Category Archives: Miscellany

Another Way for Mr. Lincoln

Posted on October 30, 2008 by Timothy Burke

The old mantra on the American right used to be that “conservatives have ideas”. I think even when that might have been said by conservatives with some degree of authentic confidence, it wasn’t always a statement about ideas, it was … Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellany, Politics | 2 Comments

Artist Bleg

Posted on October 6, 2008 by Timothy Burke

I’m looking for an example of a well-known visual artist who did a lot of black-and-white drawings with charcoal, pastels, or pencil-and-ink whose work was heavily tonal rather than involving a lot of line. This is for the life drawing … Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellany | 5 Comments

On the Rebound

Posted on August 21, 2008 by Timothy Burke

I’ve been quickly re-skimming Doris Lessing’s African Laughter, her musings on a number of trips to Zimbabwe after 1980. In 1988, reflecting on a friend’s growing disillusionment with official corruption, Lessing writes, “To be in love with a country or … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Miscellany, Politics | 9 Comments

The Garden of Earthly Delights

Posted on June 2, 2008 by Timothy Burke

June’s arrived, which usually means that I’ve accomplished about as much as I can hope to with my garden for the year, except maintenance and any non-planting work I want to do. When we moved in to our current home, … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic Life, Miscellany | 14 Comments

Gustatus Similus Pullus

Posted on April 1, 2008 by Timothy Burke

You never know if you’re getting punk’d by a story on April Fool’s Day, but assuming this story about secret military units and their patches is on the level, there’s some interesting metacultural content to many of the patches. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellany | 5 Comments

One-A-Day: David Weinberger, Everything is Miscellaneous

Posted on January 31, 2008 by Timothy Burke

Cory Doctorow makes a lot of sales to me through his recommendations on Boing Boing. He tends to have an eye for things that I at least think I’m interested in. Sometimes, though, I feel a bit let down, feeling … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Miscellany, The Mixed-Up Bookshelves | 6 Comments

“A Blog Post”

Posted on October 31, 2007 by Timothy Burke

Margaret Soltan has a nice post on the overuse of quotation marks, including a pointer to a website dedicated to stomping out this phenomenon. I wouldn’t want to throw out the baby with the bathwater, though. When I think about … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Miscellany | 6 Comments

Institutional Cultures and External Missions

Posted on August 1, 2007 by Timothy Burke

I’m generally not drawn to arguments about the discrepancy between a politician’s personal behavior and their public political positions, unless those political positions are already directed at personal or private behavior. If you’re a conservative politician who wants to legislate … Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellany, Politics | 4 Comments

Laugher Curve

Posted on July 14, 2007 by Timothy Burke

Brad de Long and Kieran Healy are discussing a plot representing something about corporate taxes that’s in the Wall Street Journal. Brad even draws what he thinks is a better plot. I’ve made an even better one, and I’m not … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Miscellany | 7 Comments

Misery Poker: At Least a Full Boat, Maybe Quads

Posted on April 19, 2007 by Timothy Burke

April really is the cruellest month in the academic calendar, but this year, I am pretty much at the outer limits of my ability to cope with the flood of things that need doing. Some of those are self-made catastrophes … Continue reading →