Had It with Dumb Facebook Surveys? Make Your Own!

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 […]

Banned Book News Roundup

A conservative book-banner’s question: why can’t our school libraries be filled with lofty thoughts written by dead white men again? And here’s the expected pinko response. Books the right would cheerfully ban. An old (1994) essay by conservative columnist Thomas Sowell, saying there’s no such thing as book-banning in the USA.  I’m calling bullshit.  If […]

The Facebook Survey, Bane of My Existence

This survey was forwarded to me by my Facebook friend Jill.  Several questions were missing (17-23, 29-33, 36-37, 45).  I filled in the blanks with my own questions and answers, then added a bonus question at the end. I also awarded myself 100 Facebook Points™ for answering them all. Here are the instructions included with […]

Paul’s Book Reviews

“When this is all over I’m going to found an association called ‘The Knights of the Idiotic Table’ and its purpose will be to arrange an annual dinner where we tell stories about Lisbeth Salander. You’re all members.” – Stieg Larsson The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, by Stieg Larsson The third and final […]

Punishment: It’s What’s for the Rest of Us

The other day I blogged about an unpleasant encounter with an enraged, bicycle-hating motorist.  That very night, I learned about the Morgan Stanley money manager who ran over a bicyclist and then fled the scene, leaving his victim for dead.  You know, the Morgan Stanley money manager the local district attorney decided not to prosecute […]