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Jul 05
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Mr. McCain’s battle of Lexington is part of a struggle he is engaged in every day. A politician who has thrived in the give-and-take settings of campaign buses, late-night TV couches and town meetings, he now is trying to meet the more formal speaking demands of a general election campaign. By his own admission, Mr. McCain is not a great orator. He is ill-suited to lecterns, which often dwarf his small stature, and he tends to sound as if he is reading his lines, not speaking them. His shortcomings have been accentuated in a two-man race, particularly because the other man — Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee — can often dazzle on stage.
— A nicely brutal look at McCain’s rhetorical shortcomings, which not only offer a window into the guy’s heart and soul but help us see why he wouldn’t be a very good president.
Jul 04
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A stunning oceanside house in Chile, via the Dezeen architecture and design blog.
A stunning oceanside house in Chile, via the Dezeen architecture and design blog.
Jul 01
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When I set my mind to something, there’s no turning back, no slowing down, and no excuses. So when I heard about the upcoming 17th Annual Richland County Marathon, I started training immediately. For the last four months, I have been pushing myself to the brink of exhaustion to prepare my mind and body for the ultimate physical challenge: ruining a marathon. I’m going to ruin the whole thing. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Sure, everyone would like to ruin a marathon, but who among us has the discipline and energy to get up at the crack of dawn morning after morning, through rain, sleet, and snow, and practice handing out cups of vinegar to the frontrunners?
Jun 25
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Tech Wish 1

I wish that Windows would automatically close folders that had been open but untouched for, say, 30 minutes. Chances are very low that I’ll need such folders again, but extremely high that they’ll get in the way.
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Bad Day for Custer

On June 25, 1876, Lt. Col. George A. Custer and his 7th Cavalry were wiped out by Sioux and Cheyenne Indians in the Battle of Little Big Horn in Montana.
Jun 24
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Quantiative

No matter how hard I try, I cannot type “quantitative” correctly on my first attempt - and often, not on my second one, either.
Jun 22
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"Sally"

Shouldn’t “Sally” be short for another name?
Jun 16
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The word paparazzi was introduced by the 1960 film La dolce vita directed by Federico Fellini. One of the characters in the film is a news photographer named Paparazzo (played by Walter Santesso). In his book Word and Phrase Origins, author Robert Hendrickson writes that Fellini took the name from an Italian dialect word for a particularly noisy, buzzing mosquito. In his school days, Fellini remembered a boy who was nicknamed “Paparazzo” (Mosquito), because of his fast talking and constant movements, a name Fellini later applied to the fictional character in La dolce vita. This version of the word’s origin has been strongly contested.
— From the Wikipedia entry on Paparazzi
Jun 14
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Wabi-sabi represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience… The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete