Bookworm Room

Sometimes the matched sets just write themselves.  Both of the articles I’m quoting here are from England.  The first in our set is an article saying that town councils across England are being told that they need to reinstate actual playgrounds.  The current versions, which are the kid equivalent of a padded room, are creating [...]

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Do you remember your first serious Internet moments, back in the early 1990s? Someone was explaining these primitive experiences to a few imaginative youngsters, and we got this, the original, unaired 24 pilot:

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When I was a little girl, one of my favorite Disney rides was Monsanto’s Journey Through Inner Space. Although it was plowed down to make room for Space Mountain Star Tours, you can revisit it here. It’s cheesier than I remember, but I love the enthusiasm about the miracles of modern science. UPDATE: Doug thinks [...]

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Do you feel the need to be depressed today?  You do?  Good, because I’ve got just the thing for you (h/t Ricochet): Bottom line:  it’s the end of the world as we know it, and no matter who we elect (Obama or someone else), it’s not going to matter. Now please explain to me why [...]

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As I suspected, things were not as they seemed — or, more importantly, as the women claimed.  Here’s the follow-up for you, if you’re interested.

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Five years after Gilad Shalit was kidnapped, a period during which he has been completely invisible and denied any access to humanitarian agencies, a small handful of American Muslims has finally decided to say something: The Aug. 26 letter’s 11 signatories include the two Muslim members of Congress — Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Andre [...]

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Keith Koffler thinks that Obama is gaming the GOP.  He posits that Obama isn’t inept; he is, instead, crazy like a fox.  What do you think?

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At the PTA meeting, we got to meet many of the people in the school administration.  They all lined up at the front of the room and, one after the other, they introduced themselves.  Most were women.  A few were men.  One of the men was quite amazingly handsome, sort of a George Clooney type, [...]

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Last night was back-to-school night at my daughter’s new high school.  I was deeply impressed.  The facility is beautiful; the classrooms are clean, bright and well-maintained; the teachers are engaging; the test scores are over-the-top; and the expensive extras (fancy computers, lab equipment, etc.) are all in place.  My daughter loves her new school.  All [...]

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Pedophilia is an up and coming subject, as pedophiles strive to become mainstream.  In an article about Dr. Earl Bradley, a convicted pedophile, Fay Voshell makes an incredibly important point: Dr. Bradley’s behavior is illustrative of the sort of things a pedophile does to his victims, including sometimes killing the child he rapes, sodomizes, or [...]

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I was thinking about prison yesterday.  Someone was telling me that his son, a student at San Francisco State University, had a teacher who announced, “I’m not going to make any pretense of being unbiased,” and then handed out a book about the evils of prison. My response was that, while prison isn’t a great [...]

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I believe it was Mike who commented that California, knowing itself to be “too big to fail,” is doing whatever the Hell it pleases.  (Or more accurately, the Democrats in state government, elected by feckless voters, are doing whatever the Hell they please.)  Over at Ace of Spades, you can find a perfect rundown of [...]

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Brilliant video:

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My daughter started high school at our local public high.  It’s a great high school.  It’s got a beautiful facility, high quality staff, all the bells and whistles you can think of, an involved parent body, and a whole lot of very nice kids.  I always knew all that, but I had that information reinforced [...]

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So, here I am enjoying a family reunion with the Lemieux clan in the  south of France and, of course, the politics of today are much discussed. Yesterday, the subject du jour was retirement plans. My cousin, an international business exec, explained how the French retirement system operated in general terms. People pay into their [...]

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NavyOne did it — he found me someone who will hold my hand and shepherd me through the door of the local shooting range.  All that remains now is organization, and I can do that.  I’m so grateful to NavyOne; to Mike, who offered me moral courage and solid information; and to Dan, who is [...]

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San Francisco’s Fleet Week is just around the corner.  It is pretty much the last gasp of the City that once Knew How.  (Herb Caen readers, meaning old San Franciscans, will know what I mean when I write that.) I just renewed my Navy League membership, not only because it is a sterling organization, and [...]

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The nominations are up (and have been since yesterday), and I’m enjoying reading them right now.  Tune in later, of course, for the voting results: Council Submissions The Noisy Room – Panetta and R2P to Usher in the American Fall The Colossus of Rhodey – Al Gore: climate change skeptics are like old southern racists [...]

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