b.rox

Here’s the full-on Crown Royal costume in all its glory. I drilled two tiny holes through a Crown Royal cap to make her crown. Two leg-holes in the classic Crown Royal bag (1.75 liter) and voila — instant costume. I feel I should clarify that Crown Royal is no particular favorite of mine. I mean [...]

Why do I hate Hallowe’en? It’s because of the Electronic Light-up Scary Yo-yo from Gealex Toys. It’s because of the Ma & Pa Bones Permaplastic Glow-in-the-Dark Skeletons. It’s because of the Sound-Activated Pumpkin Novelty from Hallmark: “It Lights Up — It Laughs!” It’s because of the Spooky Vampire: “Light-sensor activated! Lifelike animation! Talks in a [...]

I’ve articulated some of my thoughts on the election, yet I see I have left some important stuff out. For one thing, although I’ve been mildly disgusted by this presidential campaign, I’m actually less disgusted by the two major candidates than in any race I can remember. Some friends have expressed dismay that they can [...]

Alex, Just wanted to let you know what’s up with this old Mac. I’ve ended up taking it in to work in order to get my old data off of it. The good news is that it’s working. I’ve even scored an old ADB keyboard and mouse from a co-worker. Turns out they’re a little [...]

This morning the car wouldn’t start again. Only three weeks since the last time. Cocking the wheel didn’t help. Nothing helped. I waited about five or ten minutes, and it started right up. I don’t think this is related to the colder weather, because when it didn’t start on the 9th the low was only [...]

It was cooler today, with a bit of a nip in the air, the first hint of cold weather since spring. I object to this turn of affairs. I don’t know if it’s my body or my mind that takes greater umbrage. But I can feel myself clench up, mentally and physically. I was a [...]

They had a Halloween party at our daycare. Besides seeing all the kids in their costumes, one of the highlights was a ride around the block in the six-seater buggy. That’s our girl up front wearing the Crown Royal bag. I hope to complete her costume with a little crown by the time Halloween actually [...]

Here’s Persephone hanging out with the 6th grade boys from the Eisenhower Elementary Royal Homecoming Court. She might look vaguely alarmed, but don’t worry — she had a great time at the dance. There’s a few more pictures in this here Flickr set.

Last Friday I noticed a new sculpture in the quad. Then I saw another, not too far away. What’s going on here? Could it be a part of Prospect.1? On November 1, 2008, Prospect.1 New Orleans [P.1], the largest biennial of international contemporary art ever organized in the United States, will open to the public [...]

A friend recently commented on how our country is politically polarized. Yes, I feel that — but I also feel that many of us are apathetic and alienated from the political process. How could these both be true? It seems contradictory, paradoxical. Perhaps the answer, or part of it, has to do with our narrowly [...]

Male Employee: I sure do like a short woman. Xy: Well, my husband is 6’4″. That cooled his jets for a bit. But then he came back with: If you ever get divorced, let me know.

What a month it’s been. You came down with your first bug a few weeks ago; you’ve still got a cough and a runny nose, but the doctor says that’s not unusual. You’ve got four teeth now, with a fifth one coming in, and they are sharp. This morning you were nursing at your mother’s [...]

I was talking to Howie and he shared this passage with me: Education is now prized not because the culture values truth and wisdom, or views scholarship as a lifetime vocation, but because it is the means to economic success. So the study of science, engineering, and business takes precedence over theology, philosophy, literature, and [...]

The neighbor kids are always knocking on our door. The reasons seem to come and go in waves. Most recently my wrench has been enjoying a great popularity. Hassan in particular will come over and borrow the wrench several times a day, as he fiddles with his bike. Hassan usually asks for the pliers, but [...]

I was recently contacted by the good folks at Open Sound New Orleans. This is a website where people can post audio clips to a map of the city. They loaned me a sweet little audio recording device called the Samson Zoom H2 and told me to go crazy with it. So over the past [...]

“All two-valued systems are false.” — Gene Wolfe Consider the left-right continuum of political thought. It often strikes me as tired and played-out. Yet at other times it seems quite relevant. It certainly is one-dimensional, by definition, and thus it can’t begin to reflect the rich variation and nuances of political philosophy. For example, Nazis [...]

Since I didn’t get to sound off on these issues on the radio, maybe I’ll just give vent here. I watched all four of the so-called debates. Mostly they were pretty boring. I thought the last one was the most interesting, but all in all they were disappointing. The debates frustrate me. Once upon a [...]

WWL 870-AM is broadcasting from our campus today. The office of University Media Relations asked me to sit in for a while, so I did. I thought we’d be talking about the debate last night and the presidential race in general. I had some incisive remarks at the ready, about how the debates make a [...]

This Beetle Bailey strip ran a couple weeks ago and caught my eye for a couple reasons. 1) Beetle and Plato appear to be under fire. This strip never depicts war situations. The characters are in perpetual training, and never actually ship off to real combat. Presumably this is another drill at Camp Swampy — [...]

I’ve been researching social network sites for a presentation I’m making at the end of the month. There’s quite a few of them out there. As part of my research I’ve been signing up for all the major ones and exploring them a bit. I already had accounts on Facebook, MySpace, Plaxo, Friendster, Orkut and [...]