Author: Eric Scheie

This blog has been getting slow and buggy in recent days, and I am trying to figure out why. In addition, we are getting a HUGE amount of comment spam, which is abnormal, and is causing some favorite commenters to be blocked. I am sorry for this, and I am trying to solve the problem.…

It cracked me up to see Glenn Beck being told he should read up on Foucault. (Not because he should, of course.)

A photo I took yesterday. And an image I created the day before.  

Reading about the humongous asteroid that had a near miss. Or at least, the astronomers lost it: Last night, a giant asteroid was supposed to streak by the Earth, close enough for us to catch a glimpse as it zipped by. Except it never showed, and now astronomers say they have no idea just where…

“They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.” If the above quote from Mark 16:18 is LITERALLY true, then I guess it means that Pastor Coots was not one of “them” (meaning, apparently, he was not enough of a believer). From the New York Daily News:…

Typical. Environmentalists have hit out at a giant new solar farm in the Mojave Desert as mounting evidence reveals birds flying through the extremely hot ‘thermal flux’ surrounding the towers are being scorched. After years of regulatory tangles around the impact on desert wildlife, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System opened on Thursday but environmental…

Every feminist academician should be made to watch this video. A politically savvy female Egyptian lawyer is calmly advocating sexual harassment of Jewish women by Arab men as a tactic. (I would call her hateful, except I know that oppressed people are simply incapable of hate.) The more I think about it, the less this…

It may be February, but here’s a classic rare doowop from Little June and the Januaries, titled “Oh What A Feeling.” This is a good one. I’m amazed to find it on YouTube. They knew how to get the endorphins flowing in those days… (The comments are good too.)

Via Reason, I found a fascinating slice of what passes for life in the modern Kafkaesque world — from the point of view of a naive leftist who got thrown into the slammer by San Francisco’s finest for being a good Samaritan. The title is “Good Samaritan Backfire or How I Ended Up in Solitary After…

A teenager’s life has been ruined by a sarcastic but tasteless remark on Facebook meant in humor: Approximately one hour after Justin Carter posted a sarcastic comment on a Facebook thread, his life began to ­unravel. The first reaction occurred behind the scenes, in another country. The 18-year-old Carter had no way of knowing that,…

Guy with flower pot on head robs gas station with chainsaw No, seriously. They even have a picture: The story doesn’t say whether the chainsaw was actually running, and I don’t see evidence of exhaust in the picture. But the chainsaw was not the only thing he brandished: Police allege the man then used the…

Earlier I was treated to the Orlando Consort (a vocal early music group) at a local church here in Ann Arbor. They are from England and barely made it (minus their luggage) to the concert because of weather related traffic delay, but they were wonderful. Here’s a recording of them performing a favorite medieval composer…

Penn and Teller on circumcision (embedding disabled because you have to go to YouTube and declare you are 21): I have been unable to get through it, which is odd, because this is one of those topics I don’t have strong feelings about either way. And even if you can’t stand to watch it, by…

These little prehistoric plastic beasties seem all upset about the plastic parts I’ve been printing. (I not only don’t blame them, I downright identify with them!) With any luck (and assuming I can manage to set up the software and get it to work), those parts will soon be at the heart of a metal…

I have often said that I think arguments are a waste of time. That is my opinion, though. Others may think arguments are valuable, and hence, not a waste of time. They have a point, but I think it depends on whether or not the argument is a genuine discussion in which both sides honestly…

Amy Alkon links a report from Christine Hoff Sommers about how the CDC has dramatically inflated the number of rape cases, by asking questions about activities having nothing to do with rape, then tallying the answers to facilitate the following absurd conclusion: “More than 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have experienced…

Just in case there are any Doowop junkies still reading listening. MORE: This ain’t Doowop, but it bad either: (Garcia at his best, and not even trying.)

As I said on Facebook earlier, I am anything but a neat freak. In fact, depending on perspective, some would consider me a slob. However, while my home might not pass the white glove test, I draw the line at certain things. And I hope I will not offend anyone, but I think that where…

It has snowed so much here in Ann Arbor that the city has run out of school snow days, and everyone is running out of places to put the snow. I have shoveled the sidewalk and excavated my driveway more times than I can count, and each time, the mounds on all sides get higher,…

A good question, to be sure. But isn’t it a sexist one? Women across the city are having similar conversations with themselves lately, as Philadelphia reels from yet another senseless purse snatching/homicide. The latest happened early Sunday as two women left the Tropical Heat nightclub at 53rd and Market streets following a night of karaoke. Two…