“New York is a place long shaped by the forces of unbridled capital, where form follows finance and landowners get to build “as of right”, citizens be damned.” — Oliver Wainwright Recently I read John Kendrick Bangs‘ 1912 short story collection, A Little Book of Christmas. Bangs was a short story writer and magazine editorContinue reading “Christmas Tales from Gilded Age New York”
Author Archives: Allyn Gibson
Thoughts on a Grim December Morn
No, they don’t have Christmas in Kentucky There’s no holly on a West Virginia door For the trees don’t twinkle when you’re hungry And the jingle bells don’t jingle when you’re poor — Phil Ochs, “Christmas in Kentucky” The weather forecast for today was all over the map. Something wintry, that was definite. Accumulation? Snow?Continue reading “Thoughts on a Grim December Morn”
Captain’s Log, Stardate 6 BCE
“Dammit, Jim! I’m a doctor, not a shepherd keeping watch over flocks by night!” “Eminently logical, doctor.” “Why, Spock, are you agreeing with me?” “I am merely noting that your statement is correct.” The image comes from Facebook, but the dialogue is all mine. 😆
The First Snow of the Season
I called my mom on Thursday for Thanksgiving. She wanted to know how much snow I had on the ground. “None,” I said. It had been sixty degrees a day or two before. “But if I’m remembering correctly, it looks like there’s a chance of snow early next week. Monday or Tuesday.” Today is Sunday.Continue reading “The First Snow of the Season”
Customizing XScreenSaver
Who doesn’t love a good screensaver? I’ve been a fan of 3D Pipes going all the back to Windows 95, and I hypothetically might possibly have hacked my computer at Diamond using a Linux live USB to put 3D Pipes onto that Windows 10 machine. Possibly. I can neither confirm or deny. On Linux Mint,Continue reading “Customizing XScreenSaver”
Live from New York… it’s Cookie Monster!
Fifteen years ago, Cookie Monster made an audition tape to be a guest host on Saturday Night Live. It still hasn’t happened. Let’s make it happen, world! Cookie Monster, on Saturday Night Live. The world needs this.
A Case Study
I’m getting better at backgammon, winning about half the time I play now. Sometimes I can even demolish xgammon pretty thoroughly. This morning’s game was like that… until the moment that it wasn’t. I thought I was going to have it in the bag, until I didn’t. Let’s go through it. Here’s an interesting position.Continue reading “A Case Study”
“I Need to See Mountains Again, Gandalf”
I’ve been down in Virginia recently, and I stopped on occasion to take photos of mountains. A little too late in the year for the fall foliage, unfortunately, but still, there were some lovely vistas.
Looking for a Priest
I have a weird habit. I can go to a cemetery and take photographs incidentally of something that I will go back later, sometimes years later, and deliberately search for. Yes, yes, the human mind is good at finding patterns in the chaos. But it has happened often enough that it’s weird. Case in point.Continue reading “Looking for a Priest”
Excitement in Yoe
Some excitement in the apartment complex this morning. There were massive, howling winds last night. I mistakenly opened the door to see what was happening, and my living room filled with leaves. (I decided that could wait for morning. I wasn’t throwing leaves back into the wind.) This morning, drinking my coffee, there came soundsContinue reading “Excitement in Yoe”