Month: June 2009
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Dear KHOU: Please remove this factually inaccurate TXU Ad!!!
(If you would like to complain about this ad, contact Miles Cathey, Director of Local Sales, mcathey@KHOU.com). Dear KHOU/Channel 11: I am a Houston resident and longtime viewer of Channel 11. Last night I saw a commercial which at best could be called misleading and at worst could be called a blatant lie. During 60…
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Escaping TV routines
I have a HDTV and watch TV with an antenna (no cable), so of course I was happy when the switchover to DTV began. The only thing is, there is so little good on TV left to watch. Yes, there is PBS on (and don’t doubt that I watch as much of it as I…
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Starved for a good title (It is delightful to be jolly)
In case people who read my previous post worried that I am becoming suicidal, have no fear: I am generally a jolly person; I just happen to like feeding myself with moderate doses of romantic cynicism once in a while. So to demonstrate my general cheeriness, I’ll mention some mood picker-uppers on youtube. Luise Rainer…
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Depressing Marriage, Depressing Life
Amanda Fortini on the perils of realizing romantic love in marriage: As with most Americans, my own ideas about love were formed not only by books — “Jane Eyre” and “Pride and Prejudice,” “Emma” and “Wuthering Heights,” yes, as well as the incestuous “Flowers in the Attic” series, “The Thorn Birds,” and the Andrew Greeley…
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Global Warming Bumper Stickers for Houstonians
Ok, I’ll be the first to admit that they are not subtle or clever, but it gets the message across. For non-Texas readers, Reliant and TXU are the two most popular energy companies in Houston. I designed these stickers at makestickers.com for $5 each. I can’t understand why more people don’t use bumper stickers to…
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Reading the World
"Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock." -Ben Hecht
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Embarrassments of Obscurity (Part 23)
I usually never let it get under my skin when I hear that some young hotshot has published a book or some celebrity has gotten invited onto a talk show to tout a book. I don’t let it get to me because I convince myself that people like Bret Easton Ellis peak early and never…
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Catching up with Hilarity
Here is a hilarious page from a Jon Stewart comedy book. I scanned it several months ago intending to post it here, but forgot. The writers were envisioning how a 24 hour news network planned their news coverage. To see the excerpt, click to read the entire entry.
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Blogs I am following (June 2009)
Occasionally I feel compelled to mention which blogs I follow on a semi-regular basis. It’s funny how often I change regular haunts, and that usually happens whenever I lose my Firefox bookmarks. My blog consumption tastes are fickle, but here are the ones I return to reliably (because generally they haven’t let me down). Looking…
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Denialism, Denialist Blog and Health Care
I am way behind on blogging. Facebook microblogging has taken a lot of wind out of my blogging sails. Joe Romm on denialism. This is one of the fiercest denunciations of denialism I have seen. Skeptics can be convinced by the facts, but not the deniers and delayers. Skeptics (and real scientists) do not continue…
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Sustainable Seafood: Eat More Sardines!
Jim Carrier writes a long piece on the shrimping industry: The industry acknowledges that 5 percent of the world’s mangroves, hundreds of thousands of acres, have been destroyed creating shrimp ponds. In some estuaries 80 percent of the mangroves are gone. A commons was privatized, ruining artisanal fishing and driving indigenous fishermen to work raising…