"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter." —Mark Twain
In the news
Sunday morning I rode my motorcycle down to the corner cafe for breakfast, then took the twisties to the top of Mount Lemon, pretty much the only motorcycle destination in Tucson during the hot summer months. I arrived at my favorite mountaintop coffee shop at 9:30 AM only to find it still closed, but the […]
In Pima Air & Space Museum news, I’m ready to certify as a walking tour docent, but no one’s available to bless me until the 15th. Knowing me, given two weeks to prepare I’ll cram so hard I’ll blow my certification tour by mixing up facts & figures for different airplanes or going off on […]
It’s what’s for breakfast. Life is good. On Saturday, we attended an opulent wedding and reception. Our friends have married off three daughters and a son, and any one of those weddings would have bankrupted us. We love our friends and are delighted they can send their children off in such great style … god […]
Clearly, blog output has an inverse relationship to fun. What’s got my fun meter pegged? My first solo tour at the Pima Air & Space Museum, now less than 24 hours away. I’ve been cramming: memorizing facts about aircraft ancient and modern, deciding which planes to skip over and which to concentrate on, finding a […]
So there’s a new book out: Area 51: an Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base, by Annie Jacobsen. On Tuesday, May 17, Annie discussed her book with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. Naturally, I watched. You can watch too, if you wish: Most of what Annie had to say about Area 51 […]
Last week Jon Stewart weighed in on the Republican/Fox News hissy fit over the White House inviting the rapper Common to a poetry reading. Stewart’s segment — especially his masterful takedown of the deeply stupid Sean Hannity — was brilliant. If you missed it, here’s a link to the video. Then, last night, MSNBC’s Ed […]
First some background, from a post I wrote on 30 November 2010: Yesterday, listening to an NPR report on the DoD’s Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell survey of military personnel, it hit me that if gays are permitted to openly serve, the thorny issue of same-sex marriage will soon follow. I probably don’t know what I’m talking […]
In the wake of bin Laden’s death, political pressure is mounting for a quick withdrawal from Afghanistan. We were leaving anyway: Obama announced months ago that we are going to draw down force levels there, and we’re already in the process of bringing troops home from Iraq. What happens when the troops come home? Unless […]