That might be overstating it a bit, but the
comments on this post about pet rocks never quite reaches Beevis & Butthead quality thought. The post itself seems pretty interesting except for one paragraph in the middle where the author attempts to explain the appeal of the pet rock, but instead sounds like a spam [...] Read more »

Posted in Speaking Very Slowly No Comments »

Padilla was found guilty yesterday. I first mentioned Padilla in 2004, when he was still being illegally held without charge or access to counsel as an “enemy combatant.” And after years of isolation and torture he was finally released into the civil justice system on charges far less than what he was originally accused of [...] Read more »

Posted in Speaking Very Slowly, Terrorism 2 Comments »

I assumed at some point someone would suggest that the bridge in Minneapolis collapsed because needed repairs were shorted or ignored in order to keep taxes low. And that someone else would say “how dare you bring politics into this?” As though, you know, bridges collapse for no reason. Sure enough, commenter “Paul” at Boing [...] Read more »

Posted in Politics, Speaking Very Slowly 2 Comments »

Jonah Goldberg suggests that people should pass some sort of test before they’re allowed to vote:

Now, the point isn’t to say that the American people are stupid, which is the typical knee-jerk reaction of self- absorbed political junkies. Rather, it’s that millions of Americans just don’t care about politics, much the same way that I [...] Read more »

Posted in Speaking Very Slowly 5 Comments »

Now, why was it I don’t like Martha Stewart again? Oh, yeah, it’s that sense that she’s the center of the universe. Mark Frauenfelder interviews Martha Stewart for Wired, where she trods heavily on my
earbud nerves.

Stewart: I think we are insane. I used to get 120 to 140 phone calls a day. And now [...] Read more »

Posted in Speaking Very Slowly, Technology 4 Comments »