The Writer’s Almanac tells me that today, the 9th of November, is Carl Sagan’s birthday. He would have been seventy-five. Said Garrison Keillor of Sagan this morning: “[He] published a number of books that helped regular people understand ideas about the universe, including Dragons of Eden: Speculations of the Evolution of Human Intelligence (1977), whichContinue reading “On Carl Sagan’s Birthday”
On Allyn’s Crackpot Batman Theory
Bruce Wayne, better known to millions of comics fans as Batman, is dead. Many months ago, in an effort to defeat Batman and sow discord, the Devil himself, in the person of Dr. Hurt, attempted to drive Batman insane. However, Batman had the greatest plan ever, because Batman plans for everything — he had createdContinue reading “On Allyn’s Crackpot Batman Theory”
On Saturday Musings
A telemarketer called. I don’t know what he wanted. I didn’t hang up on him. I just put the phone down, got up, fixed lunch, hung out laundry, and then came back half an hour later. He wasn’t there any more. I put the phone back on the receiver. My grandmother seemed determined to sleepContinue reading “On Saturday Musings”
On the End of the Baseball Season
Anyone can have a bad century. :cubs: Spring training isn’t so far away. There’s always next year. 🙂
On Story Submission
At 11:25 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, the short story left the nest. It had grown this morning to 2,296 words. Okay, okay, enough of this faux-baby announcement stuff. I rewrote some of the story on the train this morning. Several new paragraphs were added in the middle. A one-sentence paragraph was expanded into something moreContinue reading “On Story Submission”
On Completion
And at 11:34 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, a short story was born. The short story entered the world at 1,971 words, following a gestation of several weeks filled with false starts and blind alleys. The short story was finished with a final push of 1,498 words. The short story has been put to bed forContinue reading “On Completion”
On Linguistic Oddities
Dear Microsoft, “Peckish” is a word. It means “hungry.” I use it in regular conversation. Okay, maybe twice a month. If I’m lucky. But certainly more than five or six times a year. About “peckish.” Word not only flagged it as a misspelling, but Word also tried to change it to “puckish.” I may useContinue reading “On Linguistic Oddities”
On Last Night’s Elections
Yesterday was, in some parts of the country, Election Day. I’ve sat down to read about elections in Virginia, New Jersey, New York, and Maine. I’ve not even had my coffee yet. It’s still brewing. The Democrats were crushed at all levels of state government in the Old Dominion. The Republican candidate for governor pulledContinue reading “On Last Night’s Elections”
On Peter Gabriel’s Next Album
Sometime early next year, Peter Gabriel will be releasing a new album, Scratch My Back. The Guardian describes it thusly: “[The album] is a ‘song swap,’ according to one of Gabriel’s collaborators, where the singer and a host of ‘extremely legendary artists’ will cover each other’s material.” And one of those artists, supposedly, is Elbow.Continue reading “On Peter Gabriel’s Next Album”
More on a Biblical Book Burning
Two weeks ago, I wrote about the sad tale of Pastor Marc Grizzard and the Amazing Grace Baptist Church of Canton, North Carolina. Grizzard and his flock planned to spend their Halloween not giving out candy or dressing up for the holiday. Rather, they planned to burn Bibles that were not the King James Version.Continue reading “More on a Biblical Book Burning”