Saturday Spiffy

This day in history

Banastre Tarleton was born today.

Two notes about Francis Marion.

I really dislike the Disney show.

Here in Georgia folks are prone to claiming descent from a Cherokee princess. In South Carolina the same sort make the same claim about Francis Marion. The Cherokee had no royalty, so they didn't have princesses. Francis Marion had no known descendants. Oddly enough, neither did Banastre Tarleton.

On a side note, several people on a mailing list I read were claiming some sort of connection with William Porcher DuBose. What made that amusing was how tenuous and strained their reaching became. I went to high school and college with Dede Dubose, who happens to be his granddaughter. Her brother Billy graduated from Sewanee in 1977 and lives in South Carolina.
That's a legitimate connection, if you will.

Much Needed Video

I first learned this hymn at an Urbana conference when I was in college. We sang it a capella then. Every time I hear this it brings back so many memories.

Amazing Art

from Samizdata

Monopoly

Really nice guitar instrumental by Leo Kottke.

One Game to Rule Them All

Best MMORPG video ever

I Wish I Had Seen This in November

Best Recipe for Sunday Chicken

God Bless Ernie Kovacs

High Church Rock Band?

"Boys Can Cry" by the Catholic Girls

The High Standard of Journalism

The Washington Post has a story today about a town hall meeting at Towson University in Maryland. What's striking is that the reporter's voice purports to be objective until this sentence in the fourth paragraph "I, being an outspoken sort, carried a sign backing health-care reform and decided to mix with the opposition crowd."

The reporter, of course, accuses his opponents of spreading lies and misinformation, while he of course speaks with straight tongue.

I do not object to a partisan press. I do object, strongly, to a press that wants to have it both ways, as advocates and as disinterested observers.