"No matter how cynical I get, I can’t keep up.” — Lily Tomlin
Shape of Earth: Views Differ
All I could think, watching Obama and Romney debate last night, was how furious Bill Clinton must have been with Barack: “There! Right there! Call him on that! He’s lyin’! He can’t back that up! Now’s your chance! Go for the throat! Arrgh, what’s wrong with you tonight, son?” So many easy setups. So many […]
Yeah, that’s what I’ll call it, a mini-gypsy tour, and add 2012 because it’ll probably be the only big ride I’ll take this year. A friend of mine rides coast to coast, 5,000 or more miles at a whack, at least once each year. What can I say? I am not worthy. The last time […]
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 […]
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 […]
The end of the week has come again. The world’s most interesting couple doesn’t eat much steak, but when we do we eat it on Friday night … and with that in mind I took a flank steak out of the freezer this morning. This afternoon I’ll put it in a marinade of soy sauce […]
I shouldn’t say odds & ends. It sounds too final. What I should say is odds, ends, & re-beginnings. Is re-beginnings a word? Sure, why the hell not? In Wyoming, during 8th and 9th grade, I had a best buddy. I moved to California but we kept in touch, and when I graduated from high […]
So Ira Glass touched a Daisey and got his fingers singed.* Glass, host of the popular National Public Radio show This American Life, aired Mike Daisey’s The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, a monologue about working conditions at Apple’s suppliers in China. Glass and his staff at This American Life thought Daisey’s assertions […]
My computer’s back from the shop, and what a pleasure it is to work on it again. Yesterday I typed a post on the other computer at Donna’s desk, where everything is six inches lower. I couldn’t get through a single sentence without making multiple typos. It didn’t help that she has her keyboard on […]