Month: December 2005

I guess everyone’s drinking already. There’s scarcely nothing to blog about this afternoon. Thankfully, I went to the bookstore this morning with a gift card I received for Christmas. With this “burn money,” I bought The New Book of Lists. The original Book of Lists kept me entertained for hours back in junior high school, so I thought I’d give this one a try. It’s not bad. Consider this somewhat immodest Johnny Cash list of greatest country songs of all time:

1. Walk the Line (Johnny Cash)
2. I Can’t Stop Loving You (Don Gibson)
3. Wildwood Flower (Carter Family)
4. Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash)
5. Candy Kisses (George Morgan)
6. I’m Movin’ On (Hank Snow)
7. Walking the Floor Over You (Earnest Tubbs)
8. He’ll Have to Go (Joe Allison and Audrey Allison)
9. Great Speckled Bird (Carter Family)
10. Cold, Cold Heart (Hank Williams)

And with that, I conclude 2005. I hope everyone has a great New Year. Until 2006!… Read the rest

Top Catholic Stories of 2005, according to Catholic World Report.

1. Death of JPII
2. Election of B16
3. Homosexuality Instruction
4. The appointment of Archbishop William Levada as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
5. The Synod on the Eucharist.
6. The death of Terri Schiavo.
7. Vatican talks with Beijing.
8. World Youth Day.
9. Spain’s drive toward secularism.
10. The Ukrainian Catholic Church moves headquarters to Kiev.… Read the rest

Pretty much everything you’d want to know about the Times Square Ball. Perfect reading for being ready when your ten-year-old starts asking questions in nine hours. … Read the rest

Steve Martin has declared himself for the secularists: he has written for The Huffington Post. His piece is clever: a purported monologue by Bill O’Reilly that consists of disjointed connections, bordering on jibberish. The non-sequitorial humor is classic Martin, and I would’ve laughed if he had written it for any other publication. But putting it on HuffPo? It comes with a nasty, mean-spirited, edge.… Read the rest

A fairly short essay about a unique New Years tradition in Germany. … Read the rest

An abbreviated Weekend Eudemon today. The excellent exigencies of the holidays continue to tap my time, leaving precious few resources for the staples of reading and writing.

Last night, I went to the drinking club with my brother and father, where we joined a handful of friends to watch college bowl games and sample an assortment of beers. After five hours, four of us went to a friend’s house to see his newly-renovated home and exchange holiday pleasantries with a handful of people I don’t see very often. There, my father told the story of why he never drinks hard liquor (an ugly–but funny–story that goes back to 1960 and involves a tenacious sled that attached itself to my distressed father’s foot). I stayed for only an hour, then came home, explained to my wife why I couldn’t call and tell her I would be home about two hours later than originally planned, whipped the kids for fun, then went to bed.

Things are going well at TDE. Daily visits to the site are down overall, but “unique visitors” (which counts the total number of different people that visit the site each month) is up over 20%. I’m not surprised that daily visits are down, since the holidays take people away from the screen–a good thing. As for the surge in different visitors, I’m not sure why it occurred. Maybe a popular porn site added a link to TDE.

No Malcolm’s Messages this week, but it’ll resume next week. If you get a chance, tell me what you think about MM (and you don’t need to follow the adage, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”). Other than a few puzzled emails, I’ve received no letters–good, bad, or ugly. I tend to be pessimistic, … Read the rest