Rip It Up

Ken AshfordBush & Co.Leave a Comment

Isn’t it interesting that with Democrats set to take over the House, and possibly the Senate — and with the prospect of investigations against the White House to come about as a result — that there should be a paper shredding company truck parked outside Dick Cheney’s house? Hmmmm.

Where It Has No Business Being

Ken AshfordSex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

Arguably — arguably — the federal government might have an interest in getting teenagers not to have sex. But why do they now have federal programs urging adult single 29 year olds to abstain from pre-marital sex?  Is this really a good use of tax dollars?

Good Christians Hate Halloween

Ken AshfordGodstuffLeave a Comment

An actual excerpt from the Christian-published children’s book, "Mommy, Why Don’t We Celebrate Halloween?" ‘October 31st again and all the kids are trick-or-treating,’ said Jerry as he looked out the window in front of his house. ‘Mom, why can’t we go trick-or-treating like all the other kids? Are you afraid we’ll eat too much candy and our teeth will rot?’ … Read More

What “Waiting For Godot” Would Be Like If The Characters Had Cell Phones

Ken AshfordPopular CultureLeave a Comment

ESTRAGON: You’re sure it was this evening? VLADIMIR: What? ESTRAGON: That we were to wait. VLADIMIR: He said Saturday. (Pause.) I think. ESTRAGON: You think. VLADIMIR: I must have made a note of it. (He fumbles in his pockets, which are bursting with miscellaneous rubbish.) What’ll we do? (Beeping sound as ESTRAGON dials number.) VOICE OF RECORDING ON PHONE: You’ve … Read More

Will Voting Machines Work?

Ken AshfordElection 2006, Science & TechnologyLeave a Comment

Good article in Time: A woman walked into a polling place in Peoria, Ill. last week and proceeded to use one of the new electronic voting machines set up for early voting. She logged on, went through each contest and seemed to be making her choices. After reviewing each race, the machine checked to see if she was satisfied with … Read More

Free Online Discount Coupons

Ken AshfordRandom MusingsLeave a Comment

If you buy online — and more and more people will do that this Christmas than before — you probably have seen those boxes and the "checkout" page where you can enter a "promotional code" or a "coupon code" and get a discount on your purchase.  Sadly, you probably don’t have a code, right? Fear not. Retailmenot.com is an online … Read More

At Last — A Reason To See A Movie Soon

Ken AshfordPopular CultureLeave a Comment

Christopher Guest — who brought us Waiting For Guffman, Best In Show, and A Mighty Wind — has assembled his usual crew of actors (Parker Posey, Eugene Levy, Michael McKean, Catherine O’Hara, Harry Shearer, Fred Willard), and a few new ones (Ricky Gervais) for another film. This one lacks the "mockumentary" style, but it could be good. It’s called "For … Read More

Good News, Bad News

Ken AshfordEconomy & Jobs & DeficitLeave a Comment

The good news: The gap between male and female salaries is narrowing, with women now making .81 cents for every dollar a man does. The bad news: That’s because salaries for males are dropping. Via Ezra Klein.

Cool Stuff

Ken AshfordRandom MusingsLeave a Comment

Modular shelving that’s shaped like the game Tetris: "Sure, this is somewhat prohibitively expensive, but the idea of creating a bookshelf out of Tetris-like shelving units was too good to pass up. Designed by Bravespace, the pieces are made from walnut and ash wood and come in five shapes that you will recognize from Tetris–they are even called Tetris Shelving … Read More

Voting Machines Already Changing Votes From Democrat To Republican

Ken AshfordElection 2006Leave a Comment

This doesn’t make me very confident about our democratic process.  From Miami: Debra A. Reed voted with her boss on Wednesday at African-American Research Library and Cultural Center near Fort Lauderdale. Her vote went smoothly, but boss Gary Rudolf called her over to look at what was happening on his machine. He touched the screen for gubernatorial candidate Jim Davis, … Read More

Iraq Getting Messier

Ken AshfordIraqLeave a Comment

More bad news: U.S. soldier death toll passes the 100 mark (up to 105, if you include "unconfirmed") for October, making this the deadliest month since January 2005, and the fourth deadliest since the war started.  Grand total no 2,815. And the quagmire worsens: Thousands of weapons the United States has provided Iraqi security forces cannot be accounted for, and … Read More