Just because I didn’t buy into the view that the mysterious origin of the universe and all existence, like our own, could be explained by positing some creative being whose own existence just had to be accepted with no questions asked, does… Read full post »

          This covers some ground I blogged about a couple of years ago here.  When I was younger I felt a near-compulsion to list things – favorite movies, 10 best actresses etc.  So of course I would have come up with something for a favo… Read full post »

          I got the idea for this post from a recent one by Saturn Smith on Game Change – the story of Sarah Palin’s misadventures as VP candidate.  I’ll see it soon enough but it reminded me of three excellent miniseries, all of the… Read full post »

Some hacker pals were able to come up with Santorum’s list.

1. Your main trait:  Righteous indignation.

2. The quality you like best in a man:  Heterosexuality

3. The quality you like best in a woman:  Heterosexuality.  And a strong affinity for housewifery.
… Read full post »

          I’d read a few recent posts on a police state under Obama.  The case in favor rests on examples like the killing of al-Awlaki, the continuation of Guantanamo, drone attacks, the harsh incarceration of Bradley Manning, an increase in es… Read full post »

          I still have to give my head a shake in realizing my blogiversary coincides with Valentine’s Day.  And that’s about as deeply as I want to delve into that coincidence.

          I lo… Read full post »

          At least that’s what I thought they’d be called.  But they were nowhere to be seen on the menu.

          It was the 80s and I was in Amsterdam.  Of course I was no stranger to… Read full post »

          I’d blogged before about my 70s hair style.  With straight blond hair it wound up like Rick Wakeman’s.

                    %I… Read full post »

          A few days ago Nikki Stern had an amusing post about gratuitous noise.  This paragraph caught my eye:

“What if we could mute the know-it-all at the party who’s mouthing off about Europe’s economic mess? How about the i… Read full post »

          My favorite Brasilian singer.  She died a few years before I heard of her, a year or two before I first travelled to Brasil.  Even then it took a while to pick her out.

          My assignm… Read full post »

          Just when you think that the Republican nomination race can’t get any more surreal, it does.  For months now it’s resembled a Spinal Tapish mockumentary.

          Bachman lauds the… Read full post »

          I’m not the biggest Winwood fan, owning only a couple of Spencer Davis 45s where he was a guitarist and lead singer.  He was always renowned for his talents on a wide range of stringed instruments and keyboards but through his long and… Read full post »

            There’s a general tendency to ascribe to one’s own lifetime a degree of exception unrivalled by any other generation.  As a boomer that means The Beatles achieved a musical epitome unmatched since Mozart, or maybe it/… Read full post »

I'd been meaning to post this around the 20th anniversary of their demise.  It still makes, barely, the 20th year of it.

          From my first flight on Pan Am I developed a special fondness for the airline.  I’m sure that its coi… Read full post »

          Yup.  It was evidence-based and supported by the home environment.

          I remember pretty clearly when I stopped believing in God.  I was eight.  My folks had given the bro and me… Read full post »

          I’d written before about Arnold.  The mild-mannered, short, slight, Capote-like Canadian with a mid-40s paunch and a bulbous balding head.  He was known for his commercial sex misadventures but this one is entirely G-rated.

&nbs… Read full post »

          And then there was Arnold.  Short, slight with a mid-40s paunch, a soft, high-pitched voice and a bulbous balding head, much like Truman Capote.  His conversation focused on business matters, especially the company's stock price. … Read full post »

          There’s a movie out now called Like Crazy and it’s about the effects of distance on a romantic relationship.  As I’ve had more of the long distance variety than I might have wished for, I was curious.  Then I got a str… Read full post »

            Just back from the weekend and late to the Beth Mann Seven Unexpected Pleasures party.

           I was raised to be a saint, or given that my lack of Catholicism would preclude such… Read full post »

Nothing orginal in this post and considering it's already racked up 3 million hits in just a few days, many of you may have already seen it.  But for those who haven't, have a look.  It's a hilarious satire and who'd have thunk that Mike Tyson could pull it off?

 … Read full post »

Part 1 is here.

Part 2 is here.

Part 3 is here.

          Zeke looked up.  I couldn’t quite read his expression.  Rather like he’d been ordered to smile while suffering an acute hemorrhoidal attack.

  “Abra, lo… Read full post »

Part 1, where I’m swept of my feet, is here.

Part 2, where my feet are cut from under me, is here.

          Of course I checked everywhere.  Twice at least.  I’d done my own packing but hadn’t scrutinized everything.&… Read full post »

            In Part 1, the Hook, I wrote of how I came to be involved with Tamara, the smart, successful beauty of Eastern Europe heritage and New York upbringing.

          Tolstoy wrote &ldq… Read full post »

          “I don’t have any clothes on”.

          That got my attention.  I’d been curious to meet her.  I had just been transferred to our European division after five years… Read full post »

          OK.  A lot of folks aren’t baseball fans, or even sports fans.  But you do appreciate that many of your fellow citizenry are.  And whether the home team or the favorite team wins or lose means a lot.

    … Read full post »