This news story cropped up today (“Should Employers Ban Facebook at Work?”) Why is this even a question? I already blogged on this subject four months ago, but I keep seeing it pop up as if it’s an item for debate. It’s not a debate, it’s a sickness. The economy doesn’t work if employees don’t[...]
(The following story was published on Oct. 29, 2003, in The Seminole Producer, of Seminole, Oklahoma. I am the author of this story. It is republished here with permission.) ALL 48Fliers Land in Seminole While Hitting Every Continental State By Wil C. FryCity Editor They circled the runway in the night, just a dot in[...]
Avatar is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. I still can’t decide if it beats The Blind Side for best movie of 2009, but they’re very different films. Little in Avatar is original. The very real-looking animation is fairly common now. The massive battle sequences have already been done in[...]
This year’s award for least-thought out product name goes to… the prescription drug AcipHex. Sure, it has many of the trendy components of a top-selling drug: (1) either an X or a Z in the name, (2) three easy syllables, (3) only soft consonants. So it might seem like a coup for the marketers who[...]
Title: The Island at the Center of the WorldAuthor: Russell ShortoSubject: original Dutch colony on ManhattanGenre: history / colonization / NetherlandsPublisher: Doubleday (Random House) At a wimpy 325 pages, this was the shortest book I’ve read in a while. My only complaint about the book is that it could have been much shorter. Quite a[...]
Apparently, “Edison Force” was so badly received by critics after its screening at the Toronto Film Festival that Sony Pictures canceled its theater-release, and it came out direct-to-video in 2006. Whatever those critics saw must have been edited out of the DVD I rented. The story was compelling, it mirrored real-life events across our nation,[...]
Directed by James McTeigue (who’s known for “V for Vendetta,” by far a better movie), “Ninja Assassin” won’t be on anybody’s Top 10 list, but it’s a good action movie, and a really good ninja movie. While some critics said of it, “It’s an overly violent, unintelligible bore” and “so lacking in personality or punch,”[...]
(The following story was published on Sept. 28, 2003, in The Seminole Producer, of Seminole, Oklahoma. I am the author of this story. It is republished here with permission.) Above it AllDoug Rundle Finds Freedom in the Skies Above Seminole By Wil C. FryCity Editor Doug Rundle’s eyes glance frequently up at the skies. It’s[...]
The Blind Side combined several elements that usually don’t work for me, and ended up being my favorite film of the year (so far). First of all, Sandra Bullock is one of my least favorite actresses. I almost never enjoy her movies. In this film, her acting is superb, heartfelt, and Oscar-caliber. John Lee Hancock,[...]
Title: The SwarmAuthor: Frank Schatzing(Translated by Sally-Ann Spencer)Subject: The ocean fights back against humanityGenre: Fiction / Science Fiction / HorrorPublisher: ReganBooks (Harper Collins) This was another really long book (880 pages), but it was a very fun read. In theme, plot, and style, it reminds me of “alien invasion” stories, or a really complex natural[...]
Seen from a historical perspective, the ongoing flap over Eric Snowden’s “whistleblowing” (Google News search) probably won’t be that big of a deal. It just seems big right now, since media organizations all over the world just got a rush of juicy information and they’re passing it along to you faster than they can think[...]
Following are some passages I underlined during a reading of Time Enough For Love (1973) by Robert A. Heinlein. Most of these are from the character Lazarus Long (a.k.a. Woodrow Wilson Smith, Aaron Sheffield, Ted Bronson, Lafe Hubert, etc.), oldest member of the human race. “…humans hardly ever learn from the experience of others. They[...]
In The News: On DNA, Supreme Court goes too far (LA Times editorial) In The News: In split with state policy, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz sees “Big Brother” in Supreme Court DNA ruling (Dallas News) Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that it’s okay for law enforcement to take DNA samples from arrested suspects and[...]
I think I first became aware of the phrase “wrong side of history” when I heard Rachel Maddow use it, saying to a guest: “Are you aware you’re on the wrong side of history?” I mean that exact phrase. Of course, I’ve been aware since childhood that Churchill said “History is written by the victors”,[...]
I never would have known that The Home Depot supports gay rights without the uber-conservative American Family Association’s daily radio program. AFA owns and operates nearly 200 radio stations across the country (according to its website). One of their programs plays on a local station here; I sometimes listen to it as an exercise in[...]
When I was a teenager, a self-styled “radical Christian”, waves of recorded Christian entertainment were pouring out of Tennessee — most of the recording companies — like Word Records, Sparrow, Reunion, and Myrrh — were based in Tennessee. That last one, Myrrh, was the one that launched the career of Christian comedian Mike Warnke.
Flickr’s marketing department is taking care of publicizing what’s been added to the site, and how the design has changed. They’re real proud of it. So far, I haven’t seen anyone documenting what’s been taken away from Flickr users. I’ve made a page just for that, here. I’ll be updating it as I learn more.
Title: The Raven, A Biography of Sam Houston Author: Marquis James Year: 1929 Publisher: University of Texas Press, Austin ISBN 0-292-77040-5 View it on Amazon View it on Google Books Sam Houston on Wikipedia This book was awarded the 1930 Pulitzer Prize for “Biography or Autobiography” (James is one of the very few people who’ve[...]
Flickr holds a special place in my heart, at least compared to other internet sites. I’ve spent more time on Flickr than most people have spent on Facebook or Twitter — daily participation since I joined in Sept. 2005. Not only have I uploaded over 30,000 images to my photostream (most of them now non-public),[...]
“I thought the left loved freedom of the press and open government. I guess that’s only when ‘The Man’ is someone else.” That’s what one commenter said on a news story about the federal government hoping to charge a journalist for publishing news. It’s an astute observation about the way our two-party political system works:[...]
Not logged in