Tuesday, July 26, 2005
If by "Renovate," You Mean "Ruin"
Posted by Claire Suddath on Tue, Jul 26, 2005 at 3:51 PM
I am one of 10 women in the country who doesn't like Trading Spaces or While You Were Out. I didn't even like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy even though I have quite a number of male friends who fall into the "doesn't like football but kind of likes men in tight Spandex pants" category. I don't hate the shows because they're boring. I don't hate them because the hosts are peppy, former-cheerleader types. I mostly just hate them because the finished rooms on these shows are almost always ugly and cheap looking. I really don't want to use a Brillo pad to sponge paint my bathroom purple. And if I say I don't like the color orange, please don't design my bedroom to look like a giant citrus fruit and tell me I'll grow to love it.
Being James Lileks
Posted by Roger Abramson on Tue, Jul 26, 2005 at 11:18 AM
I don't have many daily "must-see" stops on the Internet, but I always make it a point to drop by James Lileks' place to see what's going on. There's all kinds of stuff there, and if you're not careful, you'll get sucked in for a while as you poke around all of his nooks and crannies.
Also, check out his daily "Bleats" and his "Screedblog" for some real reading pleasure. He's an absolutely terrific stylist, and when he goes off on a rant, well, it can be something to behold. (more...)
Also, check out his daily "Bleats" and his "Screedblog" for some real reading pleasure. He's an absolutely terrific stylist, and when he goes off on a rant, well, it can be something to behold. (more...)
Monday, July 25, 2005
Now That's Irony
Posted by Bruce Barry on Mon, Jul 25, 2005 at 4:15 PM
Important news from Chile:
Perhaps so, but an ironic joke. (via FARK.com.)
A newly opened restaurant called Car Crash had to close down - after a car crashed into the building. The car lost control in wet weather and smashed into the entrace of the restaurant in Santiago. Owner Nancy Araya says she named the restaurant Car Crash because the area was an accident blackspot. She told Las Ultimas Noticias: "It is unbelievable, it is black humour that a car crashes into Car Crash. The restaurant is now a joke."
Perhaps so, but an ironic joke. (via FARK.com.)
Sunday, July 24, 2005
The Muzzled Life
Posted by Bruce Barry on Sun, Jul 24, 2005 at 11:05 AM
Buried deep in the Sunday Times business section today is a "Career Couch" Q&A column on blogging about work. Mostly the usual advice we've seen before, which generally distills down to don't expect to publish unsavory comments about your workplace on the Internet and not have it come back to haunt you. But there is also this:
A potent reminder, this, that free speech rights are essentially nil when it comes to control over employee activities by private-sector employers -- unless you either (a) work under an employment contract expressly protecting those rights, or (b) live in one of a very few states with laws barring employers from punishing lawful off-work activities (Tennessee is not in that group).
Q. What if you don't use your blog to discuss work?
A. Keeping work issues off your personal blog does not mean that your employer won't hold the blog against you. "It doesn't matter if you blog about skydiving or pornography," said Daniel M. Klein, a partner at the Atlanta law firm Buckley & Klein. "If your employer feels the blog makes you a poor representative of their corporate values, the executives have the freedom to disassociate themselves from you."
A potent reminder, this, that free speech rights are essentially nil when it comes to control over employee activities by private-sector employers -- unless you either (a) work under an employment contract expressly protecting those rights, or (b) live in one of a very few states with laws barring employers from punishing lawful off-work activities (Tennessee is not in that group).
Friday, July 22, 2005
The Naked Tickler
Posted by Claire Suddath on Fri, Jul 22, 2005 at 4:57 PM
I don't have a snarky comment on this important news story, but the phrase, "the naked tickler struck again," is the definitely best thing I've read all day.
By the way, should you be in need of some music and the occasional lame talk break, tune into 91.1 FM or listen online wrvu.org form 6-8 pm tonight because your resident Vandy Bimbo and PITW contributer has a weekly radio show at that time.
By the way, should you be in need of some music and the occasional lame talk break, tune into 91.1 FM or listen online wrvu.org form 6-8 pm tonight because your resident Vandy Bimbo and PITW contributer has a weekly radio show at that time.
Round No More
Posted by Bruce Barry on Fri, Jul 22, 2005 at 2:47 PM
The City Paper reports that the public affairs program Teddy Bart's Roundtable will next week end its 20-year run on midstate radio (also airing in recent years on cable TV around the state). Karlen Evins, the show's co-host and president of the not-for-profit foundation (The Public Forum) that produces it, cites "financial challenges and key distribution roadblocks" in the decision to cease production. As an occasional panelist "on the left" for TBR the last few years, I have to say this is unfortunate news about an all-too-rare civilized forum for in-depth discussion of issues of the day. Its demise opens up a sizeable sinkhole in Middle Tennessee's public affairs landscape.
UPDATE (Sat. 11:30 am): The story about the demise of the Round Table in Saturday's Tennessean is worth a look for the eyebrow-raising details it contains: Teddy and Karlen did not see this coming; the foundation board voted to end the show and then its members promptly resigned; Bart and Evins are not quite sure whether the board voted to terminate the show or dissolve the entire foundation. These oddities raise questions about the governance the board was providing.
UPDATE (Sat. 11:30 am): The story about the demise of the Round Table in Saturday's Tennessean is worth a look for the eyebrow-raising details it contains: Teddy and Karlen did not see this coming; the foundation board voted to end the show and then its members promptly resigned; Bart and Evins are not quite sure whether the board voted to terminate the show or dissolve the entire foundation. These oddities raise questions about the governance the board was providing.
Definition of a Slow News Day
Posted by Bruce Barry on Fri, Jul 22, 2005 at 11:31 AM
A Knoxville TV station picks up an Associated Press story that a certain Nashville weekly paper's annual contest has had the effect of (hold on to your hats now) "zinging the governor." AP reports that the zinged one declined comment.
TCAP Scores in Nashville
Posted by Bruce Barry on Fri, Jul 22, 2005 at 10:13 AM
Public school parents in Nashville did not receive their kids' TCAP scores when the school year ended in May because of delays by the state in scoring tests and processing results. For parents wondering when they'll see them: A school system spokesperson tells PITW that scores will be sent home at the school students are attending when classes begin next month. Parents who need them sooner can contact the MNPS research department at 259-8429.
A compilation of TCAP scores in Metro by school and grade for the last three years, including the new 2005 results, is available here (pdf file). Citywide summary numbers by grade are here (html document).
A compilation of TCAP scores in Metro by school and grade for the last three years, including the new 2005 results, is available here (pdf file). Citywide summary numbers by grade are here (html document).
Say it Ain't So
Posted by Tracy Moore on Fri, Jul 22, 2005 at 1:07 AM
Tonight, I saw Weezer for the first time. I've always thought they were a great pop-metal band - all glittery hooks and no filler - but they're the sort of band you don't have to actually buy the CDs, since their music is practically inescapable. You always know someone who already has all the records; it's always playing on the radio. They don't have a great track record live, either. But tonight I got a contact buzz - not only from the old dude smoking a joint right next to us, but from the giddy, electric frenzy of their fan base.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Tagged
Posted by Chris Neal on Thu, Jul 21, 2005 at 2:50 PM
Yesterday I was stuck in traffic behind a car with the single strangest vanity license plate I've ever seen. It simply read, "FETUSES."
Huh? I've seen plenty of vanity plates since I moved to Nashville, most of them clearly cutesy names for publishing companies, but this one stumped me entirely. Was this person a fertility doctor? An anti-abortion activist? A pro-abortion activist? A black-market fetus salesperson? Just a fan of particular stages of human development, whose other car perhaps has a "ZYGOTE" tag? There were no other indicators -- bumper stickers or whatnot -- to provide context, leaving me to puzzle idly about it for the last 24 hours. So please, if someone could explain this to me -- including Mr. or Ms. "FETUSES" him- or herself, if you're out there -- I'd appreciate it.
My former favorite vanity plate, regrettably, now gets pushed to the #2 spot: I was once behind a car with a plate that just said, "MARRIED." I could never sort out if this was supposed to be a boast, a complaint, an explanation or a cry for help.
Huh? I've seen plenty of vanity plates since I moved to Nashville, most of them clearly cutesy names for publishing companies, but this one stumped me entirely. Was this person a fertility doctor? An anti-abortion activist? A pro-abortion activist? A black-market fetus salesperson? Just a fan of particular stages of human development, whose other car perhaps has a "ZYGOTE" tag? There were no other indicators -- bumper stickers or whatnot -- to provide context, leaving me to puzzle idly about it for the last 24 hours. So please, if someone could explain this to me -- including Mr. or Ms. "FETUSES" him- or herself, if you're out there -- I'd appreciate it.
My former favorite vanity plate, regrettably, now gets pushed to the #2 spot: I was once behind a car with a plate that just said, "MARRIED." I could never sort out if this was supposed to be a boast, a complaint, an explanation or a cry for help.
