Just a Guy Who Reads the Papers » Cultural News

Cain campaign might want to try ‘Blank Stare’ approach

Just a Guy — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:08:57 +0000

Herman Cain’s handlers in his bid for the GOP presidential nomination should look at today’s comic strips and consider “The Blank Stair Campaign.” The idea came to me today after my wife and I were reading a book about William McKinley’s 1896 “Front Porch Campaign.”

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Cain campaign might want to try ‘Blank Stare’ approach

Revisiting Christmas past — Is there really a ‘war’ on Christmas?

Just a Guy — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 19:23:47 +0000

It’s time for me to revisit “Christmas Past,” to borrow or misuse a phrase from Charles Dickens, and update some comments I made about the Christmas holiday season.

When I wrote that original post, I was trying to point out some of the absurdities overly zealous Christians were making about the simple choice of wishing people “Happy Holiday(s)” instead of “Merry Christmas.” I pointed out (go ahead, click and read the original post; I’ll wait for you to come back here) that the original meaning and nature of the word “holiday” came from “holy day” and could be a perfectly harmless, legitimate greeting along with “Merry Christmas.” I also pointed out that our Puritan “founding fathers,” so often pseudo-worshipped by many fundamentalist Christians and conservatives these days, actually had some pretty severe anti-Christmas laws.

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Revisiting Christmas past — Is there really a ‘war’ on Christmas?

Be mindful of Internet credibility gaps and traps

Just a Guy — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:47:52 +0000

When you’re browsing to and fro throughout the Internet, you should always be mindful of some real “credibility gaps” inherent in what you find. Not everything on the Internet is actually true — some of it (to swipe Stephen Colbert’s term) isn’t even very “truthy.”

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Be mindful of Internet credibility gaps and traps

TV show prompts me to look more critcally at self-help industry

Just a Guy — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 20:56:09 +0000

Given the fact that the so-called “self-help industry,” or “self-help movement” is a multibillion dollar industry, I wonder that I’ve lived so many years without paying it much attention.

I saw a television special on ABC a few days ago — “Mind Games” I think it was — which recounted the horrific death of some people devoted to one of the contemporary “self-help” gurus in a sweat lodge gone wrong a couple of years ago.

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TV show prompts me to look more critcally at self-help industry

Fitness may be overrated as predictor of long life

Just a Guy — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:38:57 +0000

I know this may sound like something I’m writing to excuse my own laziness and poor health habits, but I’m serious (at least sort of serious) about this: Fitness may be somewhat overrated as a predictor of whether you’ll live a long life.

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Fitness may be overrated as predictor of long life

Heat spell makes me fantasize about travel plans from long ago

Just a Guy — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:46:59 +0000

I’m sitting in the middle of a nasty stretch of hot, humid summer here in the Missouri Ozarks wishing I were someplace cooler. This early summer heat spell, I confess, is turning my fantasies back to some plans I had years ago. Actually, I’m on a “dual track” fantasy here, neither of which is likely to come true, but both of which look good today.

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Heat spell makes me fantasize about travel plans from long ago

The good, the bad, the ugly concerning snail mail’s demise

Just a Guy — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:21:29 +0000

Each day as I work from my home office, it has always been a nice break to get outside and check to see what’s in the daily “snail mail,” usually brought by our faithful mail carrier around 2 p.m.

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The good, the bad, the ugly concerning snail mail’s demise

I’m not ‘gadget-phobic,’ but I do have strong feelings about some

Just a Guy — Wed, 26 May 2010 17:26:27 +0000

I’ve never considered my self anti-technology, nor in anyway opposed to high-tech progress. Indeed, I absolutely love to fiddle with new computers, smartphones, LCD/LED televisions, all the rest. (If I were a smoker, I’d probably even try some of those electric cigarettes to help me kick the habit.)

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I’m not ‘gadget-phobic,’ but I do have strong feelings about some

To some degree, ‘news’ is mostly in how you package it

Just a Guy — Wed, 26 May 2010 02:42:18 +0000

There’s no getting around it, whether you’re talking about “hard” news, “soft” news, secret weapons technology, prototype 37c reviews, or the latest, greatest laundry detergents — people love intrigue and an air of mystery.

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To some degree, ‘news’ is mostly in how you package it

Millions of lawyers, yet not many are astronomers, too

Just a Guy — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 01:47:28 +0000

You have to wonder, given the millions of lawyers in the civilized world (maybe millions just in the U.S.?), how many of them are recognized not only for their legal work — but for their accomplishments in astronomy, too?

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Millions of lawyers, yet not many are astronomers, too