted an offer from the University of Vermont! While Lubbock, Texas surely has its charms---no, I'm sorry, I won't finish that sentence.

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-30925676714537397292007-03-14T00:27:00.000-05:002007-03-14T00:28:11.524-05:00

Some changes, some desired changes.Changes: --I've finally switched over to the Beta version of Blogger, not that I had any choice in the matter, and I figure that I might as well use the damned tag option. --The credit for the sidebar "Recent Comments" hack appears now to lead to an extremely graphic pr0n site. I would suggest if you have a bloggerhacks link on your page to check it out. I'd be

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-25114477413419778942007-03-13T23:58:00.000-05:002007-03-14T00:02:49.610-05:00

And all the other bearded young men about town."[I]nstead of being a man afflicted by nature with a beard, and as such more to be pitied than censured, he was a deliberate putter-on of beards, a self-bearder, a fellow who, for who knew what dark reasons, carried his own private jungle around with him, so that any moment he could dive into it and defy pursuit. It was childish to suppose that such

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-55548154841188094982007-03-12T20:04:00.000-05:002007-03-12T20:19:41.370-05:00

In the ongoing operation of trying to salvage a worthwhile conservativism out of the Bush years, Brad DeLong makes an argument about Edmund Burke that is very important. It's very convenient to invoke a cardboard Burke, complete with easily summarised key concepts; both liberals and conservatives do so. It doesn't match up well with the messy tangle of Burke's writings, though. Far too much

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-60257478007904797432007-03-11T18:44:00.000-05:002008-11-13T09:53:54.077-05:00

Looking North along the East River.

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-25820467385572874352007-03-11T18:42:00.000-05:002008-11-13T09:53:54.307-05:00

The U.N. building seen through the old pier.

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-21259467565976875282007-03-11T17:08:00.000-05:002007-03-11T17:10:59.960-05:00

It is impossible to dislike Angelina Jolie. (All of the pictures in the slideshow, taken by Per-Anders Pettersson for Getty, are very striking.)

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-64745929172148751092007-03-11T16:34:00.000-05:002007-03-11T19:18:47.358-05:00

From Peter Schjeldahl's Jan. 29th New Yorker review of a Martín Ramírez exhibit:"We all develop our personal styles by noticing what people like about us, and exaggerating it."

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-50158444020350919692007-03-10T12:59:00.000-05:002007-03-11T16:28:46.643-05:00

Gary Farber collects reviews of 300, a gore-flecked action movie based on Frank Miller's comic-book vision of the Battle of Thermopylae, when Xerxes of Persia's army was (temporarily) turned away from Sparta. [Added: a preview of 300 on YouTube. Gah.]Perhaps you remember hearing about the Cherokee nation voting to boot out its black members--those who traced their Cherokee lineage back to the

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-92140474964486897222007-03-08T01:21:00.000-05:002007-03-11T16:29:35.516-05:00

A number of bloggers are playing a game Jim Henley is calling "Look Through Your March 2003 Archives," the idea being to prove how good your predictions about the aftermath of the invasion were. I was barely online at that time, and I'm not about to quote from my private emails. However, in May 2003, I did write up a weird little aesthetic analysis that I think bares bears up okay. It's rather

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-37721520009422134102007-03-06T19:24:00.000-05:002008-11-13T09:53:54.490-05:00

A warm soul sent me this red-tailed hawk for my very own. Apparently, the Audubon Society has expanded its ornithological propaganda efforts into the youth sector with a whole series of plush bird dolls (more easily viewed at this slightly dubious-looking online retailer). The coolest part about these is that they come complete with embedded audio of the bird's calls, as recorded in the field by

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-9671669144489606982007-03-05T23:08:00.000-05:002007-03-05T23:12:01.664-05:00

For Comic Relief. It's much less heavily edited than most of the Ali G material, and it's really rather sweet. I've never seen Posh Spice smile, I realised about halfway through, and she and Beckham spend most of the ten minutes dissolved in laughter while Ali G makes fun of them.

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-40612221416575445342007-03-04T22:29:00.000-05:002008-11-13T09:53:54.564-05:00

New Yorkers! Heads up! The Housing Works chain has just recently held its "Spring Preview," and the leftovers from that event are EMINENTLY worth checking out. If I'd more disposable income, I would have walked out of the E. 77th shop with: 1) a crocodile Kenneth Cole bag I've coveted for a couple of years, slightly worn ($35), 2) a Calvin Klein sleeveless knit turtleneck, in gray ($30), 3) a

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-60147346750904355012007-03-04T20:56:00.000-05:002007-03-04T22:02:10.377-05:00

Yesterday afternoon, I saw three short films from the giant Kiarostami retrospective at the Moma."Toothache" (1979) is a a fairly straightforward didactic short about the importance of brushing one's teeth. There's an undercurrent of dark humor in the social ostracisation and suffering of the adorable child-protagonist. I wondered whether Kiarostami wasn't going too far at points during one

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-77593701430292827222007-03-01T22:22:00.000-05:002007-03-03T02:32:10.550-05:00

Attention, New Yorkers!The MoMA is hosting a gigantic retrospective of the granddaddy of Iranian film this month (March 1-19), with screenings of just about everything he's ever filmed, from pre-Revolution shorts about dental care for children to more recent feature-length existential quest-narratives. Also, this month PS1 in Queens is showing an exhibit of Kiarostami's photography, which is

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-49603713585647818602007-03-01T14:12:00.000-05:002007-03-01T14:20:56.544-05:00

Google, in its goodness, has decided that it was high time for this here blog to switch over to the Beta version of Blogger. I'm still in the process of ironing out some things from this side, but let me know here if there are any problems from the reader side.One thing I noticed immediately is that the switchover reinstated that annoying Blogger strip at the top of the page. Even more annoying:

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-65402469178299469772007-03-01T10:52:00.000-05:002007-03-01T11:18:40.844-05:00

This was my first soufflé, and I'm very proud of it. It's scaled down from a recipe in the Gourmet cookbook to fit in a smaller soufflé dish, a 1-cup ramekin.Ingredients:-2 1/3 tablespoons sugar. (And a little more to dust soufflé dish.)-1 1/2-2 ounces bittersweet chocolate-2 large eggs-pinch of saltStep 1: Let eggs sit at room temperature for half an hour.Step 2: Separate eggs, and discard ONE

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1172694890606041312007-02-28T15:22:00.000-05:002007-02-28T15:34:50.636-05:00

I had thought oysters tasted like nasty gooey sea water the first time I tried them. I had thought I'd never get a better oyster then in Brittany, so after nearly gagging on what I was assured was an excellent specimen, I put oysters on the short list of Food Items I Have Tried As An Adult And Simply Do Not Like. Well, I tried an oyster again this weekend. Somebody else doctored it with lemon

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1172378760147228052007-02-24T23:39:00.000-05:002007-02-24T23:46:00.306-05:00

Louise Bourgeois: The flasher is somebody who deals with things that are not supposed to be said, heard or, or seen. Right. Right. The flasher continually deals with, with the unsaid, unnoticed. And I, I like the flasher, because I live in that in that world where I like to call a cat a cat, a spade a spade, whatever. And that is where, that is where we find the necessary impulses and desires

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1172376081522637292007-02-24T22:23:00.000-05:002007-02-25T12:52:57.586-05:00

In case any of my four readers needs a conversation piece for a society novel, it strikes me that telling the story of a visit to a psychic might be the perfect device. Since the teller of the tale doesn't necessarily believe anything the psychic said, it becomes license to assert completely deniable opinions about other people or express benchmarks, desires, expectations that would usually be

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1172356747785647872007-02-24T17:33:00.000-05:002007-03-01T15:07:34.736-05:00

Last seen creating trouble leading the De-Ba'athification Committee (an excellent place to torment old enemies and shake down random unfortunates), Chalabi has popped up again in a special liaison position... In a new post created earlier this year, Mr. Chalabi will serve as an intermediary between Baghdad residents and the Iraqi and U.S. security forces mounting an aggressive counterinsurgency

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1172119699864180322007-02-21T23:09:00.000-05:002007-02-22T08:00:22.930-05:00

I've been meaning to write more about how Mitt Romney's campaign has created a public debate about the LDS's position in the more general public arena, but from my position as a non-believing Mormon it's always seemed a little presumptuous. I find myself responding to other people's posts rather than putting up my own. Here's one post on Romney's Mormonism, from Matt Yglesias, which gets to one

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1172111909103495632007-02-21T21:07:00.000-05:002007-02-21T21:59:49.706-05:00

There were times in the middle of this novel that I thought Roth was visiting some darkly important possible history, but the ending, with its brisk return to politics as usual, undercut the narrative's slow triumph of justified fear over paranoia. With the politics so easily resolved, the novel seems in retrospect to return to the family-drama size that, in truth, it always was. It's an

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1171648464551370202007-02-16T12:46:00.000-05:002007-02-16T12:54:24.633-05:00

This morning when I woke up, I saw a giant dark shadow on my bedroom windowsill. I scrambled to get my glasses and my camera, and this magnificent beastie is what I saw. The hawk, who was very suspicious of me, flew away after I got this shot, and my windows are none too clean, and I haven't been birding for years ... but I think it's a red-tailed hawk. One of these guys. I think it really did

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1171591859903884562007-02-15T20:38:00.000-05:002007-02-15T21:52:42.276-05:00

I thought I'd finish this off in one swoop rather than drag it out forever. It's a giant last entry to the giant literary list!Books My Teacher Made Me read That Made Me Question the Value of My EducationMaría Amparo Ruiz de Burton's Who Would Have Thought It?, a civil-war era sentimental novel, was a ponderous mess of a book, redeemed only by its cultural politics.Books That Made Me Want to Have

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1171576339279190602007-02-15T16:40:00.000-05:002007-02-15T16:52:19.480-05:00

Ken Silverstein has been running an interesting symposium of experts over at Harper's on the possibility of war with Iran. The consensus seems to be: well, we don't know whether it's going to happen, but it would be crazy and we're really worried. In the second dispatch of the series, I learned something new. It's a small thing, but it struck my imagination. From Unnamed CIA Official #1: Every

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1171495174324040052007-02-14T17:50:00.000-05:002007-02-14T18:19:34.350-05:00

Books in Which I Liked the Secondary Characters Better Than the Main Character, or Books in Which I Wanted to Beat the Main Character Senseless with a Tire IronThe canonical answer to this is Mansfield Park, but I'd also like to take this opportunity to hate all of Dickens's children.Books I Lied About Reading and Then Wrote an A+ Term Paper OnI never did this. I liked reading.Books I Lied About

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1171435929102967042007-02-14T00:56:00.000-05:002007-02-14T01:57:07.346-05:00

AC recently linked to a giant literary list of questions, some of which are interesting. Like AC, I'm going to take the Giant List of Questions bit by bit.Worst Books Ever, or Five Hours of My Life I'll Never Get BackAbout three years ago, I identified the worst book I had ever read. It was a Harlequin romance from the early 1980s, featuring a white chick raised in the Indonesian Islands

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1171428999271159282007-02-13T23:20:00.000-05:002007-02-14T00:55:28.646-05:00

The front pages of Karen Joy Fowler's novel The Jane Austen Book Club feature blurbs that amount to: "no, really, it's better than it sounds." And that much is true. Simply described, this is a novel organized around discussions of Austen's novels, with the backstories of five women and one man responding to the novels' themes and the characters themselves all moving towards coupledom. I can

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1171257316081398242007-02-11T23:55:00.000-05:002007-02-12T01:14:42.790-05:00

Out of the blue, my mother decided to send me a pair of these clogs. She did remarkably well: the color, style, and size are all great, even though I had never thought to desire clogs. Throughout my adult life, I've kept thinking I'm going to find the perfect shoe, elegant yet sturdy, fashionable yet hikeable---and so I've ended up owning a bunch of cute heels but actually wearing adidas aikido

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1171235860974138892007-02-11T17:27:00.000-05:002007-02-12T01:28:13.553-05:00

You know I can hear you have sex. I can hear your bedframe crack and bang against the wall, I can hear the smacking of flesh against flesh, and of course I can hear the spanking. I can even hear you masturbate; those rhymthmic creakings of the bedframe when there isn't a girl around can be nothing else, now that you let the hard-core porn keep running on your laptop while I talk to you. I've got

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1170666832793558422007-02-05T03:17:00.000-05:002007-02-05T14:38:14.916-05:00

I just finished Max Brooks's World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, ably reviewed by Amazon's volunteers here. It took me a night and a day to read it: in the middle of the night, I had to put it down and enter the inevitable zombie nightmares, and the next day, I hurried to finish it before I had to sleep. Despite the morcellated structure, the rapid-cut interviews with people from

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1170130765546883082007-01-29T23:00:00.000-05:002007-01-29T23:22:59.066-05:00

This approximately ten-week-old kitten belongs to a red-eyed oldster who seems to have some offical relationship to my local mini-mart. He has offered to sell me this kitten many times; he has offered to give me this kitten, with a month's worth of cat food thrown in, any number of times. I keep saying, "No, I shouldn't take responsibility for an animal right now"--yet I stop by at least four

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1170047364235169092007-01-28T23:18:00.000-05:002007-01-29T00:26:17.776-05:00

I'm in the middle of reading Norman Mailer's The Castle in the Forest, the first book in what is projected to be a trilogy Bildungroman of Adolf Hitler, and what struck me about, particularly after glancing over J.M. Coetzee's review, is the depiction of Alois Hitler's (Adolf's father) sexuality. In Mailer's strangely affecting telling, Alois was raised on a farm, got off the farm into the

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1169827612112159562007-01-26T11:05:00.000-05:002007-01-26T11:07:01.216-05:00

Today's "featured article" on Wikipedia is The History of Saffron. Very nicely done!

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1169686005347116622007-01-24T19:42:00.000-05:002007-01-24T19:46:45.396-05:00

From secret CIA files declassified in 2001, as written up in the Guardian: In another snapshot of folly offered by the new files, a memo dated 1967 on "Views of Trained Cats" looks into the possibility of surgically inserting microphones and transmitters into cats and using them as walking bugs. The operation was codenamed "Acoustic Kitty" and was a resounding failure.Having wired their first

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1169663669751633042007-01-24T12:50:00.000-05:002007-01-24T13:35:30.110-05:00

This is the first time I've watched the State of the Union address on television in my memory. I've always paid attention to them, either reading the transcript or listening to them on the radio, but actually sitting down to observe the kabuki rituals of our national politics was a different experience. It felt much more communitarian, for one thing. I wasn't alone in my room, concentrating on

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1169334128879244822007-01-20T17:54:00.000-05:002007-01-20T18:02:10.016-05:00

In Iran, or so I have learned, one is given a task with the saying "This kisses your hand," as though the object--not the person offering the object--were begging the favor of your attention.So, earlier this afternoon, a DVD copy of Werner Herzog's documentary on Carlo Gesualdo kissed my hand, begging to be returned to the video store. I told it, and the person offering the DVD, to kiss my ass.

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1169219368770099162007-01-19T09:57:00.000-05:002007-01-19T10:09:29.163-05:00

As of Novemeber 3, 2006, the dateline of this great in-depth profile by Dexter Filkins, Ahmed Chalabi was still in London, blaming Wolfowitz and "the Americans" for screwing up his beautiful invasion. He's down for now, but I will never believe that Chalabi is out of the game for good. If the narrative coalesces that the invasion was a decent idea mismanged by an incompetant and venal

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1169181398386817722007-01-18T23:27:00.000-05:002007-01-18T23:40:04.463-05:00

This is wonderful. Apparently, le Front National set up a virtual headquarters in Second Life, one of the best developed and highly trafficked online societies. Other residents did not appreciate their new neighbors: It's unclear when the shooting started, or who fired the first shot (several witnesses claim FN security forces assaulted them with "push guns", weapons capable of flinging a

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1169014231179722972007-01-17T00:54:00.000-05:002007-01-17T01:11:18.840-05:00

The Koufax Awards process is starting! It's an award for lefties, which means that it is open, communitarian, and takes forever. Since this really is a grassroots process, nominations in the various categories will remain open until next week sometime. It's an expensive process, collating and tabulating these nominations and votes. If I had any expendable income, I'd throw some to the volunteers

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1169009455754580532007-01-16T23:41:00.000-05:002007-01-17T00:44:22.896-05:00

Following on my earlier post on the beauty and efficacity of the US Postal Service, here's a study by Jeff Van Bueren and the Improbable Research team on the USPS's service. What will they deliver, and how will it arrive? Will a twenty-dollar bill wrapped in a clear plastic sheath arrive at its destination? (Answer: Yes!)Will a feather duster, with address attached by wire to the handle, arrive

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1168825037952155232007-01-14T20:35:00.000-05:002007-01-14T20:47:53.276-05:00

I'm in the process of streamlining my sidebar, and I didn't want to lose this, to me, important link: Teresa Nielsen Hayden's account of how and why she went from Jack to ex Mormon.Also: if you want to be included in my sidebar, or if you notice any dead links there, please give a pointer in the comments.

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1168734359734385812007-01-13T19:13:00.000-05:002007-01-13T19:44:52.360-05:00

These Iranian miniatures (gouche on cardboard), illustrating scenes and ideas from Hafez, are really, really beautiful. I admire the way the artist, Farah Ossouli, manages to suspend the pastoral, classical figures within abstract, concealing blocks of color: the people are framed, but also weighed in upon, but the whole composition is balanced anyhow. Oh, I'm botching this description. Here,

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1168228715763476142007-01-07T22:27:00.000-05:002007-01-08T00:06:52.350-05:00

Some nine months ago, I proposed that the commenting works of one Meister John Thullen should be gathered up for easy reference and posterity. And, in the comments to that post, I received quite a bounty of links for the bibliography.However, Meister Thullen has continued to produce, and the Thullenskommentenzusammenstellungwerk has lagged behind. He himself is too sane gainfully employed humble

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1168224880905094942007-01-07T21:37:00.000-05:002007-01-07T21:54:41.470-05:00

The light was right--that grayish, diagonal light that makes water and sky seem equally comfortable--but everything else was strange.I took this picture on Saturday, January 6, at about 3pm, when the temperature was over seventy degrees. Young women were wandering the streets in miniskirts, young men in T-shirts; older people wore their raincoats (not their winter coats) dashingly open as they

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1167976108852220792007-01-04T22:52:00.000-05:002007-01-08T01:25:00.583-05:00

So, last weekend, I caught a Chinatown bus down to Washington DC to go to a bloggers' party. It's the first meet-up I've travelled any significant distance to make. There's something incontrovertible about taking a bus for four hours to see people one knows almost solely from online.My gracious hosts: the charming and all-around awesome Becks,the kind and sexy Catherine,the pugnacious,

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1167965088199217712007-01-04T21:16:00.000-05:002007-01-04T21:46:11.633-05:00

I have a deep, abiding, sentimental love for the U.S. Postal Service. As I wrote in an early book review on this site: The USPS is faster than the French Poste, cheaper than the German Post, and more consistent than any of the private delivery services in the US. The Postmaster [a character in Gregg Hurwitz's mostly mediocre novel The Program] points out that a 37-cent stamp will get you a letter

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1167795092114405702007-01-02T22:00:00.000-05:002007-01-02T22:42:40.346-05:00

Or, Sugar Cookies with Saffron Icing.Cookie dough: Combine 2 1/2 cups flour1/4 teaspoon saltIn another bowl, cream together1 cup (two sticks) unsalted butter, softened1 cup sugar1 large eggThen add in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract1/4 teaspoon almond extract---or, as I've done recently, approximately two teaspoons, minced almondsAdd dry flour mixture into wet mixture, and beat thoroughly. Roll the

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1167201708657805022006-12-27T01:31:00.000-05:002006-12-27T12:00:45.240-05:00

The lovely lady from whom I cribbed this recipe calls it her "crazy cake," but since I baked it up and served it to friends for the first time on Election Night 2006, I've been thinking of it as Victory Cake. Either way you call it, it's the most straight-forward and reliable recipe for classic American chocolate cake I've ever seen.This is the cake part.Mix together:--3 cups flour--2 tsp. baking

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1167195614753521432006-12-26T23:21:00.000-05:002006-12-27T00:09:31.903-05:00

This year Christmas had a more Eastern flavor. Christmas Eve dinner was celebrated with friends, and shockingly! at a restaurant. The most appetizing restaurant open that night on Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn was Zaytoons, a warm, remarkably inexpensive, Middle Eastern place. The pita comes directly from a hot brick oven, the management was generous with free goodies (if there had been a delay with

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1166949665246006842006-12-24T03:23:00.000-05:002006-12-24T03:41:06.460-05:00

In August 2004, Apostropher wandered across some LiveJournal user who wondered whether Barack Obama's charisma, as demonstrated at that summer's Democratic Convention, and the burgeoning Presidential hype around him were signs that Obama might be the foretold Anti-Christ.Since then, Apostropher's post has become one of the top google hits for "Barack Obama" "anti-christ" (it is the top hit for "

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1166945030906963192006-12-24T02:22:00.000-05:002006-12-24T02:23:50.933-05:00

Sydney Smith's Advice For Combatting Low Spirits: Teresa Nielsen Hayden starts an open thread with excerpts from this 1820 letter to Lady Georgiana Morpeth. Smith gives Morpeth a list of suggestions for how to work to improve her state of mind, from the immediate--"Make the room where you commonly sit, gay and pleasant"--to the existential--"Don’t expect too much from human life—a sorry business

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1166853089049627832006-12-23T00:43:00.000-05:002006-12-23T00:53:54.586-05:00

Billmon goes through his archives, excerpting a history of the war as it was experienced by the online left. It's amazing how right Billmon has proved to be; his site always seemed to be the outlet for the most pessemistic, the most disenfranchised---and yet here we are.

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1166850350195882432006-12-23T00:00:00.000-05:002006-12-24T03:44:41.306-05:00

This is my Christmas Tree. It's a Norfolk Pine, which can, apparently, grow into diversely imposing shapes. I figure that I'll give my fifteen-incher some time and space to declare its intentions.

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1161659375991286252006-10-23T22:06:00.000-05:002006-10-23T22:09:35.993-05:00

"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."--James 1:27

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1161217191972360172006-10-18T19:12:00.000-05:002006-10-18T21:01:57.053-05:00

"But sometimes desire is not to be conjured away, but appears as here, at the centre of the stage, all too visibly, on the festive board, in the form of a salmon. It is an attractive-looking fish, and if it is presented, as is the custom in restaurants, under a thin gauze, the raising of this gauze creates a similar effect to that which occured at the culmination of the ancient mysteries. To

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1161062755370340022006-10-17T00:22:00.000-05:002006-10-17T00:26:13.710-05:00

Jim Henley decribes the problem with the current neoconservative dreams of supporting "dissident sectarian" movements within Iran better than I could.

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1161057582568949382006-10-16T22:49:00.000-05:002006-10-18T10:51:12.000-05:00

Although I was not mentioned in Becks's shout-out to blogs without recent comments, I felt her cri de coeur as a call to action. After all, I had managed to install a "recent comments" hack on "Hating on Charles Bird"; that hack was so easy, and it changed everything about that site. I'm all in favor of recent comments hacks.So, alas, the template for the old "Hating on Charles Bird" site got

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1161051414005518572006-10-16T20:56:00.000-05:002006-10-16T21:16:54.280-05:00

Since I don't have an ipod, and I don't really care what songs show up on people's randomized or most-played lists, I suggest that people instead play "what unnerving sites is Google currently advertising on your gmail account?". I'll go first: shaadi.com: Apparently the "world's largest matrimonial service," specializing in hooking up people with middle-eastern and subcontinental names, or those

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1161049680280092032006-10-16T20:01:00.000-05:002006-10-16T20:48:00.420-05:00

I took a trip up to what I suppose I should call the "New York Botanical Gardens" this Sunday, in the hopes of seeing some of the fall colors. It's a bit early yet for vibrant color there---although some of the maples are already flaming up in orange and red---but I'll bet that a couple more weeks will do it for the rest of 'em. One of the maples at the right, right along the Bronx River, is

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1160975562114860822006-10-15T23:38:00.000-05:002006-10-16T00:37:38.643-05:00

This is really a very easy recipe, but it needs some attention and timing. Since challah is so good in the morning, and since there's a big raising lag in the middle, Your best bet is to make the dough the night before and then wake up at least an hour and half before you want to start eating it. Recipe adapted from The Joy of Cooking.1. In a large bowl: combine 1 package (2 1/4) teaspoons active

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1160714749155548212006-10-12T23:04:00.000-05:002006-11-04T16:22:09.676-05:00

Most corners of the blogosphere have taken a knock at this Washington Post article on the withering away of cursive writing. The article itself quotes a bunch of educators basically shrugging their shoulders and mentions anonymous "scholars" and "academics" who deplore the trend towards printing. But WaPo staff writer Margaret Webb Pressler was fairly cunning in her write-up, if she was aiming

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1160535092669694292006-10-10T21:42:00.000-05:002006-10-10T21:51:32.726-05:00

Can be summarized, pretty much, with this photo. These were some of my things--not all of them could fit in a single frame--packed up and ready to leave my old place. The packing and unpacking went on after the move, since the friend leaving the new apartment needed some help. Sorry for the silence from this end, folks.

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1160456535429633222006-10-09T23:22:00.000-05:002006-10-10T00:02:57.433-05:00

Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator, by Jennifer Allison, appears to be aimed at a 9-13 year-old audience. Here's how it introduces its protagonist, in the first sentence of the book: In the back row of Mrs. Weinstock's eight-grade English classroom, Gilda Joyce chewed on a lock of her dark hair and pretended to listen as her classmates described their plans for the summer on the last day of the

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1156577601034577412006-08-26T02:22:00.000-05:002006-08-26T02:33:22.200-05:00

A couple of months ago, I heard a radio program on sibling relationships, with a psychoanalyst (they still get on the air in the US?) and a clinical psychologist (who supposed that self-reported sibling relationships were data). Both of them came from the position that sibling-relationships were understudied and poorly understood.To which I say: hurry up. My older sister (I was 3 of 3, she 2 of 3

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1156304930781832512006-08-22T22:39:00.000-05:002006-08-26T02:21:54.436-05:00

Jackmormon: So, I think I may be able to rent this place from a friend.F.: Where do you know her from?Jackmormon: Well, it's a little embarrassing, but okay, I know her from this online community we both participate in. It's, well, it's a blog, but we've met a number of times, and it's a really nice group of people there, full of young academic types, shooting the shit. Well, sometimes we discuss

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1155941459940520992006-08-18T17:18:00.000-05:002006-08-18T17:53:02.890-05:00

In the first post from this series, which is now ending, I promise, there was a reference to "G"--the "nice guy who ways a bit to much" who I didn't go with.Well, here's a note from G. (grammar, punctuation, and spelling from the original) Dear [Jackmormon],I like you a lot I should have gone with you the first time instead of going with at slut B.. I don't blame you for hating me I was a fool.

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1155939501809421932006-08-18T16:59:00.000-05:002006-08-22T22:39:20.130-05:00

There are many things that suck in my life right now--job searching and apartment searching would be at the top of that list--but the sheer lousiness of the Blogger Beta interface is the most needlessly annoying.Far be it from my to claim that the old Blogger was bug-free, but here's how it's working, ever since I got a gmail invite. The Blogger log-in page instantly de-recognized my Yahoo!mail

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1155612678308932732006-08-14T21:30:00.000-05:002006-08-15T11:13:16.263-05:00

Having discovered this amazing resource of primary documents, I can't just immediately refile them. This time, I'm interested in some of the notes girls passed to me in middle school--which represents by far the majority of the archive. And what interests me here is how my female friends pressured me into manufacturing crushes on boys so that we could talk about something, anything, as we were

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1155449966760444962006-08-13T01:18:00.000-05:002006-08-13T09:47:02.810-05:00

I've been going through my filing cabinets in preparation for a move, and, my God, I had kept all these years the notes that everyone passed me in middle school! I've deleted most of my email messages in the past few years, aside from those few messages I recognized as worth keeping on the hard drive, but the mail file contains long, involved letters from people whose names I barely remember.

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1152491773595982782006-07-09T18:57:00.000-05:002006-07-09T23:16:59.890-05:00

Putain d'équipe italienne de mes couilles; sacrés bâtards d'enculés italiens maudîts; salauds d'espèces de chiennâsses corrompues jusqu'à leurs sales cous merdiques.Putain de chiâsse, cela m'enmerde!La France avait l'avantage pendant tout le match; Viera a été fauté dans la boîte pendant la deuxième moitié, à aucune siffle; et les italiens jouaient mal, mais mal. Oui, évidemment, Zidane n'aurait

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1152234670389384412006-07-06T20:04:00.000-05:002006-07-06T20:11:10.456-05:00

So, my friend J. contacted the feral apostrophe guy--without addressing why she'd not responded earlier--and, she reports, they went out for lunch. She really enjoyed his company; he was funny, relaxing to be around, smart. Then, at parting, he said something like "Well, I go out to lunch a lot; email me if you're available some time." Which she did not understand as expressing real interest--

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1152157027249163372006-07-05T22:36:00.000-05:002006-07-05T23:17:50.266-05:00

I watched the World Cup game yesterday between Germany and Italy with a very silly woman. She happened to have been from Spain, but that's only important inasfar as it explained her accent, gave an excuse for some of her conversational cluelessness, and provides some insight into the genesis of her more appalling ideas. She's lived in New York City for some ten years, though. Once she left our

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1151465321040958442006-06-27T22:03:00.000-05:002006-07-03T12:43:27.763-05:00

About a week ago, the feminist blogs erupted into what is already being called The Great Blow-Job Debate, which debate, by its attempting to categorize and render judgment on specific sexual acts, made me inarticulately livid. BitchPhd has transformed that debate into an open forum for people to talk about how they feel about sex. Heterosexual women sound off here, heterosexual men sound off here

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1151294394455921302006-06-25T22:59:00.000-05:002006-06-25T23:18:34.823-05:00

So, on Wednesday, Mohammad gets a call from a fellow grad student friend he's been playing telephone tag with for six months. He comes out from the call, shaken. "J. has cancer." J. has Hodgkin's lymphona, and he's about to go into chemotherapy. He professed himself surprised that Mohammad didn't know about the cancer, and invited him to a party, at which some shooting for his film would happen,

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1151289546968593942006-06-25T21:38:00.000-05:002006-06-25T21:39:06.970-05:00

Holy crap, did anyone else catch the Portugal-Netherlands game? For those who didn't, Portugal won 1-0, but the match set the World Cup record for red cards--four players redcarded out, including one of my favorite players, the tiny, speedy Portuguese forward Deco. The second half was a scrappy, ankle-biting mess, and the Russian referee nearly lost control entirely. There were a lot of theatrics

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1151289469294090592006-06-25T21:37:00.000-05:002006-06-25T21:37:49.326-05:00

Does this whole "Democrats should run on the right of the Republicans" strategy come from John F. "Missile Gap" Kennedy? If so, I'm not all that impressed with the idea [*cough* Cuba *cough* *cough* escalation in Vietnam* *cough]. Does the above idea explain former Clinton defense secretary William Perry and former Clinton Ass't Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter's op-ed in the WaPo on Thursday

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1150777521498936092006-06-19T23:25:00.000-05:002006-06-20T01:43:48.736-05:00

Downblog, Gary very carefully, very tactfully suggested that I might try to find second audiences for the possessions that, in my pre-moving frenzy, I find oppressive. Well, this evening, I ran into a woman who lives in my building whose children I've always thought are just great. I have the impression that the parents might be swimming upstream--they've often seemed stressed out--but their

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1150614088476061272006-06-18T02:01:00.000-05:002006-06-20T00:03:43.476-05:00

Conversation with my niece, age 4, and my nephew, age 6, on a swingset.Niece: I'm a pretty princess! Push me, make me go high!Me: [pushing her] You know, there were a lot of very strong, brave princesses!Niece: Na-uh!Me: No, really! There were princesses who put on armor and swords to fight dragons! And some princesses even led armies. They were very brave. Niece: No, no, no. Princesses wear

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1150181396249037692006-06-13T01:19:00.000-05:002006-06-13T02:17:31.430-05:00

Is my site taking time To upload every line?That is Blogger!You can't view the comments,And the waits make no sense?That is Blogger!Is it true that Ev'ry post thatComes throughComes throughAt thrice the speedFor all of you?I can't read my own threads.Censorship? "Well," I said,"That is Blogger!"Should I be more patient?(I don't pay one sole cent.)That is Blogger!Is it true that Ev'ry post

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1150004567131336522006-06-11T00:27:00.000-05:002006-06-11T07:47:42.153-05:00

A conversation:She: "So I let him pick him up--he was doing it really well, really respectfully--and I don't usually let guys pick me up on the street. We exchanged emails--I at first gave him a fake email, since I don't have any that don't have my last name, and I stupidly pointed out my building when he asked me if I lived around here. And so, a couple days later, I sent him an email,

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1149817523190400442006-06-08T20:41:00.000-05:002006-06-08T21:50:42.086-05:00

I wish I had a good punchline to that, or even a good descriptive adjective about kind of church we went to, besides the repeated "progessive protestant." It should merit a good joke, but what follows is pretty damned earnest. SorryMy honey, whom I’ve decided to refer online by what would be his jihad name, Mohammed al-Tehrani, had spoken a number of times about how inspiring he’d found this one

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1149568931577254262006-06-05T23:31:00.000-05:002006-06-05T23:42:11.776-05:00

I finally managed to bring myself to throw out almost all of my old cassette tapes. Here's what I kept: --the industrial-rock soundtrack to my high-school production of Hamlet I like to clean to.--the 1990s Brit-pop mix from an ex-boyfriend that keeps me strutting when I feel shitty.--a break-beat mix from now-obscure LPs that make me want to jog, then dance, then jog.--a mixtape with silly

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1149208204553956412006-06-01T19:23:00.000-05:002006-06-01T19:30:04.576-05:00

Vacation in the country has reminded me that I need to find a way to be wealthy enough to do this sort of thing more regularly!The wounds to the right are pretty much self-inflicted: enthusiasm! + desire to find sexiest landscape site! = bramble-scratches. To me, the latter is the sign of a good encounter with Nature. I have lots more to say, but, since I've hesitated so far, this will have to

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1148619885871718392006-05-25T23:28:00.000-05:002006-05-26T00:04:45.910-05:00

Somebody recently mentioned that John Thullen should get the coveted Koufax for Best Commenter. I have nominated all three members of what I call the cranky uncle brigade--John Thullen, Bob McManus, and John Emerson--for a couple of years running, but I suspect that Koufax voters have not been sufficiently exposed to the dadaist violence represented by a John Thullen comment.Evidence is needed!

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1148616236871016242006-05-25T22:48:00.000-05:002006-05-25T23:03:56.920-05:00

I'm starting to wonder whether people even remember how to play outdoor games that involve sticks and rocks. As I remember my childhood, the sticks and rocks games were a lot more fun than the computer games I played back then. Then again, I had the impression that the old Eliza program was supposed to be a game. Anyway. My all-time favorite childhood game was "Kick the Can." You know, where

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1147993865824776932006-05-18T18:03:00.000-05:002006-05-18T18:11:05.866-05:00

Is there an anarchistic case for keeping drugs illegal? Crispin Sartwell explains: For one thing, as many have argued, the unenforceable prohibition on drugs brings the law into contempt. When average citizens of your country know they are criminals, they lose respect for law and for the agents of the law.But contempt for the law is the sure -- indeed really the only -- sign of a free people.

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1147987889017270962006-05-18T16:01:00.000-05:002006-05-18T16:34:23.320-05:00

Jill at Feministe has an interesting post up about the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints, a splinter faction of the LDS which still practices polygamy. As described in the articles Jill excerpts, the FLDS seems to be a pernicious cult. They certainly deviate from LDS, and if they claim membership in the Mormon church, they should be excommunicated. The Mormon leadership has publicly distanced

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1147919244622916522006-05-17T20:56:00.000-05:002006-05-17T21:27:24.706-05:00

Just before the server pooped out on comments, the Unfoggedariat, as summarized by I don't pay, had narrowed the options for primary texts to:MontaigneParadise LostBurkeKirkegard's Repetition Somehow, my suggestion for The Prince--backed rather enthusiastically by some, I'll note!--got left off that list.I think it's quite possible that, as Armsmasher suggested, Montaigne might not present as

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1147873170363884042006-05-17T08:34:00.000-05:002006-05-17T08:39:30.643-05:00

Every so often when I look through my bookmarks, I get this nagging feeling that there was this awesome blog I once read, which had short, wise observations on all sorts of topics. It had a really clean layout--no ads, no icons, no pictures, no expandable posts--and it loaded quickly because it just a straight-ahead kind of site, which didn't bother with all those tracking services. That blog

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1147829502955182152006-05-16T20:27:00.000-05:002006-05-16T23:01:47.836-05:00

Gregory Djerejian, a foreign policy professional whose recent trajectory could perhaps be described as moderate neoconservative turned realist, summarizes his arguments in favor of talking to Iran.Related: the BBC offers an interactive guide for understanding the power structures within the Iranian government. Deborah Brown gives a horticulturalist's overview to the practical care of houseplants:

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1147721161424087862006-05-15T13:57:00.000-05:002006-05-15T15:06:58.880-05:00

A couple of weeks a scrap of news, basically a third-hand report, gave me that adrenaline rush that suggests some tipping-point might be underway. Here's one version of the story. Basically, early this month, Iranian forces began to shell Kurdish targets within the border of Iraq. The central Iraqi government has made some noise about the attacks, but the government is weak enough, the PKK

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11214337.post-1147697001170201222006-05-15T07:36:00.000-05:002006-05-15T11:03:04.040-05:00

I've been tinkering with colors and layout, as you may already have noticed. This nifty color-scheme generator enabled and encouraged the amateur designer in me. It's dangerous! Don't click the link! Also wanted: advice or good resources on fonts. I'll take strong, vituperative opinions on fonts, if that's what on offer.

Marilee Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00760293821861149156noreply@blogger.com12