Hey, everyone! It is, or was, a sunny if cold Saturday, and perfect for running errands. Nice to get out of the house and be outside and away from the books for a while...and OH, at 1 am last night I came up with an idea that just might turn into my

And not just Britney. Pink and Beyonce Knowles are right there beside her, all three playing female gladiators in a new Pepsi commercial. And Enrique Iglesias is playing a big bad nasty Roman emperor. Here's the scoop from their London debut! What ho

You know, I just realized that one of the columnists I like reading on the National Review is also a classics professor. No kidding. No wonder I thought his name sounded familiar! I'd been running into it on and off for a long time, while cramming Gr

Check out this little gem of a report from the Washington Times (I got it from ever-informative Blogs for Bush). Now put the article's complete lack of reality next to my long-standing rant that national security is priority one, and y

OK, OK, so this is really pretty unimportant news from my ancestral isle. But come on, who can resist a crazy headline like THIS? Thar She Blows! Dead Whale Explodes Residents of Tainan learned a lesson in whale biology after the decomposing remain

The man who invented the ever-popular escape hatch for computer geeks is retiring! David Bradley wrote the code, and Bill Gates made it famous. Meet the Inventor of CtrlAltDelete Sibling, this one's for YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU.  

I've been following this for the last couple days. Really interesting. Also been watching the BBC trying to cover the news of its own crisis. Can I say, it's clear also by now that denial is not only a river in Egypt. (Andrew Gilligan, the reporter

Well, I fail to feel sorry for Chirac, not after the way France and China have been romancing each other. The BBC reports (mind, though, that the "Beeb" is itself suffering a big-time credibility crisis, but that's another post) that the Taiwanese p

It's another day of reading. I have about 6 weeks to pick a dissertation topic and submit a proposal to my department. Aye, there's the rub...I've got to pick quickly...and yet pick wisely, or at least sort of wisely. Whatever I do pick, I'll be pret

Well, the New Hamstrung--er, New Hampshire--primary is over, so let's see who's still standing, shall we? It seems that, amazingly enough, everyone's still technically standing. But there can only be one winner, and the winner is...Well, Kerry

Oh, YEAH! The Oscar nominations are in, and Ken Watanabe has been nominated for Best Supporting Actor in his role as Katsumoto in "The Last Samurai." It was a brilliant performance. I called that nomination the day I saw the film. Way to go, K

Good morning, all! It's another cold one here at grad school, and there is plenty of white stuff on the ground. It'll be another day of reading, researching, dreaming of warmer climates, and slacking off...not necessarily in that order! Here's somet

Through the night's darkness, Comes the sound of winter's song... Ice drops on windows.  

Looks like there are still some sane people over there, thank goodness! EU Snubs Paris Over Arms for China A French attempt to lift the European Union arms embargo against China was rejected by ministers yesterday amid concern over Beijing's human

We've made it through the Iowa Carcasses, so let's see who ends up New Hamstrung after today! The entire freak show of politicians pandering to every possible group, demonizing everything they don't like, and flip-flopping on their own positions&nbs

The dear old Sibling said that while he blogs about food, I blog about politics. His last blog, after all, rhapsodized about smoked salmon, Omega-3 fatty acids, and bagels.  From his link, though, I did learn about the history of bagels. Thanks,

G'day to our Aussie friends! It's Australia Day! Check out all the webcams, covering many a corner of that great nation. Here's a writeup and photos of all the celebrations. I've always wanted to go for a visit. Maybe after grad school! UPDA

I know I said no more politics today. But this one...Well, this one is just plain unsettling: CNN reports: Arms, Taiwan top French-China meet: Chinese President Hu Jintao is set to arrive in Paris to lobby for sales of weapons to China and French op

More TPS reports, anyone?? It's freezing cold again, and snowy! Most of the schools in the area are closed, and the temperatures and wind chills are plummeting again. Honestly, this is bar none the coldest the weather's been up he