Monthly Archives: November 2007

Future Special Constitutional Provisions, Dershowitz-Style

Can anyone cite me a totally verifiable instance of a ticking time-bomb scenario? Not Alan Dershowitz’ version of it, that requires that you’ve got a super-secret special Israeli source who assures you that it’s totally true but you know, can’t … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | 15 Comments

Dude, Where’s My Shredder?

Why you should be careful handling confidential files. I’m especially interested in reading the comments on the files made by professors evaluating the applications. Maybe this will help get across the point that arbitrary, clearly “political” filters for hiring aren’t … Continue reading

Posted in Academia | 1 Comment

Memoirs of Play: Any Ideas?

I’m putting the finishing touches on my syllabus for next semester’s History of Play and Leisure, just trying to find one or two more perfect or unusual readings to round out a few of the weeks. (And then I need … Continue reading

Posted in Games and Gaming | 25 Comments

In Which I Pick Some Nits

If there’s two things I’ve come to dislike equally, it’s bad fantasies with dragon characters (cough Eragon) and bad speculative fiction that recreates Horatio Hornblower or other Napoleonic-era stories (cough David Weber). So I really thought there was no way … Continue reading

Posted in Africa, Popular Culture | 13 Comments

There Will Still Be Pizza

Over at the Comics Curmudgeon, they like to hate the comic strip Funky Winkerbean. I share their sentiments, mostly, and for the same reason, namely that the creator seems so unrelievedly grim in his sensibility since he initially aged the … Continue reading

Posted in Popular Culture | 1 Comment

Beyond Hackery

With some trepidation, I venture a few thoughts on the controversy over residence-hall programs at the University of Delaware. Trepidation because the kind of position I take on these issues is increasingly wearisome to hold given the polarization in online … Continue reading

Posted in Academia | 18 Comments