This year’s was the fourth annual. We went to either the inaugural or the second annual, I don’t recall which. It has grown significantly. There were many vendors. My gratuitous purchase was a halberd head. I’ve just become the Sergeant At Arms for my Toastmaster’s club. “Arms” seems a requirement for the job, but aContinue reading “Black Hills Renaissance Festival”
Author Archives: Mark
Breaking News – from 1985
Campus Reform just published ANALYSIS: Students are entering college unable to write In 1985, the first month of the TA-led part of my Philosophy 101 class was about how to write a five paragraph essay. It drove me nuts. I was paying for philosophy and being lectured about something from Freshman year of High School.Continue reading “Breaking News – from 1985”
How many can afford this?
A political fund-raiser. This one’s for Trump, but it’s hardly a Republican-only thing. tickets sold for a hefty $50,000 per head, with an exclusive $300,000 tier offering perks such as a photo opportunity with Trump Income is not a perfect proxy for wealth, but it’s not awful, either. The chart is from a quick InternetContinue reading “How many can afford this?”
Garden Plot
I know I said I wouldn’t do this, but it happened, anyway. The garden beds are the white, rounded rectangles along the edges. The grey is concrete. The bluish grey lines are the chain-link fence with the posts as block dots. It’s to-scale. I had the drawing – several versions – so adding the gardenContinue reading “Garden Plot”
One Third Done
I’ve become a recluse. It took me a week to recover from having guests for a week. People have become exhausting. In any case, this weekend we managed to get the first third of the garden beds built. We had two done. Now we have eight done. Here’s the reverse angle: That’s bigger than itContinue reading “One Third Done”
Do I Want an “And So?” Category?
Edward Zitron, whoever he is, hates Facebook. The end of the article: This is the petty king of the tech industry — a multi-billionaire that can never be fired, that has billions of people on websites that he has deliberately engineered to boost engagement rather than provide a service. I won’t mince words. Mark Zuckerberg isContinue reading “Do I Want an “And So?” Category?”
Garden Progress
Two beds done. About ten to go: The goal is beds all the way around, but the “before the deck is in” goal is just the ten (or so) to the gate in the back (about where the tipped over recycle bin is). Those two are the result of three days effort. The bottleneck isContinue reading “Garden Progress”
Predictions are Hard
But I just made one, anyway. Since it’s buried in the comment section at Behind the Black, I’m repeating it here. We’ll get to see how well it ages. I’m fairly optimistic about my neck of the woods. I’m not optimistic about the country. When all it takes is a few corrupt cities to changeContinue reading “Predictions are Hard”
Toastmasters
I joined about a year ago and I haven’t written anything about it because it just doesn’t seem all that interesting. However, I was just reading some older posts and realized I like the journal/diary nature that this blog has taken on. Therefore, more journal/diary type entries are called for. Toastmasters is an international organizationContinue reading “Toastmasters”
I’m not the Music Guy
A lunch-time conversation: The Laird said, “we can’t do that tonight; we have dance class.” I reply, “oh, that reminds me, I sent Kay a text out of the blue. A waltz. By Stos… something. Stosanovich?” The Laird, “you mean Shostakovitch?” “Yeah, him. Waltz Number Two. The concert version by Haus, ‘haaws’ the German, notContinue reading “I’m not the Music Guy”
Marked Up 