Dirty....

Since it's been kind of slow in the blogging department, I thought I'd offer up a bit of an update.

First off, I'm nearing 10,000 hits to my site since first installing a counter. Not bad, I guess. It could be worse. The site could be wallowing in the mire of web obscurity. Clearly, it is not, but it's not in the limelight, either.

Secondly, the reading of Gargantua & Pantagruel has been very slow going so far, owed more to interruptions than to anything else. Thus far though, it's been, shall we say, interesting. It's rather entertaining. But if I had to sum it up in a single word, I would call it dirty. It's like a tremendous dirty joke, the kind you're afraid to tell in mixed company. Interwoven with all kinds of delightfully vulgar stories are some moral lessons and attacks on the institutions of Renaissance Europe. It's made for some entertaining reading so far, but I'm sure it will be a while before I complete it.

It's becoming no surprise that the hardline moralistic views of the church came about, and I don't just mean the Catholic church, because the Protestant denominations are just as responsible (Puritans, anyone?). If you read such works as The Canterbury Tales, The Decameron, or Gargantua & Pantagruel, it appears that people were having a lot of fun, including the clergy. (The latter, particularly, have been skewered unmercifully in these books.) The backlash was inevitable, I suppose, lest the name of Christianity itself become sullied.

Thus, it seems, European attitudes are finally returning to where they were over 500 years ago. America, on the other hand, is mostly still sticking to more Puritanical views.

Flex!

Maryanne and I both had the day off yesterday thanks to flex schedules. This allowed us to both go to the gym, though we didn't get as early a start as I would have liked. We were also able to take care of some other errands as well. Despite the late start, I was still able to get a small amount of work done around the house, including running the dishwasher and doing some painting.

The day off also allowed Maryanne to work on her website. With quite a bit of help from me, she got a blog going through Blogger, and we took care of some aesthetic changes, as well.

All in all, it was a fairly productive day, all things considered.

Takedown!

Oh yeah! The Beltline's brashest are busted in a massive crackdown Wednesday. Fifteen state troopers pulled over almost 300 drivers in an effort to bring order to the chaos that is the Beltline, and it won't stop there.

Genius....

Today I finished Nathaniel Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales. I enjoyed it, for the most part. It is indicative of Hawthorne's style, and reminiscent of the other works I've read by him, namely The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables, and A Wonder Book. Some of the stories had the dark, almost dour feelings that could be found in The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables, while other stories had the lightness and imagination of A Wonder Book.

The edition I read includes two afterwords, written by no less than Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Edgar Allen Poe. Describing Hawthorne himself as a true genius, and a poet working in prose, they praise his work for its orginality and for its nationality.

Next on the list is Gargantua & Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais. The particular edition I will be reading was published by the Heritage Press in 1942. It came as a hardcover, slipcased, with illustrations by Lynd Ward, and at $9.98 was a better deal than even the Everyman's Library edition.

Two seasons....

Maryanne and I went to Owatonna, Minnesota for the weekend, to see our friends Jenny and Gene. It was a pleasant weekend. The weather was great Friday and Sunday, though it rained most of the day Saturday before clearing by early evening. The visit was also marked by a trip to a very busy Mall of America.

There's a massive road construction project around Rochester, but it was easy to navigate. It's scheduled for completion in fall of this year. We had to deal with it the last couple of times we've been to Minnesota, but it's never been anywhere as bad as driving through construction in Illinois.

Politics and culture....

I found an interesting pair of pieces on politics today, one from Pat Sajak, and the other about "South Park Conservatives".

Shenanigans....

Some more PETA-related shenanigans make the news, but this time they're on the receiving end. This article had the added personal bonus of my being able to block all cookies from the bastards at ClearChannel.

Proof positive....

Just like I thought, the problem with Madison traffic is Madison drivers.

Nine Lives....

The results are in on the feral cat issue.

Check your sources....

Apparently, waffles and onions don't mix.

Hippies

I now have proof that California is indeed full of a bunch of tree-hugging hippies.

Feline Fix

I thought I'd post this update on the feral cat issue. Last night, in each of Wisconsin's 72 counties, an advisory vote was held in the Conservation Congress on the issue of hunting feral cats. The results were mixed. It brought out extremists on both sides of the issue, as well as those with more moderate, rational views.

For Maryanne's benefit, here are some highlights:

"The cat hunting thing brought me out because it was very extreme," said Katy Francis of Madison, who wore cat ears, whiskers, a cat nose and a sign that said, "Too Cute to Kill."

Julie Stensrud of Madison said it boggles her mind that a human being could shoot a cat. She cried as she talked about how much she loves her own cat, causing some audience members to groan.

I love my cat, too. And yes, cat's are cute. But there's a distinction between your friendly house cat, the farmer's barn cat, and the feral cat that's carrying rabies and swiping songbirds off your bird feeder. I agree that something needs to be done about feral cats; population and disease aren't the only problems they cause, though. Trapping them for neutering and vaccination isn't doing enough. Hunting may not be the right answer, but ignoring the problem just because there's a bunch of cat lovers isn't the answer, either.

McDocumentary

Friday night Maryanne and I saw Super Size Me with Amy and Luke. I highly recommend it. It will change the way you think about fast food, and especially McDonald's, forever.

Next!

Well, it turns out we get to find out today what's next on my reading list. It's going to be Twice-Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Anyone actually keeping up with my literary adventures will know that this will be my fourth foray into Hawthorne's writing.

This particular edition is published by Reader's Digest, and features illustrations by Lars Hokanson. It also features two afterwords: one by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and another by Edgar Allan Poe. They were both contemporaries of Hawthorne's, and Longfellow has the further distinction of being a college classmate of Hawthorne's. Both offer high praise of the book.

Done....

I finished Oxymoronica today: obviously it's a quick read. It was interesting. Since it's nonfiction, it's hard to critique in the same way you do a fiction book. It'll make a nice reference book.

We'll find out Monday what will be next on the reading list.

True....

Today I found this brilliant quotation from Henry David Thoreau:

City Life. Millions of people being lonesome together.

That just about perfectly sums up my opinion on that subject.

Conniptions

It seems I'm not the only one frustrated by Blogger's recent performance issues.

Pair of ducks?

Today I finished King Solomon's Mines. It was a good adventure story; I can see how it translated to the movie screen quite nicely. It doesn't get bogged down in too many details, and keeps moving along at a pretty good clip; in that regards it reminded me of the writing of Jules Verne. Some of it seemed contrived, and portions of it were quite predictable, but the fast pace whisks you past those moments quite quickly, leaving little time to dwell on them.

Next on the list is a bit of nonfiction: Oxymoronica by Dr. Mardy Grothe. I've actually started on it a bit already. It's a collection of oxymorons and paradoxisms collected by the author, with some commentary, arranged by topic. It's been quite intriguing thus far.

Pop Quiz!

Take this quiz and find out if you should be hanging out at the Kingdom Hall with the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Hobo kitties....

Here's some more on that free-roaming cat issue being discussed by the Wisconsin Conservation Congress.

Holes....

The other night Maryanne and I were watching a rerun of That '70s Show, wherein Eric and Donna were visiting college campuses. Eric checked out the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, which, of course, didn't look anything like the actual campus. Worse, though, was Donna's visit to Marquette University in Milwaukee: a poster on the wall proclaimed them to be the Marquette Golden Eagles, a name they didn't take on until the 1990s. Now, I realize the show may not have the biggest budget for actually filming on location, but I expect a certain degree of historical accuracy whenever possible!

Eternal rest....

This article is billed as news, but is probably better described as an op/ed piece. It turns out it's a rather good one.