The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach

Month: January 2007

  • Testing stats

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    mongreldogs
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    Today I found a plugin called Lightstats that compiles some WordPress statistics.

  • Health of the Republic down, 1% to 29%

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    mongreldogs
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    The Health of the Republic bar has shifted downward another percentage point. This follows the promulgation of a presidential decree that gives the White House a greater say over the issuance of policy guidelines by agencies. Previously most such documents were crafted by civil servants but now, they must pass through a politically-appointed gatekeeper (a…

  • Review: World War Z

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    mongreldogs
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    World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks InstaRating: 5 out of 5 After the debacle that was The Stonehenge Gate, I was looking for something good to read, to wash the taste of failed prose from my mouth. Happily I picked up this piece of psuedo-history. Written by the…

  • Review: The Stonehenge Gate

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    mongreldogs
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    The Stonehenge Gate a novel by Jack Williamson InstaRating: 1 out of 5 … maybe less During those moments when I delude myself that I’m a writer, I pursue an odd oscillation in my reading. I like to read great works of fiction, to have something towards which to aspire. But I like to leaven…

  • from 2003: Synchronicity, in memoriam Robert Hauter Myslik

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    mongreldogs
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    [edited 2007 0130 to correct Rob’s middle name, which was Hauter and not Hunter.] This piece dates from around 2003 February 10. I wrote it about three weeks after the death of a legendary colleague and true friend, Rob Myslik. Rob taught at Hun for nine years, including two while I was there, and then…

  • The true America-haters

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    mongreldogs
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    I’ve been meaning to write this for a long time, but it turns out that Cenk Uygur got there first and said it well: The people in power, who wrap themselves in the flag, don’t really love America. They don’t even understand America — and so, not understanding it, they hate it. They hate it…

  • Review: Oryx and Crake

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    mongreldogs
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    Oryx and Crake (a novel) by Margaret Atwood InstaRating: 4 out of 5 In brief: Snowman is the last (traditional) human alive in a world curiously empty. He bears the secret of what happened to civilization and slowly reveals it to himself as he watches over the successor species: humans carefully designed to thrive in…

  • Where’s Our Rosie?

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    mongreldogs
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    For no particular good reason, I was trawling on the Net about Rosie the Riveter, an icon from World War II. If you don’t know about Rosie, you really should check out the Wikipedia article. Another good page on Rosie can be found at the eponymous website. I’ve always liked Rosie because she represented not…

  • Cross-comment: Does the Left “Hate” America?

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    mongreldogs
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    Through the Daou Report, I wandered (against my better judgment) over to Dr. Sanity to read the post “Go Wide Mr. President“. Then I read the comments and I was shocked to see something I actually agreed with, posted by someone named GnuCarSmell replying to someone named Garry: You have it exactly right. It is…

  • Health of the Republic down 3.3%, to 30%

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    mongreldogs
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    After hearing that the President of the United States has asserted his untrammeled power to read even physical mail, without warrant or other legal constraint, I have decided to move the Health of the Republic bar to 30%. It’s only a 3% shift because in the end this is only slightly more outrageous than the…