Don't mess with Oakland: I told B I was going to wear my A's cap in Austin at SXSW because it's sunny there and I'd need an eyeshade and she thought that maybe Texans would be offended but I said that was silly. We can all represent our home towns without giving offense, right? Anyway,... ()

Can't anybody here play this game?: First they laughed Fleischer out of the room, then this petty payback against Helen Thomas, and now the stilted, scripted case-for-war, sorta, press conference is under scrutiny, according to this Kuro5hin thread, Ari Fleischer admits Bush called from a prepared list of reporters thread.Insert "bush league" crack here.... (Miscellany)

Preserve us from red herrings!: Yet another gee whiz piece about blogging, this one predictably following up on the Google purchase of Pyra. Of course people are trying to commercialize blogging, which has mostly boostrapped itself from the grassroots thus far (mostly). There's nothing wrong with that. But this article is breathless, it smacks of the... (Weblog Concepts)

Numerology on the cheap: I really enjoyed this Pushing the Biscuit piece by our local Preacher-with-a-heart-of-gold. Also, what great readers he's cultivated! What blogger wouldn't envy his community? Must be a lesson in there somewhere. I notice as I paste the URL for the cited article (http://blogs.salon.com/0001772/2003/03/06.html#a66) into various places that it was article 66... (Salon Bloggers)

Suddenly, I'm very busy: My dance card is full now at least through May, and I'd like to spend a week or so in Greece in May or June this year, and with this flood of steady, varied, remunerative work I suddenly find myself more productive in other areas as well. I'm applying what I've... (Miscellany)

Vive La France: A Chronicle article from January 24 circulating among my environmentalist brethren and sistren (Taking on 'Rational Man') discusses the politics of academic economics, and the animosity between neoclassical economists and dissidents. While professors in the U.S. are being marginalized in subsidiary theoretical programs, French grad students have taken the lead in... (Salon Bloggers)

Shorter Chomsky Thrash: Dismayed at D-squared's removal of his Shorten Den Beste post that finally provoked a response from the man's reader-fans, The Poor Man offered a series of amusing Shorters, nailing himself in the process. The Chomsky one ("Shorter Noam Chomsky: Whatever someone said recently is pretty rich, considering East Timor"), which I... (Politics)