Overheard while Trick or Treating in Franklin

"It's like 1933 Berlin here in this town." This past Sunday while scaring the neighbors for candy, I ran into two Obama canvassers. Our city of Franklin, Wisconsin appears to be heavily in McCain's camp, and this was their response when I asked them how their work was going. Nazism seems to be all the rage as hyperbole supersedes actual issues and content. Some Republicans in Pa, are using this Nazi label.

A History of Food

Gourmands devour books like Michael Pollan’s, The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Anthony Bourdain’s, Kitchen Confidential. Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat’s, A History of Food, is the definitive guide of all things gastronomic. A History of Food is encyclopedic in nature, effortlessly written, and comprehensive in scope. The chapter on coffee presents an interesting connection between Armenians and Turkish people.

The Myth of Redemptive Violence

Does war bring peace? President Bush stated after 9-11 that America would, 'rid the world of evildoers,' which would bring safety to America. But will it? The Roman Empire had a saying 'Peace through victory.' I wonder if their mantra is now Americas? Can violence bring about peace? Walter Wink's provocative essay challenges the reader to reject the impulse to fight and instead urges a different path towards war and violence. Read it here and give me your thoughts...

Why do we blog?

Excellent article by The Atlantic writer, Andrew Sullivan. Maybe it has something to do with the glasses.

Overheard at an Evangelical mega-church

Displayed on its two jumbo-tron video screens… ‘You are loved.’ Upon seeing this, I turned to my wife and said, “Look, the video screen says, ‘I’m loved’.” Marshall McLuhan would be proud. In his seminal work, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, 1964 he posited the truth ‘The medium is the message.’ McLuhan wanted us to know that how we convey something is as important if not more important then the actual idea that we are intending to express. So after that worship service, the most personal of messages was just conveyed to us in the most impersonal of means.

Overheard at a McDonalds

‘Daddy’s buying the Big Mac so he can win a million bucks, then you don’t have to go to no school no more…’

My son the Poker teacher

Its true, the other night while we were camping out in the backyard, Jacob taught me Poker. Last year he received The Dangerous Book for Boys, which chronicles everything that a boy needs to know in life. Topics such as: how to make a kite, build a go-kart, descriptions of pirate flags, 20 important Latin phrases, and yes, how to play Poker. So there we sat, using Whoppers and Lemon Drops as our chips, and for the next hour and a half, we played Poker together.
This leads me to the question… ‘What have you learned from someone who’s significantly younger then you?’