Category Archives: Society and cultcha

Tim Dunlop has been enjoying his first Halloween season, as has his six-year-old son Noah, who’s quite excited about trick-or-treating. Dunlop and his family live in the DC area, which led to this observation: You want to know another reason … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Lynn Johnston will retire her comic strip For Better Or For Worse sometime in the next five years. Johnston believes that her retirement will come at a good time as the lives of her characters are coming full circle. April, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Jack points out this story which I saw but forgot to blog about the hot new trend in fundraising: Nekkid calendars. In today’s precarious economy, charities seeking to raise money are finding that bake sales just don’t cut it anymore. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I thought I had some insightful things to say about sexism in the blogosphere (debate started by Dawn Olsen, with followup here and here, and amplified by Meryl Yourish, with followup here, here, and here), but I don’t think I … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Here’s a story about a man who lives in Waller (a mostly rural county to the west of Houston) with his two wives and seven kids. Interestingly, their status is well-known and fairly well tolerated by neighbors, not necessarily what … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Somewhere along the line since I started blogging, I started receiving email from Center for Immigration Studies. I’m not exactly sure how they came to get my email address, but at least the mail they send me is interesting. Today … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A new survey shows that the number of people who express no religious preference doubled to 14% during the 1990s. The increase comes from people who do have religious faith, but who may be turned off by the link between … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Charles Murtaugh answers the question that InstantMan asks and Den Beste fumbles, namely why is it that so many sex-advice columnists are female. Murtaugh groks the real reasons: The reason women succeed as sex columnists is because lustful guys like … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Recently I posted about a change to Harvard’s sexual assault policy, which would now require “corroborating evidence” for an official school inquiry. My father read this story and was rather appalled by it. Here’s the feedback he sent me, from … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Ginger quotes Eve Tushnet about the origins of Spider-Man, American innoncence, and Baby Boomer self-absorption. Oh, hell, let me give you the full passage, from one of Eve’s blogwatches: Unqualified Offerings: David Broder gets spidey-smacked […] I need to add … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Calling Matthew and Glenn: I need some perspective here on this report that Harvard is changing how it investigates sexual misconduct allegations. Under the old policy, the school would automatically look into any claim of a peer dispute, including a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Business columnist Scott Burns writes that for the first time since 1976, the percentage of working mothers with infant children declined. He gives some interesting data and raises some good questions about effect this may have if it is indeed … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A new study says that having sons shortened the life span of Finnish mothers by about 34 weeks per son. Daughters nurtured to adulthood helped prolong mothers’ lives. OK, Mom. I promise. I’ll take my vitamins, I won’t read in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Joshua Trevino has some harsh words regarding the assassination of Pim Fortuyn and those who would equivocate about it: It’s not terrifically surprising that Pim Fortuyn’s assassin is a radical leftist. I’ve long maintained that the hard left is the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

And as long as we’re on hot-button topics, let me get this longstanding gripe off my chest. Every now and then, I see a woman make the claim that “if men could get pregnant then abortion would be a sacrament”. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’ve been following the dustup about anti-gay remarks at the recent NRA convention with some interest. Ted Barlow has been on InstaPunditWatch throughout (see here, here, and here for full coverage) and documents how Reynolds eventually said the right things … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Salon has an article about how women who wear glasses are indeed sexy. I couldn’t agree more. I got glasses when I was ten. A couple of years after I got them, I noticed a framed, autographed photo of 1979 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Last night I had the rather amusing experience of being called by a pollster. The young woman on the other end of the phone said she was calling on behalf of “Luntz Research”. “Frank Luntz?” I said. “The Republican pollster?” … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Via Kyle Still comes this request by Scott Rubush for tips on how to get out of jury duty. I have to say, I have no patience for this kind of whining. Whatever complaints one may have about our justice … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The editorial writers at the Chron can’t seem to understand why the Sacagawea dollar coin has been a flop, much like the Susan B. Anthony coin was years ago. It’s no mystery to me, y’all. Why carry heavy coins in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

An interesting article about a professor at Texas Southern University and his quest to transcribe and preserve sprituals. I had no idea that Antonin Dvorak played a role in the history of this music. Check it out. Continue reading →

Chron headline: Study OKs Cousins Having Kids. Sometimes, it’s just too easy, y’know? I’m pretty sure I heard the writers at The Tonight Show cheer this morning. Let’s move on. No, wait. As is so often the case, Gary Farber … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Today Ginger points out this infantile little article in the conservative Cornell Review, in which the author makes the oh-so-original point that we menfolk are just hunks of burning carnal desire who need wimmin around to keep us civilized: Presumably, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Gary Farber, who’s been quite prolific of late, adds on to Peter Beinart’s piece about freedom of religion, Bush and Ashcroft style. They both attack the underlying theme that one must be religious in order to be moral, and the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

From the USS Clueless we get this remarkable story about Barbie dolls and their apparently subversive effect on Iranian girls. It’s hard to imagine Barbie dolls “sowing the seeds of feminist rebellion” as den Beste suggests, but when you read … Continue reading → Continue reading →

There’s been a fair amount of bloggage regarding this article in the WaPo about Islamic schools in America. I’m as alarmed as the next guy, but not because gasp we’ve suddenly discovered such things in our midst. No, my discomfort … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Gary Farber has a nice piece about John Ashcroft’s recent remarks, in which our breastphobic Attorney General says “Civilized people — Muslims, Christians and Jews — all understand that the source of freedom and human dignity is the Creator. Civilized … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Megan misses the point when she responds to my question “why is it a problem if Ivy League professors skew left?” She starts by asking how I’d feel if the shoe was on the other foot: The first is to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’d like to do a little followup on my post from yesterday in which I discussed David Horowitz’s survey which claims to prove that Ivy League professors are more liberal than most Americans. I’ll start by explaining why this claim … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Megan McArdle has an interesting thread going about a survey commissioned by David Horowitz which claims that professors at Ivy League universities are much more liberal than the American population at large. The thread starts here, with followups here, here, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Julia Child’s kitchen is going to the Smithsonian, while the legendary chef moves into a retirement community in Southern California. If they really want to honor her life, the kitchen should be fully operational and properly staffed at all times. Continue reading →

According to this annual survey, incoming college freshmen are more liberal than any time since 1975. As a college student from the Reagan years, in which the joke on campus was that our boomer-era profs were more liberal than the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A lot of libertarian types regularly ridicule efforts by local governments to control or at least manage their rate and means of growth. Virginia Postrel and the Chronicle’s Jim Barlow are among those who’ve made their cases against “smart growth”. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Tom Tomorrow takes us back to “those fabulous days of yesteryear, The Eighties!” I can’t speak for the bad hairdos and shoulder pads, but the music is already here and has been for awhile. I know I’m not the only … Continue reading → Continue reading →