I know I was supposed to be officially “on hiatus” today, but I had a few things I wanted to link and/or comment on before I go, and for some reason, Blogger wasn’t publishing last night when I wrote the posts dated yesterday. OK? OK.
Burying Christ
I’ve never been much for church-going, but I do immensely appreciate when a clergyman or pastor can find a new way — new, at least, to me — to illustrate something about the whole religious experience (usually Christian, but I’m open to anything, really).
Go check out the Gray Monk‘s text of a devotion he wrote a few years back, in which he speculates on what Joseph of Aramathea felt as he buried Christ.
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In praise of frozen pizza
I’ve pretty much always enjoyed frozen pizza, but it used to be that the frozen stuff was pretty obviously of inferior stature. I mean, we’re talking Chef Boyardee canned ravioli versus fresh ravioli cooked in quality sauce, in terms of quality comparison. A frozen pizza was a “good quick meal”, but it wasn’t really an alternative if one was really, truly in the mood for pizza, you know? (Unless, of course, it was late at night in college and we were at least buzzed on beer.)
But these days, frozen pizzas have become a lot more sophisticated and a lot closer to what you’d find at a pizza place. Sure, it’s still the equivalent of a run-of-the-mill pizza place, the kind of joint that is open until three in the morning in college towns and sells a large cheese-and-pepperoni for six bucks, but that’s still a huge advance in quality. You get crust that actually rises in the oven and doesn’t taste like crispy cardboard (even if it still does not have that bread-like taste or crunch of genuine oil-brushed fresh pizza dough). Cheese that actually melts, as opposed to simply “crisping” in that weird shredded state it was in to begin with.
The current crop of “higher end” frozen pizzas aren’t as good as the quality local places, or the better chains like Pizzeria Uno, but they’re getting pretty damned good these days. (Just make sure you follow the baking directions. Just sticking the thing in a preheated oven and taking it out before it burns really doesn’t work anymore; if you actually do what it says on the box, the product actually comes out pretty nicely.)
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Why I like blogs, Reason #4592
I like it when bloggers just toss off some tiny little factoid about their day that makes you that much more curious about them, as people. As in this post by Scott of The Gamer’s Nook.
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NBC’s conditioning program is working.
I’m writing a few blog entries tonight before I go on hiatus, and the TV is tuned to NBC. I’m only vaguely paying attention — there are a couple of guys in dark suits investigating a crime of some sort, so I assume it’s some episode of one of the Law and Order shows, since that’s just about all that NBC airs anymore.
Except I catch a couple mentions of aliens and conspiracies and whatnot.
It’s not a L&O show, it’s the movie Men In Black. Whoops.
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[click] GAHH! [click] GGAAHHHH!!!
This DPS post contains two links to highly disturbing items.
What amazes me most about Scalia is that he was confirmed by a 98-0 vote.
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2006: Taiwan’s year of dread?
Via MeFi I see this article which speculates on how China may go about the reconquest of Taiwan, as early as 2006 — that year being (a) when China’s military strength would surpass Taiwan’s defensive capabilities (I find the apparent fact that China couldn’t do so already surprising, but this is based on complete ignorance on my part) and (b) two years before the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. That latter point strikes me as being a bit odd; surely even two years after the fact, such a move on China’s part would still cast a significant political pall over their Games. (Would the American President, either Bush or Kerry, repeat President Carter’s move in 1980 and halt American participation in the Games? In fact, how would we respond? It seems to me we’d likely mobilize forces in the region, make a show of deep concern, but stop well short of going to war to protect Taiwan. But again, I’m very ignorant of the whole situation.)
Michelle, do you have any thoughts that you’d be willing to share?
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Ahhhhh, the Whacky Land o’ Lakes….
My former college room-mate and walking encyclopedia of Minnesota sports lore just sent me a rather disturbing link that has me rethinking my long wish to live in Minnesota (if I had to live anywhere other than Buffalo, of course). I think that I may have to change my destination to Wisconsin. At least if those folks tried something like that, they’d do it with something edible. Like, you know, cheese.
(UPDATE: Great Scott! The damn things are everywhere! The linkage, the terrible, horrifying, ghastly, disgusting linkage!)
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Now where did that blog go? It was just there a minute ago….
A week or so ago, I noticed a blog called The Book Stops Here in my Technorati link cosmos. Upon brief examination, I decided that it looked like an interesting blog, but I didn’t have time at that point to do any extensive reading, so I filed it away for future reference. Then it disappeared entirely, as blogs sometimes do…but now it’s back, and it still looks interesting. I can’t find any identifications as to who is behind The Book Stops Here, but I’m assuming for now that the blogger is female — especially after this post.
(And I have to say, I am both humbled and pleased as punch to see Byzantium’s Shores listed alongside such company as the blogs that populate her blogroll. I’m torn between high pride and something David Gerrold once wrote about critics, something about every ass wanting to stand with the King’s horses.)
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They’re called “Stones”, apparently….
….and this guy’s got ’em. Either that, or he’s a freaking loon. I guess he’ll find out tomorrow.