Category: Society & Culture

ABC’s “Combat Hospital” raises moral issues

ABC is airing promos for a new summer fictional drama entitled Combat Hospital. This is a Canadian-conceived show set in 2006 in a military hospital at the Kandahar Airbase in Afghanistan, and purports to depict “the frantic lives of the hospital’s resident doctors and nurses from Canada, America, the UK and other allied countries.” Wartime… Continue reading ABC’s “Combat Hospital” raises moral issues

Trading the Real for the Fake

I daresay that Georges Seurat’s painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte is only recognizable to most people in the most vague, I-think-I’ve-seen-a-poster-of-that-somewhere-before sort of way, and most of us would surely not be able to describe it sight unseen. I suppose there’s nothing inherently wrong with this; the painting is more than… Continue reading Trading the Real for the Fake

Pointy Boots

Today’s newspaper ran this AP story under the headline, “Mutant pointy boots create a craze.” When I first saw the headline, I thought, “well, so what’s new? I’ve seen lots of pointy boots on the dance floor, at country dances.” Uh, well, no. Those, my friend, are Pointy Boots. Those are “you’ll poke your eye… Continue reading Pointy Boots

The sources of Midland County’s net gain in population

Forbes Magazine has created an interactive graphic showing population movements into and out of every county in the United States in 2008, based on federal income tax-related data provided by the IRS. A mouse click on each county reveals lines emanating from that county to every other county where people moved to or from, and… Continue reading The sources of Midland County’s net gain in population

Characterizing the Earth’s Population

National Geographic has analyzed certain characteristics of the Earth’s approximately 7 billion human inhabitants and offers up some interesting statistics in six categories: Language: 13% speak Mandarin as their first language, vs. 5% Spanish and 5% English Nationality: 19% are Chinese, 17% Indian, 4% American Religion: 33% are Christian, 21% Muslim, 13% Hindu Livelihood: 40%… Continue reading Characterizing the Earth’s Population

Citizen reporting of bad driving: What could possibly go wrong?

Anyone driving slower than me is an idiot.Anyone driving faster than me is a jerk. —Unknown The preceding observation is perhaps the best reason that the proposal to create a 24-hour hotline that allows Texans to report bad drivers is a bad idea. I fear that many of us lack the objectivity and discipline to distinguish… Continue reading Citizen reporting of bad driving: What could possibly go wrong?

Remembering LaLanne and “Trimnastics”

The web is abuzz today about the passing of Jack LaLanne at age 96. The guy was the human equivalent of the Energizer bunny, and he’s probably doing jumping jacks in his specially-modified jumpsuit (slits for angel wings, right?) as I type this. In memory of the world’s first “fitness guru,” here’s a YouTube video… Continue reading Remembering LaLanne and “Trimnastics”

Amazon reluctantly does the right thing

Amazon.com’s “commitment to principle” lasted about twelve hours, and then it showed that it’s still in the business of turning a profit and dependent on the good graces of its customers to do so. In pulling from its virtual bookshelf the disgusting The Pedophile’s Guide To Love & Pleasure: A Child-Lover’s Code of Conduct, Amazon… Continue reading Amazon reluctantly does the right thing