Category: Society & Culture

Work Like a Dog

I was walking through our neighborhood this morning, trekking back home after dropping the car at the shop to have the alternator checked out, and as I passed in front of a large home the front door opened and a yellow Labrador retriever came bounding onto the circle drive. He zeroed in on the plastic-wrapped… Continue reading Work Like a Dog

Blogging on the 4th

Here’s a great juxtaposition of technologies: I’m sitting in my front drive, blogging via a wireless connection while overseeing the creation of homemade ice cream in our 25 year old Sears, Roebuck & Company electric freezer. I suppose a more dramatic contrast would involve a hand-cranked freezer, but then I couldn’t blog, so what’s the… Continue reading Blogging on the 4th

This gives new meaning to the term “stage fright”

I saw a brief report of this on CNN Headline News yesterday, and just now found time to follow-up. This is from MSNBC: Visitors to Britain will find a new stop on London’s site-seeing route this spring: a usable public toilet enclosed in one-way mirrored glass situated on a sidewalk near the River Thames. The… Continue reading This gives new meaning to the term “stage fright”

Your Last Meal…?

When, as a mere lad, I began reading science fiction, one of the short stories that stayed in my memory was about a man on death row who made a deal with the devil. The details are a bit hazy — for example, I can’t recall exactly what the devil was going to get out… Continue reading Your Last Meal…?

Memorial Day 2003

Another Memorial Day has come and gone, and I have those familiar feelings that I didn’t properly observe the occasion. I didn’t attend any of the ceremonies, motorcycle cavalcades or services. I didn’t spend hours in contemplation with bowed head. I did fly our flag, and gave brief thought as to why, exactly, I was… Continue reading Memorial Day 2003

War: And so it begins…

This cool, gray and damp morning – unusual for west Texas this time of the year – seemed fitting weather in which to contemplate the event that continues to unfold. War. It’s an ugly word, and Edwin Starr asked the right question in his Viet Nam-era song (no, kiddies, it wasn’t written at Jackie Chan’s… Continue reading War: And so it begins…