Category Archives: Society and cultcha

There are times when I really pity headline writers. How can you possibly title a story about giving the gift of plastic surgery for Christmas without dipping into the Big Bag O’ Cliches? It’s the season of giving and getting, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Longtime conservative activist and textbook critic Mel Gabler has died at the age of 89. Gabler, who died Sunday, was a conservative who emphasized accuracy and a Christian perspective in his critiques of children’s schoolbooks. With wife Norma, he started … Continue reading → Continue reading →

It’s stories like this that make one truly proud to be associated with Rice University. As if a plain old thong wasn’t enough to accentuate what isn’t covered, a Rice University MBA student has shed some neon light on the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Is it silly of me to hope that by the time Olivia is 16 someone will have invented Star Trek-like transporters so I won’t have to buy her a car? Nearly every culture has a recognized turning point between childhood … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Kash points to this story about political considerations as a factor in determining where to buy a house. It’s some more empirical evidence for the Great Divide thesis that Bill Bishop has been writing about. Of course, yard signs during … Continue reading → Continue reading →

If you don’t currently have a baby, you may not be aware of the stunning advances in stroller technology that have been made lately. The higher-is-better philosophy is the chief selling point of the Stokke Xplory, a new entrant in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The New Improved Redesigned Style Section of the Houston Chronicle has a feature called Street Fashion which caught my eye on Thursday. Basically, they photograph a couple of women on the street and ask them about their clothes. One of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This NYT article about a recent trend in newspapers to cull the comics pages as a cost-saving maneuver leaves me shaking my head. Two comments from the story stand out to me: “I think newspapers need some percentage of attraction … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Three words: Buttock augmentation surgery. “It’s everywhere now,” said Yadira Yanez, a 30-year-old mother of three who recently underwent buttock augmentation to get a fuller, rounder tush. “It’s on TV where you see people that have done it and made … Continue reading → Continue reading →

You’d think that with all of the scandals and investigations surrounding him that Tom DeLay wouldn’t have a whole lot of free time for frivolity, but apparently you’d be wrong. A super-sized Statue of Liberty, holding aloft an order of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

All right, so I finally gave in and took the Slate red state/blue state quiz, and it told me that “It’s time to get out of the sun. You’re looking a little red.” I’ll echo what others have said about … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’ve been trading emails with “Great Divide” author Bill Bishop regarding this Gadflyer article by Philip Klinkner, and he was kind enough to send me an official response from himself and coauthor Robert Cushing. With his permission, I’ve posted it … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This article in The Gadflyer is a direct challenge to the findings of the Statesman series The Great Divide, which claims that America is becoming more segregated by politics. Author Philip Klinkner makes some interesting points, but I have to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’m not a blog triumphalist, but it’s hard not to consider this medium superior to other forms when you can see such an intelligent discussion of religion and pop culture as the one that was started by Amy Sullivan, picked … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Thank heaven for the Internet and its ability to reach an elusive demographic. Young people – those in their teens to 30s – have so many ways to communicate that reaching them has become a guessing game for marketers. That’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Something for me to strive for as I enter fatherhood (real soon now). It is not always a rosy path through adolescence for these mothers and daughters, but there is an upbeat teen spirit wafting through their lives that smells … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Snarkout has a lively look at made-up languages and the people who love them. I just have one question: Does the Klingon Linguistics Institute have a visiting scholars program? Continue reading →

Be careful when ordering that pizza – it might help The Man hunt you down. It’s dinnertime, and you’re hungry and tired, so you pick up the phone and order your favorite pizza. But you might have just landed yourself … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Leon Hale is a bit confuzzled about a couple of comic strips. Do you read the Chronicle’s funnies? I do, sure, but sometimes I need to have them explained to me. No, I’m not kidding. Some days I just don’t … Continue reading → Continue reading →

If you haven’t read the Statesman’s two-parter on the decline of mixed-politics communities (Part One, Part Two), I recommend checking them out. A couple of my own thoughts: As author Bill Bishop noted in Lasso, the numbers he plays around … Continue reading → Continue reading →

There’s been some good discussion of the theological implications of John Kerry’s use of Scripture and Team Bush’s fierce response to it. In particular, I suggest you check out Lean Left, Political Aims (Happy Blogiversary, Amy, by the way), Slacktivist, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

So the evil conglomerate Clear Channel is waging war against indecency – they’ve dropped Howard Stern from the 0.5% of their member stations who were running his show, they’ve fired Bubba the Love Sponge, whose antics in Tampa they were … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’m trying, I’m really trying, to make sense of the idea that anyone, let alone the President, could think that amending the Constitution for the purposes of restricting the rights of a subgroup of citizens is somehow good public policy. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Is there no end to what some people will politicize? People in Waco were more than a bit taken aback after turning on a Christian radio station and hearing a community leader call for a boycott of Thin Mints and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Another one for the I-never-would-have-guessed files: Kids in the suburbs drink and screw as much as kids in the evil cities. Two-thirds of suburban and urban 12th-graders have had sex; 43 percent of suburban 12th-graders and 39 percent of urban … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This Chron article is reasonably well done, even if I’ve read way too many “Are the comics getting too serious?” stories. There are a couple of points to discuss: [S]ome newspaper editors — including here at the Chronicle — viewed … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Hope, whom I had the pleasure of meeting while up in Austin to play bridge, has a critical look at the recent initiative to promote marriage in the US. Not too surprisingly, the idea is one part conservative Lysenkoism and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Meanwhile, back in the real world where people marry each other (or want to, anyway) as an expression of love and commitment, two sets of couples I know announced engagements on New Year’s Eve. I’d like to extend my belated … Continue reading → Continue reading →

So Texas A&M’s legacy admissions policy has come under fire (also noted by Byron). A&M’s program is drawing particular fire because university President Robert Gates recently announced the university, now free from a court ruling prohibiting racial preferences, won’t consider … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I agree with Big Media Matt – the criteria used in this Best Places to Live guide sounds exactly like a formula to determine the richest exurban areas and not much else. The $50,000 median income cutoff is a guarantee … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say On a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day That’s the island greeting that we send to you From the land where palm trees sway Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright The … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Are shopping mall Santas going extinct? Santa isn’t the big man at Christmas that he used to be, at least not at the mall. While appearances by St. Nick remain a holiday ritual at most of the nation’s 1,130 enclosed … Continue reading → Continue reading →

From the Gifts For People Who Have Everything Dept: Send your remains into outer space. Celestis Inc, a Houston-based firm that in 1997 arranged the launch of 1960s pop icon Timothy Leary’s remains, is planning an April send-off in Russia … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Ted Barlow has a long and detailed email interview with some members of MEChA, the Chicano student organization that was assailed as being a “hate group” during the California recall election. It’s a great read, so go check it out. … Continue reading → Continue reading →