Birthday & Road Trip Photoblogging

It’s my birthday.  This one’s a millstone milestone: the big 65.  When I was a child, I looked up Halley’s Comet in the encyclopedia and figured out that I would be 40 when it came again in 1986 … unimaginably far in the future, and thinking of myself as a 40-year-old man was equally unimaginable […]

An Update from 99% Land

What’s new? An Australian friend from Perth, traveling around the States on a two-month sojourn, dropped by to spend the weekend. Since John’s a fellow Hash House Harrier I took him hashing Saturday night. The hash started an hour late and trail took two and a half hours to finish, and of course we went […]

Paul’s DVD Reviews

“I checked the list of people I trust and your name ain’t on it.” — Matthew McConaughey as Mick Haller in The Lincoln Lawyer The Piano Teacher (2001, France) A tense, dark, disturbing movie about a repressed woman with sexual needs she doesn’t know how to satisfy. Hoo boy, this is an uncomfortable movie to […]

I Know What I’m Mad About … Don’t You?

This old-school political cartoon nails it: The media ignored the Occupy Wall Street protest for almost two weeks and only reluctantly began to cover it when it became impossible not to in the wake of YouTube videos of police brutality, and … of far greater importance … the presence of celebrities among the protesters.  Once […]

Missing Buckwheat

Just back from my Tuesday morning bicycle ride, a 12.5 mile loop through neighborhoods near my house.  When I ride from home I take one of two routes, both mapped out so that I get 9-10 miles in before stopping at the coffee shop 2.5 miles south of here.  I’m one of those people who […]

Friday Bag o’ Fries

Arizona, my Arizona (and you thought I only made fun of the fine folks of Cape Girardeau, Missouri) … the city of Prescott approves a college senior’s project to build a bench in a public park. Among the mosaic tile designs on the bench are a Star of David and a peace symbol. The city […]

Air-Minded: Old Jets, Older Stories

People who don’t know any better are starting to think the F-15 Eagle … like me … is ancient history. Witness this BBC News story, gleefully shared by a Facebook friend: The linked story describes how Japan grounded its Eagle fleet after a fuel tank and training missile fell off a wing of an F-15J […]

You Can’t Read That! Banned Book Review: Montana 1948

You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. In the news: US prisoner forbidden to read Pulitzer-winning history book Our Bodies, Ourselves turns 40 In Cold Blood gets okay from Glendale, California school board Another annoyed librarian slams Banned Books Week On Facebook: You Can’t Read That! banned […]