My daughter is getting married in Cleveland in the summer (northern hemisphere!) of 2014 and she is looking for a DJ for the reception. The catch is that she has not lived in this area since 2004 and so does not know the local music scene. And of course I am a total washout when it comes to knowledge about DJs or dance music or popular culture in general.

So are there any readers of this blog who could recommend good DJs in this area? We are looking for someone fairly mainstream, not too avant-garde, provides good service, and is easy to work with.

My daughter has heard of two DJs Rock the House and Selective Sound Entertainment. Feedback on these two or any other suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Via Jonathan Turley, I came across this video of a group of Hungarian shadow dancers known as Attraction. It is a wonderful performance. The catch is that this clip is from some talent show in which the annoying Simon Cowell appears but you can ignore that. [Read more…]

An infant tastes ice cream for the first time.

Last night we had the first snowfall for the year, unusually early since this usually occurs in late November. So it was a bit of a surprise for me to look out the window when I woke up and see the snow-covered ground. But it was no surprise to turn on the radio and to hear of numerous car accidents all around the town during the morning commute to work, snarling up traffic. [Read more…]

Since I have relatives in both Sri Lanka and New Zealand, I have taken some pretty long flights and I can tell you that they are not fun, though the people I feel most sorry for are the flight staff. I thought that they must have two sets of staff with one set replacing the other half way through but I see some of the same people working the whole time. Maybe they have some place to take a nap from time to time. [Read more…]

Halloween is coming up on October 31. It is not an occasion that I particularly care for and I did not encourage my own children to take part in it for many reasons. I don’t get the fascination with zombies and ghosts and the supernatural in general, and this holiday’s activities give them a patina of credibility that is unwarranted. I also don’t like the emphasis on gorging on candy. I especially don’t like the ‘trick or treat’ aspect, the underlying principle essentially consisting of going door to door, accosting strangers, and extorting candy from them, even if it is done in fun. [Read more…]

Via PZ Myers, I learned that ABC TV is going to show a special program about the ‘Manosphere’ on Friday at 10:00 pm Eastern Time.

My first reaction was “Wait, really? They named a whole sphere after me?” It is not as big a deal as having a comet or minor planet named after me, but surely it must be an honor, right? At first I was gratified by the recognition but on reading the article, things got dark very quickly. [Read more…]

The story of the way that Danielle S. Lee, a biologist who also writes a blog for Scientific American titled Urban Scientist, was treated has been written about quite extensively in the blogs, including by many of us here at FreethoughtBlogs. [Read more…]

Below is a video of a person who seems to have little idea of how to get out of a tight parking spot. It is excruciating to watch because you constantly feel the urge to yell out “No! No! Don’t cut that way, cut the other way!” We have to give credit to the driver though for not hitting any of the other cars. We also have to admire the patience of the person in the black station wagon at the top left who had to endure all this while waiting to exit. [Read more…]

Today is a federal holiday known as Columbus Day in the US because this country continues to honor the memory of one of the most horrific mass murderers in history, a greedy, vicious, slaveholding monster, someone who should actually be reviled and condemned. Having a national holiday in his name seems to put him on a par with Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr.. [Read more…]