"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter." —Mark Twain
In the news
This is the time of year in southern Arizona where evening thunderstorms form right about the time you want to cook on the patio. Last night’s storm was a teaser. It looked like it was going to stay parked over the mountains, so I tempted fate by lighting the grill. The first gust hit as I […]
This election. Someone observed it’s like unexpected guests drop by after work and you’re discussing dinner options. Some want to call for pizza, some want to kill and eat the others. Even if pizza wins, there’s a problem.
Donna asked today how The Book’s coming along. She prods me every couple of weeks, usually when I’m in the middle of a blog post. She thinks blogging is at worst a waste of time, at best a way to put off serious writing. I admit that when I started blogging I hoped my talent would […]
I’m watching the Democratic National Convention. Last week I watched the Republican National Convention. I don’t want to give the impression I’m obsessive about politics, but the coming election’s an important one and I want to know what forces are in play. Last week I watched prime time coverage of the RNC in Cleveland on network TV and […]
And now, from the personal back to the political (even though my friends like the personal posts better). Re Trump’s shouty speech: loved this tweet in spite of not knowing what “underpants-gnoming” meant: Naturally, I looked it up. Google steered me to this video clip, which explains it perfectly: [youtube]https://youtu.be/tO5sxLapAts[/youtube] In the random but disturbing thoughts department, […]
Yes, the beard is gone. Like an infant discovering its tongue, I’d become obsessively aware of the hair on my face, touching it, scratching at it, thinking about it day and night. The symptoms were signs, and they read: “A shave / That’s real / No cuts to heal / A soothing / Velvet after-feel / Burma-Shave.”
Plagiarizing Michelle Obama’s speech is an act of chutzpah almost as breathtaking as Trump’s staged appearance in a field of blinding light and mist, itself surely plagiarized from a Watchtower pamphlet’s rendering of Christ greeting the chosen at the gates of Heaven.
Seriously, though, have any American politicians publicly admitted there’s not much we can do to prevent lone wolf terrorism? Sure, you can catch the stupid wannabes before they get their stuff together, but what about the true lone wolves, the ones who keep their plans to themselves until the moment they strike?