The Cranky Professor

And there are people who want the State to run health care...

Liquorless in Seattle. Really, go read this: the state of Washington operates with a single state distribution center for liquor. And their new system doesn't work. Liquor stores, bars, restaurants...no one has a full stock.

Leviathan is not your friend.

I'm blond, I like Helvetica.

Helvetica
Originally uploaded by Michael Tinkler.

An advertisement for a student art show...one that I think I'd enjoy.

For Elaine and Bruce.

On the impermanence of the Internet

Jack Lail on disappearing newspapers. I got a friendly email the other day about a broken link on a page I have up for my students - it happens allthe time.

via Prof. Reynolds.

blogged from my iPhone. Somebody please tell me there's a mobile version of MT!!

Don't worry, the economy is practically improving!

Best misleadingly optimistic headline I've seen (via news.google.com) lately:

Euro-zone June manufacturing PMI hits 9-month high MarketWatch - ‎39 minutes ago‎ LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Activity in the 16-nation euro zone's manufacturing sector continued to fall in June, but contracted at the slowest pace in nine months, according to the Markit manufacturing purchasing managers index released Wednesday.

I'm sorry, but one only hits a high when one is rising, not falling.

May in Chattanooga

Coral Bells
Originally uploaded by Michael Tinkler.

I have been flickr averse lately for some reason - I still have piles of things to post from Europe (all of Torino, Dusseldorf and Essen). Things have gotten out of order -- but this is one of the better photographs I've taken lately: coral bells in my parents' backyard, early May.

Celebrity deaths in threes

Michael Jackson, Farah Fawcett, and now Billy Mays? I guess the rest of them can sleep peacefully for a few weeks.

La la la - on the road

Airport blogging by Rochester Free WiFi.... You know, I should have told everyone sorry in May and extended my stay, but for remarkably little more than that would have cost me I'm on my way back to Germany for a visit. Spur of the moment, but it will be fun!

How - Biblical.

Eli Raz was peering into a narrow hole in the Dead Sea shore when the earth opened up and swallowed him.

I avoid Dead Seas. They sound like places where the wrath of God would cause the earth to swallow you up.

Hmm - what're the Classical topoi for the exposure of babies?

I read an interesting catalog from an exhibition about the depiction of children and childhood in ancient Greek art a couple of years ago - Coming of Age in Ancient Greece, but I am not remembering if there was anything much about the exposure of unwanted infants. Somehow I always think of this as a male response - but read this article about women and men responding babies with facial abnormalities. Hmm.

Using Google Earth for archaeology

This is neat - looking for crop circles with Google Earth. I knew that people were doing this, but follow the link to see pictures!

via (well, after following some links) Brian Tiemann

The unintended consequences of giving art back to those from whom the Nazis stole it.

In 2006 the relatives of Dutch-Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker used the proceeds from the sales both privately and at auction of restituted art to pay off the millions of dollars worth of legal fees and expenses that had accumulated over the nine years it took to finalize their agreement with the Dutch government. As of April 2008, they had already sold two-thirds of the 200 Old Master paintings they reclaimed. Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that the same number of paintings that hung in museums around the Netherlands prior to their restitution are still hanging in museums or public spaces today.

The families recovering the art are turning around and selling it. Of course, they are entirely within their rights. After all, just because these paintings have been hanging in public collections for 60 years or so doesn't been they belong to the public.

Shipment Tracking?

I've commented before on the two-edged sword we have in shipment tracking. Worse, though, is when you get an email at 3 p.m. announcing that your new computer is on campus (two days earlier than expected!) but that you can't pick it up until the invoices are all complete and assembled!! Argh!

We put the 'NO' in Innovation!

As a conservative do I have to start eating breakfast cereal?

Perhaps!

David Bowie makes even MORE money off my generation than he has already.

Lincoln MKZ. Talk about target marketing. Here's a picture of the car.
Here's the video with music. Tell me, people over 35, that this doesn't say "buy me! buy me!"

Maybe there's SOME hope for the American car industry after all.

Here's the whole cover version.

NOT a good summer for aviation

Pilot dies mid-flight; plane lands safely in NJ