It's Not Just Rhetoric
by Steve West on September 8, 2007

A personal pet peeve of mine is the use of the phrase, "That's just rhetoric." As if the speech being referred to is meaningless and/or uninspiring. The word rhetoric is to be used to define speech designed to persuade. If it does not persuade then it is not rhetoric. It can only be at best speech intended to be rhetoric. This website is devoted to the use of rhetoric in film, campaigns, trials and other speeches. My favorite section is the movie vault containing numerous speeches with either video or audio. Watch a few and become inspired.
Web Junkie
Steve West scours the Web searching for interest or absurdity and then shakes his head ruefully when he finds it. Read more »

Burning Microwave Popcorn
This guy puts all kinds of different crap in the microwave and films the results. My favorite is the eggs. Go »
Just In Time For Voting
Although I'm partial to the Aaron v. Steve Dunn tête-à-têtes, it seems ironic that UOAS took the opportunity to push for a vote. Despicable. Go »
Post Florida is Literally Murder
Brenda and I recently returned from a wonderful week spent in Sarasota with Scott and Kelly. Lauren and her husband, Jon, were able to fly down from ND to care for Olivia while we were travelling. The trip started as a mixed bag of positives and negatives, as the people in the row in front of us spoke incessantly and at an annoyingly loud volume but the young lady who shared our row was delightful. Go »
Inspiration
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I'm a Doctor, Not a Kitchen Appliance!
My toaster has a timer on it that let's you know when it's finished. It seems a little silly to add a timer beeping that's a redundant addition to the toast loudly popping up from the machine that means the same thing. So now, because the timer emits a sound eerily similar to an EKG indicating flatline, every time it goes off I'll say to Brenda, "He's bread, Jim." Go »