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<\/a><\/p>\nSorry to go AWOL this past week. \u00a0I\u2019ve been upstate at Lake Champlain with my family as part of my father\u2019s 75th birthday celebration, and my internet access was limited to a half hour a day. \u00a0So, of course, when I arrived home Thursday night, I found over 1000 items in my Google Reader feed. \u00a0I\u2019m nearly done working my way through the list, so I\u2019m letting you tag along on the whirlwind tour of Things that Leah Found Interesting Enough to Take Note of, in Contrast to the 1000 Items She Only Skimmed.<\/p>\n
Normal blogging resumes Sunday with a post that draws on my beach reading: The Closing of the American Mind<\/em><\/a>\u00a0by Allan Bloom<\/p>\n I\u2019m back to college next week, and I was quite entertained to see Beloit\u2019s annual mindset list<\/a> for the class of 2014 (h\/t First Thoughts<\/a>). \u00a0Here are a few of my favorites:<\/p>\n 1. Few in the class know how to write in cursive. A real humdinger of a idea from Google CEO Eric Schmidt in a conversation with the Wall Street Journal (via The Atlantic<\/a>)<\/p>\n [Schmidt] predicts, apparently seriously, that every young person one day will be entitled automatically to change his or her name on reaching adulthood in order to disown youthful hijinks stored on their friends\u2019 social media sites.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Clinton and his generation had to normalize marijuana to get elected, so I\u00a0often wonder what will happen when my generation reaches an age to run for public office. \u00a0Schmidt\u2019s idea may come too late. \u00a0And yes, I\u2019m well aware that this blog (and others) disqualify me, but as an atheist, I was already well out of the running<\/a>.<\/p>\n Another take on our very public online lives in Joseph Bottum\u2019s On the Square article<\/a> at First Things.<\/p>\n A Calvin and Hobbes search engine<\/a> exists! \u00a0Scientific progress goes \u2018Boink!\u201d<\/p>\n (I will understand if you don\u2019t make it back to this page after clicking the link)<\/p>\n Ebonmuse of Daylight Atheism has an interesting post<\/a> charting the life of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, a guru with thousands of followers and the alleged instigator of the only other bioterrorism attack within the United States besides the 2001 anthrax attack. \u00a0A sobering reminder of the danger of a religious demagogue.<\/p>\n Luke of Common Sense Atheism has another off-beat rebuttal to a common theistic argument in \u201cThe Superdog Explanation<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019m nearly ashamed to link to this one, since to do so, I must reveal my deep and abiding fandom for the sewing show Project Runway<\/em>, but the two<\/a> part<\/a> commentary that Tom and Lorenzo of fan site Project Rungay have up on the \u2018national costumes\u2019 portion of the Miss Universe pageant is not to be missed. I can\u2019t possibly introduce it better than they did.<\/p>\n Darlings, a bunch of biological females got together in Vegas this week for the world\u2019s foremost drag event, the Miss Universe Pageant\u2026 [T]here is nothing more cracktastic than the national costumes portion of the Miss Universe Pageant. It makes competitive figure skating costumes look understated and minimalist.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Finally, I do occasionally use offline link aggregators. \u00a0The two primary ones are usually known as Mom and Dad. \u00a0Enjoy this wonderful clip of Kevin Kline on the Colbert Report<\/em>\u00a0featuring an enunciation showdown and competive Shakespeare (\u201cI challenge you to act Shakespeare without your crutch of words! \u00a0Shakespeare with only your face<\/em>! \u00a0And a grunt.)<\/p>\n
\n2. Email is just too slow, and they seldom if ever use snail mail.
\n4. Al Gore has always been animated.
\n12. Clint Eastwood is better known as a sensitive director than as Dirty Harry.
\n67. Ruth Bader Ginsburg has always sat on the Supreme Court.
\n71. The nation has never approved of the job Congress is doing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n
\n The Colbert Report<\/a><\/td>\n Mon \u2013 Thurs 11:30pm \/ 10:30c<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Kevin Kline<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n www.colbertnation.com<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n