Westboro Vs. KKK

Protesting members of the controversial Westboro Baptist Church were met with an unlikely group of counter-protesters Monday at Arlington Cemetery.

Hours before President Barack Obama led the nation's Memorial Day observances at the Tomb of the Unknowns, three members of the Westboro Baptist Church were challenged by others who disagreed with them -- including members claiming to be from the Ku Klux Klan.

More here.

Selling Your Own Books

I have a colleague who is the editor of a fairly widely-used textbook which was recently published in a new edition.

I'm almost positive that on Friday I watched this colleague sell a stack of the new edition textbooks to one of those freelancing textbooks buyers.

We've discussed the issue of selling gratis textbooks before. I wonder whether selling the textbooks that one has edited is different?

The Philosophical Animal

Forget Minerva's owl and Plato's dogs...

Here is the truly philosphical animal: The honey badger.

Conaway Posse

Jeff Conaway has a posse.

Celebrity ghoul Dr. Drew wins another one.

Here.

Doom

Here.

From the Reviews:

"I thoughtthe books was good, but I have read beter."

Too Bad The World Didn't End

"The Stone" is back, and today's announcement gives every reason to expect it to be as incompetently managed and useless as ever.

Would someone please send out a Call for Proposals for a "pop culture and philosophy" volume on The Stone and Philosophy?

"Positive Observations," My Ass

From a recent NDPR entry which reads like a full-on trashing of the book under review:

Despite the many critical remarks I have made, I would like to conclude with some positive observations. May has written a book that can be very useful in bringing Aristotle's ethics to the attention of psychologists or other academics. [...] Although the book could profit from a more rigorous treatment of Aristotle's philosophy, May deserves a lot of credit for attempting to defend Aristotle as a good psychologist who can still offer us much insight and advice.

I see... it's a "positive observation" that a book written by a philosopher about Aristotle is not of use to philosophers, but could be of use to those in another disciplines insofar as it brings Aristotle-- and not the author's views about Aristotle!-- to their attention. And, further, the book's author deserves credit for her attempt (apparently failed!) to defend Aristotle as a "good psychologist."

Why even bother prefacing these comments with the claim that they're meant to be "positive observations"? This isn't damning with faint praise. It's damning with further condemnation thinly disguised as praise.

News Flash!

News Flash:

The World Didn't end. No Rapture. No bodies rising from graves.

I can't be sure, but I think the fact that I desecrated a Bible in a hotel room last night might have saved the world.

Early Apocalypse... Posse

Macho Man Randy Savage has a posse. Good.


Here.

Sign of the Apocalypse?

I had cause to take a walk this morning, and I found on a sidewalk along my way a beat up CD, probably thrown out the window of a moving car. It was The Sisters of Mercy, Floodland.

That someone waited until now to throw away that CD is surely a sign of DOOM. At the very least, it is a sign that the world should end.

Instrumental

I have received reports, which I have now confirmed, that the new Social Distortion album begins with an instrumental.

Are you fucking kidding me? Apart from Stiff Little Fingers, has any punk band managed to produce an instrumental that's not bloody terrible?

Speaking of terrible....

Juggalo News

Cops say an Oklahoma man wasn't clowning around when he hit a pedestrian then fled the scene.

Police believe Andrew Davis, who wore clownish black and white facepaint in his mugshot, struck a man with his car in Bartsville and dragged him for nearly 100 feet Tuesday night [...]

The unidentified victim sustained several abrasions and was thrown into a yard, police said. Davis was arrested for leaving the scene of an accident a short distance from the scene.

The 20-year-old also faces assault charges.

Davis told police that the man who was hit had actually punched him earlier in the evening.

Witnesses told police Davis and his passenger, who has also not been identified, were arguing when the accident took place.

Davis is thought to be a "Juggalo," a term used to describe fans of the hip-hop group, Insane Clown Posse.

He is being held on a $25,000 bond.

More about this important item of Juggalo News here.

Generation X: Nostalgia or Genius?

Someone recently sent me a CD copy of Generation X's first album, which I have not heard in at least 20 years. And, I confess, it sounds awesome to me. What a great album. Or have I simply succumbed in my old age to pathetic nostalgia?

Anyone care to share thoughts on the new Social Distortion album? the song on the radio sounded more rock than punk rock, but I met Mike Ness at a GBH show back in the day, and he seemed like a cool dude, so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.

Unanticipated Hiatus

A few people have written regarding the shortage of posts of late. All I can say is that I found myself unexpectedly busy with other stuff, and so had to let the blog sit for a week or two.

I think things are back in order now, so I'll get back to posting regularly. But, no, I will not be commenting on this (apologies to 729 and others).

Someone recently asked me why the APA doesn't hold one of its conferences in the summer.