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. […]
C’est à Alain Minc, dans Le Point le 6 aout: “Etre un libéral de gauche, c’est posseder un mauvaise chromosome, atypique dans l’ADN politique; c’est croire que l’intérêt général existe en dehors le marché, mais que l’Etat n’est pas l’expression naturelle et exclusive de cet intérêt général.” Je le crois aussi. Rough translation: To be a conservative leftist is to possess a bad chromosome, unusual in political DNA; it’s believing […]
Il y a une expression en Anglais — “to be snakebitten” — qui veut dire mot à mot “être mordu par un serpent,” mais veut dire figurativement “avoir de malchance.” Moi, je suis “snakebitten” cette semaine. Ca commence par mon accident à velo. Puis hier soir, notre chienne Elsie, la plus mignon chienne du monde (regardez), a été mordue par un serpent à sonnette, qui est très dangereux à cause […]