About

Earl Aagaard’s opinions about everything that interests him. Og also enjoys gardening, travel, reading, woodbutchery, and lots of other stuff.

Monthly Archives

Join Og's Mailing List

OgBlog.net

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

WHAT DID YOU USE TO MAKE YOUR TOAST THIS MORNING?

AMERICAN HERITAGE Technology just came, with a wonderful article on the origin and development of the toaster. But, did you know that there is a TOASTER MUSEUM? Well…..it really is a “virtual” museum, since it consists pf photographs of a striking collection of toasters, inlcuding the weird and the familiar.

Strangely, this toaster museum has a COMPETITOR!

Posted by Earl on 08/31 at 05:46 AM
Comments •

Sunday, August 28, 2005

WHAT DO OUR SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS DISCLOSE….OR NOT?

Recently, the Journal of the American Medical Association published an ARTICLE informing us that, contrary to the results of earlier research, unborn babies (all right, all right…..they said “fetuses”) before the 7th month of gestation don’t feel any pain.

WHO do you suppose was among the authors of this article…...?

Posted by Earl on 08/28 at 02:46 PM
Comments •

WHO SAID THESE WORDS?

“To all of you I appeal: Open wide your hearts to God! Let yourselves be surprised by Christ! Let him have “the right of free speech” during these days! Open the doors of your freedom to his merciful love! Share your joys and pains with Christ, and let him enlighten your minds with his light and touch your hearts with his grace.”

Don’t read on, yet….just re-read the sentences above and think of religious figures that you would guess might have said them…...

Posted by Earl on 08/28 at 02:14 PM
Miscellany • Religion • Comments •

Thursday, August 25, 2005

SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE CAME YESTERDAY

It’s always good, but the September, 2005 issue is particularly rich. (Translation: they have a lot of stories that interest me!)

The very best thing was on the last page, in a loving column about the author’s computer nerd husband. I read it to Gail and we could hardly finish for laughing—computer nerds are a varied group, but we recognized enough to make it really fun. There’s more…....

Posted by Earl on 08/25 at 08:21 AM
Comments •

Thursday, August 18, 2005

DOESN’T IT SEEM LIKE YOU’VE READ THIS TITLE BEFORE?

Well, then—you’ve just experienced “deja vu”.

The most common technical definition of déjà vu (French for “already seen”) is “any subjectively inappropriate impression of familiarity of a present experience with an undefined past.” The term is often used, incorrectly, to describe anything that happens twice: As Yogi Berra joked, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” But most people know it as the uncanny feeling of having experienced something before. In the past, psychologists spoke not only of déjà vu but of déjà entendu (already heard), déjà senti (already smelled), déjà lu (already read), and déjà vécu (already lived). Freud traced the feeling, somewhat predictably, to the mother’s genitals: “There is indeed no other place about which one can assert with such conviction that one has been there before.”

To those who have never experienced it—roughly a third of the population, according to recent surveys—déjà vu may sound like an outlandish phenomenon, akin to seeing ghosts. But some researchers believe it may help answer basic questions about how memories are recalled and how the mind registers familiarity.

Akira O’Connor, who has apparently moved on from CARNIVOROUS PLANTS since 1999, is studying the phenomenon again.

You have to love this kind of thing (well, I do, anyhow)—like so much with our brains, it’s still extremely mysterious. READ the whole thing….

Posted by Earl on 08/18 at 11:21 AM
Comments •

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

EVERYONE KNOWS RONALD REAGAN WAS A MEDIOCRE ACTOR, RIGHT?

Well, then how come

On February 8, 1950, some of Hollywood’s brightest lights gathered at the Beverly Hills Hotel for the kind of glamorous, star-studded soiree typically held on Academy Awards night….a formal tribute to Ronald Reagan.

John Meroney’s article holds that Reagan was quite a successful actor in the ‘30s and ‘40s, making 55 films, most of which (unfortunately) are no longer commercially available. The evidence is clear that it was Reagan’s war against communist influence in the Screen Actor’s Guild that began the campaign against him. For those willing to be convinced, he recommends the 1964 remake of Hemingway’s The Killers, with Lee Marvin, Clu Gulager, and Angie Dickinson.

Posted by Earl on 08/17 at 11:49 AM
Comments •

ANOTHER CANDIDATE FOR “PERSPECTIVE PERSON OF THE YEAR”

Lt. Colonel Anthony Shaffer, a veteran Army intelligence officer, has decided to risk his career by speaking out publicly.

Posted by Earl on 08/17 at 10:49 AM
Comments •

Page 1 of 5 pages 1 2 3 > Last »