http://sean.gleeson.us Diary of an Oklahoma Artist Mon, 01 Jan 2007 05:11:19 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Snopes.com has a compilation of New Year’s Day superstitions. Most of them seem to be based on the premise that whatever you do on New Year’s Day will sort of set the tone for the rest of the year. For instance, if you receive gifts on Jan. 1, you will ... http://sean.gleeson.us/2006/12/31/time-to-eat-my-annual-pea In these momentous days, with great forces struggling to dominate the world, and civilization itself hanging in the balance, I would once again like to quibble over a trivial linguistic error. My peeve today is with the common misuse of the word ‘demonstration.’ Indeed, as I shall demonstrate, this word ... http://sean.gleeson.us/2006/12/30/demonstration-remonstration The Iraqiya televsion network announced that Saddam Hussein was hanged today. (Well, tomorrow, technically, since it’s already Saturday over there.) The scrolling headline as they broadcast the news was: “Saddam’s execution marks the end of a dark period of Iraq’s history.” I sure hope that’s right. While I am glad he is ... http://sean.gleeson.us/2006/12/29/saddam-hussein-rip Gerald Ford died yesterday at 93. R.I.P. Pajamas Media has a huge roundup of blog eulogies for the 38th President of the United States. http://sean.gleeson.us/2006/12/27/remembering-president-ford The Nativity of the Lord, woodcut by Albrecht Dürer, part of the Life of the Virgin series. http://sean.gleeson.us/2006/12/25/nativity http://sean.gleeson.us/2006/12/24/silent-night I was shopping much of the day, and will be wrapping much of the night. And with Christmas a whole two days away! I should remember to start this early every year. http://sean.gleeson.us/2006/12/23/all-night-wrap-session COLUMBIA: Mr. Lincoln, give me back my 500,000 sons!!! LINCOLN: Well the fact is — by the way that reminds me of a story!!! (From an 1864 cartoon.) Abraham Lincoln is remembered as the greatest president in history. But as Michael Novak in National Review observes, Lincoln’s greatness was not widely evident to the mainstream ... http://sean.gleeson.us/2006/12/22/the-latter-day-lincoln Today I took Faith and Abby out for some errands, one of which was to deliver a plate of home-baked Christmas cookies to Mr. Charles Hill, blogger of Dustbury.com notoriety. As we pulled our coach into the promenade of his manse at Surlywood, the man himself met us on the veranda, ... http://sean.gleeson.us/2006/12/21/old-fashioned-christmas-at-surlywood Some day I’ll have to write a post explaining the art and science of “Bedeproofing,” an especially rigorous variant of childproofing. That day is not today, because I spent today’s allotment of blogging time Bedeproofing instead. For now, I’ll just introduce you to the Three General Principles: 1. Anything that can be ... http://sean.gleeson.us/2006/12/20/introduction-to-bedeproofing