Friday, December 30, 2005


Music Category
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- It had been nagging at me for a while that we had no Music... posted by Michael at December 30, 2005 | perma-link | (0) comments

Image and Word
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- Words come easily to me. They're my most direct form of expression; they're what... posted by Michael at December 30, 2005 | perma-link | (14) comments

Thursday, December 29, 2005


The Future of Entertainment
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- Edward Jay Epstein predicts that the near future will deliver dramatic surprises in the... posted by Michael at December 29, 2005 | perma-link | (4) comments

Women and Stress
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- American men are "catching up to women in life expectancy," reports Yahoo. The reason?... posted by Michael at December 29, 2005 | perma-link | (5) comments

Elsewhere
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * Dunking, gymnastics -- it somehow makes sense ... * I'm one happy Vedantist... posted by Michael at December 29, 2005 | perma-link | (13) comments

Women Who Convert to Islam ...
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- An interesting article comes from the Christian Science Monitor's Peter Ford, who notes that... posted by Michael at December 29, 2005 | perma-link | (9) comments

Thursday, December 22, 2005


Violating Laws You Approve Of?
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- Canada's Supreme Court has ruled that swingers' clubs are legal. Since the ruling is... posted by Michael at December 22, 2005 | perma-link | (53) comments

Elsewhere
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * Sad to say, but I'm not sure that even this kind of coaching... posted by Michael at December 22, 2005 | perma-link | (5) comments

Lit or Not-Lit?
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- There aren't many statements about "literature" I can sign on to. But, in an... posted by Michael at December 22, 2005 | perma-link | (10) comments

Wednesday, December 21, 2005


"Time" Marches On … Into the Ditch?
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- To the hoots and sneers of a number of Internet denizens, Time Magazine recently... posted by Donald at December 21, 2005 | perma-link | (9) comments

Tuesday, December 20, 2005


Alone for Christmas
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- Not long ago I posted about family-centric holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas being... posted by Donald at December 20, 2005 | perma-link | (19) comments

Monday, December 19, 2005


Travel Tallying
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- How many countries have you visited? Does it really matter? Well, it matters to... posted by Donald at December 19, 2005 | perma-link | (16) comments

Sunday, December 18, 2005


The Day TV Came to Town
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- For most Americans under 50, television has been around as long as they can... posted by Donald at December 18, 2005 | perma-link | (6) comments

Saturday, December 17, 2005


Latest Immigration Figures
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- Some highlights from the Center For Immigration Studies' latest report: 35.2 million immigrants (legal... posted by Michael at December 17, 2005 | perma-link | (15) comments

To iTunes, or Not to iTunes
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- Wayne Bremser wonders if the iTuning of all recordings will have a good or... posted by Michael at December 17, 2005 | perma-link | (9) comments

More Scruton
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- A week or so ago, Right Reason's Max Goss did a two-part q&a with... posted by Michael at December 17, 2005 | perma-link | (5) comments

Friday, December 16, 2005


Auto Yak
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study has found that, at any given moment,... posted by Michael at December 16, 2005 | perma-link | (12) comments

The Mona Lisa Algorithm
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- Woman of no more mystery? Scientists at the University of Amsterdam had the inspired... posted by Michael at December 16, 2005 | perma-link | (9) comments

Thursday, December 15, 2005


Holiday Tug o' Wars
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- Does it matter where you go to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, or other family-centric holidays?... posted by Donald at December 15, 2005 | perma-link | (11) comments

Another Holiday Gift Suggestion
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- In her memoir "I'm With the Band," Pamela Des Barres recalls the adventures she... posted by Michael at December 15, 2005 | perma-link | (3) comments

Wednesday, December 14, 2005


More Cameraphone Hijinks
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- A couple of UPenn kids have sex in a dorm up against a window.... posted by Michael at December 14, 2005 | perma-link | (21) comments

Holiday Suggestions
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * There aren't many musicians more purely Modernist -- as in difficult and austere... posted by Michael at December 14, 2005 | perma-link | (8) comments

Elsewhere
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * Whither cameraphones? Poynter Online's Steve Outing learns from some hard-at-work-on-it engineers what will... posted by Michael at December 14, 2005 | perma-link | (4) comments

Progress
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- It's common to picture "progress" as the consequence of a long-running battle: reason and... posted by Michael at December 14, 2005 | perma-link | (18) comments

Tuesday, December 13, 2005


Dueling Light-Painters
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- "Envy is not a family value." Hmm. That sentence sounds almost like a familiar... posted by Donald at December 13, 2005 | perma-link | (41) comments

Monday, December 12, 2005


Small Aircraft, Small Airports
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- It's possible to view air travel in a Harry Potter-esque way. Instead of the... posted by Donald at December 12, 2005 | perma-link | (14) comments

Twist or Press?
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- Do I push it or pull it? Does it go to the left or... posted by Michael at December 12, 2005 | perma-link | (20) comments

Sunday, December 11, 2005


Holiday Birthdays
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- Not long ago in a comment, Michael mentioned that he had a birthday coming... posted by Donald at December 11, 2005 | perma-link | (9) comments

Friday, December 9, 2005


Elsewhere
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * Dave Kehr thinks that Peter Jackson has bled the kitsch poetry out of... posted by Michael at December 9, 2005 | perma-link | (8) comments

Group Differences 5
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- Boys, we've all been taught, have been socialized to be stoic, where girls are... posted by Michael at December 9, 2005 | perma-link | (12) comments

Whom to Laugh At?
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- A funny Steve Burton posting about Harold Pinter's Nobel Lecture left me wondering: Is... posted by Michael at December 9, 2005 | perma-link | (1) comments

Flu Shots
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- How's your record with flu shots? Until a few years ago, I was convinced... posted by Michael at December 9, 2005 | perma-link | (8) comments

Thursday, December 8, 2005


Which File Extension Are You?
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- The quiz itself is amusing enough, but the idea of of it strikes me... posted by Michael at December 8, 2005 | perma-link | (15) comments

Wednesday, December 7, 2005


Used-Book Phobia
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- I don't like to buy used books unless I have no alternative. There. I... posted by Donald at December 7, 2005 | perma-link | (33) comments

It's Fuddy-Duddy Time
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- The Blowhards -- at least a few of us -- are part of a... posted by Michael at December 7, 2005 | perma-link | (13) comments

Revivals
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- Aesthetically speaking, it's indisputable that much of what characterizes our age is a have-it-your-way,... posted by Michael at December 7, 2005 | perma-link | (26) comments

Tuesday, December 6, 2005


Pokey Autobahns
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- Autobahns (auf Deutsch, Autobahnen), the German superhighways begun decades before Congress authorized our Interstate... posted by Donald at December 6, 2005 | perma-link | (6) comments

Monday, December 5, 2005


Movers and Stayers
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- Back in the 1970s fellow-demographer Peter Morrison wrote a paper that floated the idea... posted by Donald at December 5, 2005 | perma-link | (16) comments

Roger Scruton at Right Reason
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- Max Goss concludes his two-part interview with the British conservative philosopher Roger Scruton today.... posted by Michael at December 5, 2005 | perma-link | (0) comments

Sunday, December 4, 2005


Tiresome Turtledove
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- I haven't read much fiction in the last ten or 15 years because a... posted by Donald at December 4, 2005 | perma-link | (14) comments

Saturday, December 3, 2005


Peripheral Artists (2): Axel Gallén
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- This is the second in a series of posts about painters who were figuratively... posted by Donald at December 3, 2005 | perma-link | (4) comments

Thursday, December 1, 2005


Elsewhere
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * Polly Frost is having a reading of her erotic/satirical fiction in Park Slope... posted by Michael at December 1, 2005 | perma-link | (6) comments

Crackberry, Etc.
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- Researchers in England have found that letting yourself be buffeted about by email, Blackberries,... posted by Michael at December 1, 2005 | perma-link | (8) comments