"When I do not want to say things in real life I often say them here." — Mimi Smartypants
“You’re not gonna blame me because the phone went dead. I’m not the phone company. Nobody’s the phone company anymore!” — Kelli Maroney as Samantha in Night of the Comet Farewell (2009, France) Really good cold war spy story in the Frederick Forsythe/John Le Carré tradition, made even better by being based on real events. […]
I’m insanely jealous of a friend in Marin County who got serious about bicycling this year and lost all kinds of weight. So insanely jealous that I actually got on my bicycle this morning and rode 8.5 miles. A few months ago, before the summer heat descended upon Tucson, I’d been riding two to three […]
How’s that Nook e-reader I got for my birthday last year working out? Glad you asked. Over the past year my reading has been about 25% Nook, 75% book (I keep a record of the books I’ve read, and I actually counted). That strikes me as about right: e-books cost money and library books are […]
You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. Today is the first day of Banned Books Week, which runs from September 24 to October 1. In honor of BBW, rather than link to the standard lists of books under fire from parents, religious fundamentalists, and political activists, I’ll […]
Did Facebook shoot itself in the face with its latest format change? My friends are posting messages like these: “Zucky may not give a hoot right now, but he will when we’re all on Diaspora.” “Social media rethink. Twitter account is gone, G+ account is on the chopping block, and having serious thoughts about closing […]
Hat tip to Nancy Nall for pointing me toward this New York Times article about small town gossip run rampant on an internet forum. People in Mountain Grove, Missouri used to swap gossip face to face at Dee’s Place, but these days they have ” … shifted from sharing the latest news and rumors over […]
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was finally repealed today, and I suppose that’s a good thing. It’s high time the military moved on. But another significant advance of freedom for military members, at least those in the US Air Force, is also cause for rejoicing: USAF Chief of Staff General Schwartz has outlawed unconstitutional promotions of […]
Today, for the first time in 14 years, the doctor at the base clinic stood me up. My appointment was at 0850; at 0920 I decided I had more important things to do. Clearly wires had gotten crossed; they’ve never kept me waiting more than 5 minutes before. I told the airman at the desk […]