My Future

    This is how I see myself in five years.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    I used to think I was mad to want to be a saint, but now what have I got to fear?  People’s opinions?  Loss of a teaching job?  I am living outside this context.  I make my own sanctity.  How else?  Suffering and humility are forced upon my otherwise wild ego by lugging baggage in Greyhound.

    I started out as a fair-haired boy in academic Columbia.

    (from The Essential Ginsberg  by Allen Ginsberg)

  6*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Hypocrisy

    The utter hypocrisy of the right-wing dittoheads never ceases to amaze me.

Treehouse Torture

Gerard Depardieu

    I am impressed as heck that Dilbert knows who Gerard Depardieu is.

Organ Donors

    Really, now.  I agree with Pig.

Sunday Pun Day

The End of the World (Again)

    Yep, folks, there was a nutcase fundamentalist preacher who decided he had figured out when the world was going to end, and it was ...well... today.  Years ago, I knew some weirdos in the Pentecostal movement who foretold the same thing  Needless to say, their predictions didn't hold true either.

    If they threw these publicity-seeking morons out of their respective churches (they are, after all, by their own scriptures, false prophets), it might cut back on this silliness.

    Then again, given the tendency of every zealous and ambitious fundamentalist upstart to go out and start his/her own church, maybe not.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “It’s supposed to represent the Egg of Columbus.”

    “Which is what?” Monk asked.

    “According to a story, Columbus once claimed he could balance an egg on its tip and challenged his critics to do the same.  When they tried and failed, he took the egg and cracked its end atop a table, thus flattening its bottom.  This, of course, allowed the egg to sit upright.”

    “In other words, he cheated,” Monk said.

    Kat scowled at him.  “The story is intended to be a lesson on creativity, about thinking outside the box to find a solution to a seemingly impossible problem.”

    (from The Seventh Plague by James Rollins)

    8½*/10.  The complete review is here.

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When is it time to throw out that t-shirt?

    Really now.  When the t-shirt gets so full of holes that I can't figure out which ones to put my arms and neck through, then AND ONLY THEN, is it time to throw it out.

One-Hit Wonder

    Good question.

Quote for the Day

    A true motivator.

Monday Pun Day

Doorbell

    Really now, it's better this way.  Both for me, and the doorbell-ringer.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    The halogens, of which the element fluorine is the first and most reactive example, have quietly insinuated themselves into our lives.  Like a night nurse, they go about their business dosing us up without our agreement, muttering as they go, “it’s for your own good”.  Water is chlorinated and fluoridated, bromides are prescribed, table salt is iodized.

    (from Periodic Tales – A Cultural History of the Elements, from Arsenic to Zinc by Hugh Aldersey-Williams)

  9½*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Metalfest 2018

    Well, the Czech Republic is a long way off from here in Phoenix, Arizona.  But I would dearly love to go to this festival.  That line-up is fantastic!

Art Appreciation Thursday

    A painting by Richard Hamilton, an American artist more famous for his collages, and enigmatically titled "$he".  I don't understand it, but I like the imagery.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “Hold hard, please,” said Professor Coffin.  “I am of a royal household – I have no need for such trivial documents.”

    “I have not yet even begun to enumerate the trivial documents,” replied the mechanical speaker.  “You also require foodstuff importation permits, not to mention for the introduction into Lemuria of an unclassified hairy-boy.”

    “An unclassified hairy-boy?” Professor Coffin asked.

    “I told you not to mention that.”

    (from The Japanese Devil Fish Girl by Robert Rankin)

  8*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Devil Dog

    I had a dog that used to love eating green oranges.  Nothing wrong with that, except they're extremely tart, and that caused him to foam at the mouth.  Needless to say, strangers didn't mess with him in that situation.

Show of Hands (English Folk Group)

    Show Of Hands is an English folk duo (or trio, if you include Miranda Sykes, and you really should) comprised of Phil Beer (left, above),  and Steve Knightley (right, above).

    I've just recently become acquainted with their music, especially their mega-hit Roots.  Look it up on YouTube and watch it.  These guys are fantastic.

Picture Makes No Sense Sunday

    Somebody put considerable effort into drawing this.  But I cannot fathom why.

Hurricane Irma Preparations

    I'm ready for hurricane Irma.  Of course, here in Phoenix, we don't take hurricanes very seriously.

Socializing

   Yep, that pretty much describes me whenever I'm forced to go to some social occasion.

Truck Song - Part Deux

    Well, I've channeled David Allen Coe, and here's the whole chorus of the yet-to-be-written song about a guy's truck leaving him:

"My pick-up's done packed up and left me,

 Ran off with a Honda Accord;

It cooda been worse,

Like shack up with a hearse,

Or get hitched to a Chevy or Ford."

    I'll let one of you blogger/songwriter peeps write the verses.  The song's in 3/4 time if it's a ballad, in 6/8 time if you make it a fast-tempo tune.  And I'll split the million-dollar royalties with you 50:50,

    I'm sure this will be a can't-miss success.

My Pick-Up Done Picked-Up and Left

   I can hear the twangy singing already.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “Shouldn’t we at least try to reason with them first?” she suggested – horrified by the very idea taking a life, let alone several.

    “I think we both know that diplomacy isn’t going to get us anywhere with these people,” he said.  “We’re just lab rats to them; they won’t negotiate with us … you don’t negotiate with lab rats.”

    “You do if they’re holding a gun to your head,” Kate said.

    (from Origins by Andy Wallace)

    7*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Disney Dali

    Walt Disney and Salvador Dali.  Your argument is surreally and fantastically invalid.

Science Sunday

Saturday Punnery

How's it going?

    I actually work with somebody like this.  I had to stop saying "How's it going?" in the morning to them, cuz all it did was make them tell how crappy of a day they were having.