Election day 1980. I was in my second year of law school in Ithaca, New York, and invited about 15 of my fellow classmates/friends over to the attic apartment on College Avenue that I shared with my Sue and Sue to watch the election returns. As the evening went on and it became clearer and clearer that Ronald Reagan was going to become the next President, the sense of disbelief […]
It’s now almost a certainty that Russia is attempting to influence the U.S. Presidential election by leaking stolen/hacked emails from John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager. And it’s evident who Russia wants to win the election: Donald Trump. Before pulling the lever, or filling in the bubble, or marking an “x” on the ballot for Trump, every Trump supporter ought to take a good long while to ask, “Why?” Why […]
Suzie’s Aunt Ellen is an Episcopal nun. Until I met Suzie and Ellen, I didn’t know there were Episcopal nuns, nor that there was any kind of monastic tradition left in American religious groups. But Ellen is living in a convent, called the Order of St. Helena, which recently relocated to a beautiful, calm piece of property in North Augusta, South Carolina, just across the river from the more famous […]
About 5:15 p.m., the idea of driving from Santa Rosa to Kalispell didn’t seem nearly as good as it had earlier in the day. Most of the day had been easy and beautiful, especially the drive from Redding to Bend, sunshine and clear blue skies, evergreen forests and stark dry landscapes, all newly seen on a road — US 97 — that I’d never taken. But as the sun fell […]
This report suggests skepticism about skeptics is in order. My main point still stands. It may be a long time before we get an answer.
I spent part of the day in the basement of the State Capitol with Suzie’s group, where I was treated to a free and fast wireless connection to the internet. Flash forward to 4 p.m. After checking in at the Hyatt, I pop my computer out to check work emails, only to discover that I have to pay for wireless access. That didn’t particularly phase me; it was expected, if […]
On April 29, 2009, I attended a Giants game at AT&T Park and took this picture and posted it on the photo site Flickr: The picture sat out there in the cloud somewhere, largely unviewed, until the day before yesterday, when I checked my Flickr stats and noticed that it had been viewed by 79 people. This has happened before with several of my pictures, when someone has used them […]
The Fourth of July weekend isn’t usually thought of as a time-marker, like New Years Day or Thanksgiving, but it’s become that for me. Last year at this time I had an accident on my bike, briefly described here, which turned out to be more serious than I’d thought, and which left me oddly discombobulated with thought of my own mortality and insignificance. Maybe because of that — or maybe […]
I’ve had my new Droid phone now for a little over a week, so being a somewhat tech guy I decided to post a short review. The bottom line: 8 (maybe even 8.5) out of 10. I really like it. The positives first. The Google Android 2.0 operating system on the phone is very, very good. It’s simple, straightforward, and fast. It integrates smoothly with GMail, my business email, and […]
One of my four readers asked if I’d considered writing a post on health care reform in the U.S. I don’t know that I will say anything that hasn’t been said elsewhere, but here we go … et voilà: The health care issue in the U.S. is so difficult for four reasons. The first reason is economic, and really a no brainer: The real costs of health care are hidden. […]