Paul’s DVD Reviews

“I don’t need an invitation if there’s no house.” — Colin Farrell as Jerry Dandridge in Fright Night Hugo (2011, USA) I read a few harsh reviews of this movie and even saw some Facebook and Twitter posts putting it down, and I don’t get it. Hugo is terrific, one of the best family films […]

Air-Minded: Son of Duck

After my post about the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star, I asked some friends if they wanted me to blog about any aircraft in particular.  My niece Rebecca voted for a floatplane, I imagine because she lives in Seattle and sees them all the time … also, of course, floatplanes being so cool.  It happens that […]

Photoblogging (in Lieu of Writing)

Nothing much to say today, so I’ll post four photos instead. Wednesday at the air museum I photographed some aircraft awaiting restoration.  It wasn’t till later, downloading the photos, that I realized all three aircraft were British.  In the top left photo, sitting in front of the museum’s restoration hangar, are a Hawker Hunter (in […]

You Can’t Read That!

You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring news about banned and challenged books. Arizona: When I began following the Tucson Unified School District book banning story, I found one of the most interesting sources of behind-the-scenes reporting, both within TUSD classrooms and on its governing board, to be David Morales’ Three Sonorans Blog, […]

Monday Bag of Apples

My old PC started to die a couple of months ago.  As time went on the process accelerated.  I decided it was time for a new difference engine, so I made a fresh backup and went shopping.  While looking at new PCs and trying to sort out what kind of core to order, how much […]

Rue & Trayvon

When I read The Hunger Games last year, one game contestant from the first book stood out from the others: Rue, the 12-year-old from one of Panem’s agricultural districts.  Katniss, who volunteers for the games to protect her own 12-year-old sister, forms an alliance with Rue, even though they both know that if it comes […]

Crisis Recovery Mode

I turned the computers off Sunday night because Angie’s visiting from Tampa and sleeping on the Murphy bed in our office.  When I turned my PC back on Monday morning, a warning window appeared telling me my user profile was corrupted.  All my files, settings, contacts, email, etc — not gone exactly, but invisible and […]