Quote of the day: Human beings can be awful cruel to one another.—From The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain When I first tried to read Huckleberry Finn 35 years ago, I mentioned to my friend Frank Scott, who was Black, that I was having a difficult time with it. “Oh,” he said, “because of nigger … Continue reading Huck
Humor
Not That There’s Anything Wrong With That
Larry Charles, who wrote many of the most memorable episodes of Seinfeld, has a new memoir out: Comedy Samurai: Forty Years of Blood, Guts, and Laughter. He is also interviewed by Terry Gross on Fresh Air: 'Seinfeld' Writer & 'Borat' Director Larry Charles. In his new memoir, Comedy Samurai, Larry Charles reflects on his career in … Continue reading Not That There’s Anything Wrong With That
To Keep My Streak Alive
I wrote the Johnny and Myra post yesterday and intended to publish it this morning, but last night just before going to bed, I made one last tweak to it. Now I write my blog posts in the MarsEdit app, which allows me to write them offline and gives me greater flexibility than if I … Continue reading To Keep My Streak Alive
The Arrow
This is a little piece of doggerel that I wrote while watching the stock market plummet in reaction to The Convicted Felon’s idiotic tariffs. The first lines just came to me out of the blue, and the rest I had to work at. As I know that I have a couple readers who live outside … Continue reading The Arrow
The Secret to Anti-Gravity!
In his science column for Galaxy Willy Ley used to answer readers’ questions. In September 1952 a reader from Brighton, England, wanted to know a little bit more about gravity, and Ley obliged him. In a forthcoming issue, will you please discuss the force of gravity a little? Many science fiction stories seem to take … Continue reading The Secret to Anti-Gravity!
A Yard of String
Galaxy magazine had a monthly science column written by Willy Ley. Ley was born in Germany in 1906 but fled that county in the mid-1930s and settled in the US. When Isaac Asimov was the toastmaster at a science fiction convention and Willy Ley was in the audience, he spent some time making Willy Ley … Continue reading A Yard of String
The Man or the Dog?
I started tinkering with this video several weeks ago. I wanted to make it a bit more elaborate but I just haven’t had the time. So it just has a couple interjections from me. There’s a show in Britain called Dogs Behaving Very Badly where Graeme Hall tries to help out people who are having problems … Continue reading The Man or the Dog?
Two Weeks in August
Frank M. Robinson had an interesting career. Here’s part of his Wikipedia page: Born in Chicago, Illinois. Robinson was the son of a check forger. He started out in his teens working as a copy boy for International News Service and then became an office boy for Ziff Davis. He was drafted into the Navy … Continue reading Two Weeks in August
They’re Eating the Pets!!!!!!!!!
Last week I posted a video of a dog reacting to the presidential debate where one of the candidates (guess which one) claimed that immigrants are eating neighborhood dogs. The claim was false, of course. Anyway, I thought it only fair to give a cat equal time.
Niagara Falls
Slowly I turned… Step by step… Inch by inch… When I was very young, probably no older than three years old, my parents took me on a short vacation to Niagara Falls. I don’t recall anything about that trip. Oh, I have a vague, very vague, memory of something, something that doesn’t quite come into focus, and … Continue reading Niagara Falls