Off the Mark

the man sat gazing
awed by the vast firmament
night after endless night
terrified, alone
years rolled by
friends came
friends went
his children grew
and the world changed around him
the stars, they were too many
one May evening in the endless procession of months
in an Alley
the man and a friend sat and talked
unknown to the man
something stirred in the heavens
the night sky had [...]

[Read more →]

After seeing several posts about Wordle I finally decided to play. The easiest thing for me to play with were my del.icio.us tags. Even these are not entirely representative or, I should say, not accurately representative.
Based on previous (faulty) workflow, it is the case that there are hundreds of posts in Bloglines that I commented [...]

[Read more →]

Drinking with the Troops
From a local blog, Urbanagora, comes “Drinks with a Soldier.” I just love how some jackass commentor tries to hide behind the shield of anonymity and call the post author a liar. Certainly there are all sorts of views on this war, including those of the troops fighting it.
Perhaps if you ever [...]

[Read more →]

Back in mid-January 2007 I started a “feature” entitled “Some things read this week, …”. I have, for a long time now, been unhappy with it. I have rarely addressed the important things in the depth which they deserved and to which I would like. The date data is generally recorded in at least one [...]

[Read more →]

I have come to realize that I am a failure at the professional role that I have been trying to adopt for the last several years.  It is one which, in many ways, I am perfectly suited for.  For instance, I can shoot holes in most any argument presented by most anyone, preferably with the [...]

[Read more →]

Mark thinks Gorman had some important things to say, and that anyone who meets the core competencies could have said them. He’s also disingenuous and superficial.
AKA my current Facebook status.
I also figure I killed any chance of getting a job in the UIUC Library at this point. Ah well. I refuse to listen to a [...]

[Read more →]

Tomorrow, Wednesday, 18 June 2008, 2 - 3:30 PM
Library Colloquium: Michael Gorman : Are Libraries Still Vital to Research?
Why do we keep bringing him here?
And, yes, I am well aware of his connection to UIUC. But, honestly, you’d think people might have outgrown him by now. Perhaps if more of our students could learn to [...]

[Read more →]

I. Am. A. Patriot—not to be confused with a nationalist—but today, once again, I loathe my country and the vast majority of its citizens.
This great and grand country and its citizens have once again sent my child to war. I will not forgive you.     Us.
Please do not in any way misunderstand this post. [...]

[Read more →]

* with a hat tip to Dorothea (see below)
In which I proudly proclaim and rant as if we were simply sitting here in my living room chatting as the friends we might be, if given the chance.
Jeremy and trip to central Texas
Again, thank you from the entirety of my heart to all who offered a [...]

[Read more →]

19 - 31 May 2008

Chia, Mantak and Douglas Abrams Arava. 1997. The Multi-Orgasmic Man: Sexual Secrets Every Man Should Know. 1st ed. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco.

Bought this years ago when I had hope that it might come in handy some day. Based on ancient Taoist principles. Main takeaway is that ejaculation and orgasm are [...]

[Read more →]