"When I do not want to say things in real life I often say them here." — Mimi Smartypants
If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought – George Orwell
Donna saves change in a decorative wooden box, which I’m raiding this morning for quarters. It’s take-the-motorcycle-to-the-car-wash day. I’m going on a cross-country ride to Nevada and Utah later this week, and it just wouldn’t feel right to start a big trip on a dirty bike. I read somewhere that the coin-op car wash industry […]
… but I am, these days, a little more down than up. Particularly over the union-busting going on in so many states, and peoples’ refusal to see what lies behind it. Republican governors and Republican-dominated state legislatures aren’t trying to save money by busting public employee unions and cutting back on education and services funding. […]
Headline to an article about the third reactor explosion in Japan: “Spewing radiation prompts warning.” C’mon, journalists, does radiation always have to spew? Can’t it emanate, spread, propagate, or otherwise pour into the atmosphere? Why must it spew? When Nevil Shute wrote On the Beach, did he make his radiation spew? No, he didn’t, and […]
Nancy Nall on today’s earthquake in Japan: “I’m touched by the grocery-store employees whose first impulse is to try to protect the stock from falling off the shelves. We give our lives to our jobs and we take pride in even the smallest ones. We deserve a few benefits in the bargain, Gov. Walker, you […]
Earlier today, as Schatzi and I emerged from the house for our morning constitutional, a raven lifted off from a palo verde tree across the street. It’s a windy day here in Tucson, so the raven was able to turn into the wind and hover, holding position a few feet away and slightly above us. […]
Which is exactly what I did. And here it is: I was recently tagged with a Facebook survey. The instructions were to go through a list of 50 books, indicating which ones I’d read. The list was a mess: classics mixed with airport trash; books every schoolchild should have read mixed with Oprah-esque book club […]
Certain words and phrases indicate a person’s inability or unwillingness to engage in honest conversion. I call them eye-rollers. When you hear them, you know you’ve hit a brick wall: whether it’s stupidity or willful close-mindedness, the person who utters them is not listening. Roll your eyes and find someone else to talk to. Ground […]
What’s in Paul’s grab bag? Unconnected thoughts and short observations which don’t rate separate blog posts, but when aggregated together might amount to something: Some of My Best Friends Are Negroes NASCAR Fans You may have seen my earlier NASCAR post. I swear, they must put something in those $10 beers. Here’s an ESPN reporter […]