Recollections from a Former Life
Yesterday, May 3, marked 25 years since I left my former employment as an editor at Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Publishers. It was a warm, sunny, humid day, one of those days that puts the last nail in the coffin of spring. I remember standing in the parking lot for the last time, looking back at the dark green glass […]
Continue reading→Dog was My Copilot
My first encounter with the midsized catahoula mix was very nearly the last. I was headed home after work, taking the back way as usual, eyes focused on the middle distance, thinking about nothing in particular, when a sudden movement from the right caught my attention. The movement continued rapidly onward, directly across my path, on a collision course with […]
Continue reading→A Historic Reversal of Fortune
Big day in American history today. No, not THAT. It was on this date in 1863 that Robert E. Lee mustered the battered remnants of his Army of Northern Virginia and began the long march homeward following a decisive defeat at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The fault for this defeat rests entirely with General Lee. Seeking to avenge the stinging, unexpected […]
Continue reading→Passages
A few days ago, at a little after noon on March 25, 2019, my old friend and companion Deacon closed his eyes for the last time and left this physical plane for whatever lies beyond, if anything. In the scheme of things it was alright, because in dog terms, at least, Deacon was immensely old, somewhere between eighteen and twenty […]
Continue reading→In Memoriam
Solemn anniversary today. Is there anyone who doesn’t remember where they were and what they were doing that day, seventeen short years ago, when death descended without warning from a clear blue sky? The day began much like any other. Three hundred million Americans went about their morning routines, oblivious to the drama about to unfold. I was reading the […]
Continue reading→The Power of Conditioning
It was a silly, negligible article on what has lately become a silly, negligible website. A wiser person would have let it slide. But it poked me in a tender place, and I am not the kind of person who can just let such a thing go. So instead of shrugging it off with a sigh I took the bait. […]
Continue reading→A Grandiose Conceit
A few weeks ago, on March 24, we were treated to the spectacle of the First Annual Earth Hour, in which everyone on the planet turned off the lights for exactly sixty minutes, beginning 8:30 p.m. local time, as a gesture of solidarity with this beleaguered planet we call home. OK, so not exactly everyone. Well, truthfully hardly anyone. You […]
Continue reading→Out with the Old
When I started this blog a few years ago, it was my intent to write about matters pertinent to computers and the computer business. I stuck with that plan for at least a couple of years. But computer stuff is really pretty boring; it doesn’t fire me up all that much, nor does it get your motor revving either, I […]
Continue reading→The Path of Greater Resistance
Or: A Skeptic’s Journey We all have our favorite topics, and those of you who regularly read this blog undoubtedly know that one of mine is Climate Change, AKA Global Warming, AKA Global Weirding, AKA Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming, AKA Climate Alarm. In this subject I have a minority viewpoint, but one that is, I think it fair to say, […]
Continue reading→Hang a Left at the Goat
Since childhood I have had the pleasure of living in The Republic of South Austin. South Austin is to Austin proper as Billy Carter was to Jimmy. It is the slightly seedy, sometimes embarrassing poor relation that’s always been a little off. Land of pawn shops and pink plastic flamingos, yard art, couches on the front porch, chain-link fences, and […]
Continue reading→Generally Speaking
As is my wont two or three times a week, I was headed over to the Veloway for a little cardiovascular maintenance the other morning. The preferred route is almost all highway: up South First to 290 westbound; switch to Mopac southbound; exit la Crosse. Quick and easy. But it was a little later than usual and the customary pathways […]
Continue reading→Life and Non-life
It fluttered soundlessly to earth at my feet, like a tiny paper airplane, tossed by some unseen hand. Instinctively I glanced around, seeking its origin. Where did that come from? Headed down the sidewalk in a hurry, thinking hard about assorted this and thats, I had almost missed it. Had I not happened to notice, my next footfall would have […]
Continue reading→In a New York Minute
Like most people, I am more or less a captive of my habits. For example, Monday mornings are reserved for riding, period. And it’s for health, not for fun, so this appointment is more or less sacrosanct. But Monday traffic is also usually the heaviest of the week, so unless you get moving really early, you end up having to […]
Continue reading→The Fit Life
As some anonymous wit once drily noted, “after forty, it’s patch, patch patch.” And when you pass that milestone, sooner or later you find out the hard way that it is very much true. So to keep the parts in good working order, the wise person fashions some kind of fitness regimen. It can take a while to find just […]
Continue reading→Critique Me, Critique You
A few weeks ago, I published an essay in this space critiquing the recent March for Science, which coincided with Earth Day 2017. The March had been represented as a non-political demonstration of grass-roots support for continued funding of basic scientific research. Fair enough. But in reality it was, of course, a highly political, highly public rejoinder to the Trump […]
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