"When I do not want to say things in real life I often say them here." — Mimi Smartypants
Are you watching the state of the union speech tonight? Yeah, me neither. I can’t stand listening to Trump’s unfounded boasts. I can’t stand listening to his schoolyard taunting of anyone not named Putin. I can’t stand listening to him take credit for things another president accomplished, or his constant denigration of that president. I can’t stand listening to him take […]
A couple of firsts this year: one, Donna came along (and on the motorcycle yet); two, my first-ever Twitter meetup. My favorite thing about this car show, held every January on the golf course at Tubac, Arizona, is parking my motorcycle on the green next to the first row of show cars. Cagers (car drivers) have […]
My stampede string came and I attached it to the new sun hat. It’s western, braided leather with silver tips, and pretty long. I’m trying to figure out the best way to wear it when it’s not snugged up under my chin on a windy day. Should I loop it over the brim with the […]
That’s my friend and fellow air museum volunteer Loc Ho, departing this week for his first aeronautical engineering job at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio. I’ll miss this sharp young man. When he first started volunteering at Pima Air & Space, Loc Ho was an engineering student at the University of Arizona. He looked me up […]
I wonder how many riders and drivers have crashed due to temporary sun blindness. It was a huge issue flying fighters, especially in a visual engagement, and I often wished for three hands: one for the throttles, one for the stick, and one to put between my eyes and the sun.
You Can’t Read That! is a periodic column featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. YCRT! News A federal judge has ruled that Arizona’s ban on ethnic studies classes (and the associated wholesale banning of books in the Tucson Unified School District) was motivated by racial discrimination, a potentially lethal blow to the ban. I say “potentially” because as […]
When I returned from the Death Valley ride earlier this month, I uninstalled the helmet-mounted Bluetooth comm system I’d put in for the trip and sent it back to Amazon for a refund. No, I’m not that big an asshole … the unit was defective. I may get something to replace it, or I may not. […]
Then it started to rain, so she went inside and made some coffee and did what she had never done in her life: tried the newspaper crossword. “What a stupid exercise,” said her dæmon after five minutes. “Words belong in contexts, not pegged out like biological specimens.” — Philip Pullman, La Belle Sauvage La Belle […]