by Ethan Johnson
July 6, 2008

The New York Times went two-for-two this weekend with stories about high US gas prices and what is being done now to cope with them, and what could have been done to minimize their impact. Fair warning: NYT online articles tend to require free registration.

by Ethan Johnson
June 17, 2008

Whenever I would subject myself to a friendly game of chess with my father, I knew I was in deep trouble when, after a long, stonefaced silence, he would exhale and murmur, "okay, I'll be a sucker." Checkmate was sure to follow in short order.

by Ethan Johnson
June 16, 2008

The facts are these: The Dallas Morning News is a conservative newspaper. The op-ed section features a conservative columnist. I am not a conservative. But I check out the Sunday "Points" section whenever possible, as the DaMN does a pretty good job of taking a snapshot of the political mood locally/nationally, despite the unabashed rightward slant. I will note here that I'm not one of those people who requires layers of virtual bubble wrap to isolate me from differing opinions, unlike some on the left or right who hyperventilate at the first sign of a link to the National Review Online or the Huffington Post. But I freely admit that the political right wing is too far to the right for much hope of me finding much to agree with. Which made this most recent edition so shocking: I agreed with Rod Dreher!

by Ethan Johnson
May 31, 2008

Headline of a recent Christian Science Monitor story:

Europe balks at $8 a gallon gas

They might be balking at high gas prices, but what might be worse is the sin of omission committed by the Monitor.

by Ethan Johnson
May 23, 2008

Pop quiz. What's this?

by Ethan Johnson
April 9, 2008

Back in the days when I had ready access to WSCR AM (Chicago), someone was about to ask Norm Van Lear (former Bulls player) about college basketball, and then stopped short, assuming that he'd only want to discuss pro teams. "Basketball's basketball," he replied, and the conversation resumed.

by Ethan Johnson
December 24, 2007

Every so often, I'll click a link at random, and wonder why I don't engage in random link-clicking more often. Case in point: Below the Eight. Read the blog to learn the story behind the name. Anyway, the author wrote out a list of things that she doesn't "get", and pretty much nailed something that has nagged at me here and there, as one of the unwashed masses:

by Ethan Johnson
November 17, 2007

Don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines. - Satchel Paige

While I was on my sojourn to Chicagoland, I heard a news report about Georgia's drought problems, which famously culminated in Governor Sonny Perdue hosting a prayer breakfast to pray for rain. One couple interviewed for the piece affirmed that they in fact brought umbrellas and rain gear to the event because they were convinced that the sheer power of prayer (their prayers, to be specific) would compel the skies to darken and years of drought to be erased in an afternoon. Putting the prayer thing aside for a moment, I think these folks need a crash lesson (on paper) as to why that might be as problematic - or worse - as the drought.