EGAD
or, (de)mythologizing the fetish of placewherein our unlikely hero composes a series of
empirical geo-anthrospatial dispatches, aimed at establishing just where
he is, and perhaps even why it matters
Connor's quip the other day cracked me up. "Dude. I didn't know Minneapolis had aqueducts," quoth he. Now that he mentions it, the Stone Arch Bridge (creative name, eh?) does have a bit of a Roman look to its engineering. Actually, until relatively recently it was a rail bridge connecting the flour mills on the west bank of the St. Anthony Falls to the railyards east of the river. Then the Parks District converted it into a foot / bicycle crossing.
Around here I suspect we can mostly agree that it's fairly scummy behavior when Republicans start trying to brainwash preeschoolers. But frankly, with two Senators and a circus donkey under my bed, I'd be a tad unsettled too. The inevitable Democratic counterpunch emerged recently, but is so wishy-washily done that in Blogistan it is widely believed to be a Republican plant.
Beaverottypus! Platybeavotter! Yes, those names are misleading, since it has no known living descendants, but they're more fun to burst out with. Naturally, it took the creationists under 12 hours to discover an exciting new way to make fools of themselves.
Posted by Milligan at February 23, 2006 09:05 PM | TrackBackOh sweet jeebus. I don't think that's a lighter note at all. It's also noteworth that the book is *not* called Why Mommy Is a Liberal, nor is it "Democrats" that are under my bed. Just a thought.
*G*
Posted by: Gemma at February 24, 2006 08:53 AM (Permalink)i was in the building late last night, and campus crusade for christ was there. i actually stoped and read a bit of their poster. one of their things read similar to this: Our goal is to turn lost students into laborers of god.
1st: i'm not lost
2nd: if i were lost i would not want to become a laborer....
*grrr*
what is the 'creative new way' in that article. to me it just looks like the same crap: take actual facts and say that they support your theory with absolutely no explanation or support other than a passage.
*shakes head in frustration*
--crystal
Posted by: at February 24, 2006 09:06 AM (Permalink)New inasmuch as they haven't previously made wild claims about this particular fossil. For these people, that counts as innovation. And I'm willing to predict, when Universe in the Park starts up again this summer, we'll be hearing all about it.
The "Democrats" versus "Liberals" thing isn't so surprising, really. "Democrat" is something your neighbors might be; they're painted as ineffectual softies, but nothing to be overly offended by. It's "Liberals" that the Republican spin machine demonizes, because that's something that coastal politicians and rich actors are, but not something that normal people call themselves. Or so the narrative runs, in any case.
Posted by: Milligan at February 24, 2006 10:42 AM (Permalink)