"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter." —Mark Twain
Shape of Earth: Views Differ
Washington Post columnist Michelle Singletary recently wrote a column titled “Not All College Majors Are Created Equal.” You can click the link and read the whole thing, but if you’re in a hurry, the first few lines say it all: I have this game I play when I meet college students. “What’s your major?” I […]
In December, after the death of hereditary dictator Kim Jong-Il, network and cable TV news programs replayed videos of North Korean citizens publicly weeping and wailing in mourning for the Dear Leader. Many Americans, starting with but not confined to news reporters, made fun of the North Koreans. I wrote a blog entry at the […]
A friend posted this to Facebook yesterday: My drinking friends are always forwarding stories like this. Sure, booze is good for you. What the hell, if it makes you feel better about your drinking, you have my permission to believe whatever bogus “study” the liquor industry wants you to believe. Bottoms up! But it isn’t […]
My experience with new year’s resolutions has been generally unsatisfactory. With me … and with almost everyone I know … resolutions are prescriptions for self-induced stress, ultimate failure, and consequent depression. They suck. That’s not to say I haven’t made deals with myself and stuck to them: I successfully quit smoking years ago and more […]
Oh, scare-mongering media, what will you terrify us with next? Well, what more can one say about that? Really. Brain-eating ameobae. I’ll never put anything up my nose again. Not even a finger. More current news, as seen on Facebook: Anent the Dear Leader’s demise, I couldn’t help making a few jokes, but I’m saddened […]
When I grew up merchants and advertisers respected non-Christian customers by using Xmas instead of Christmas. Today, Xmas has been replaced by “the holidays.” That’s the spirit in which I use the word, to acknowledge the fact that, in the words of President Obama, “We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus […]
We’re spending Thanksgiving in Las Vegas with our son and his family. We won’t hit the road until next Wednesday … which means we weren’t there yesterday for our grandson Quentin’s 9th birthday. Gregory and Beth hired an animal wrangler to entertain Quentin and his guests. What a great idea! There were snakes, snapping turtles, […]
I haven’t been keeping up with the news, what with company and road trips and the standard family competition for the TV at night, so yesterday, after our company left and things were quiet again, I called up Mediaite. Foolish me. The first ten entries all had to do with Herman Cain. Like a prude […]