On Bobby Fischer

Bobby Fischer, the American chess prodigy and grandmaster, has died in Reykjavik, Iceland. He was sixty-four. Fischer is perhaps better known today for his… eccentricities. That’s probably the most polite word I can think of. That old Buffalo Springfield lyric comes quickly to mind — “Paranoia strikes deep / Into your life it will creep.”Continue reading “On Bobby Fischer”

On Request Audience Questions

Some questions have come up recently through Google. Here’s three: is Allyn a man’s name? The last time I checked, it was. 🙂 “Allyn” has taken on some gender ambiguity and, yes, there are people who are sometimes surprised to find that I’m male when they meet me for the first time. It is becomingContinue reading “On Request Audience Questions”

On Alzheimer’s Disease

Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld series, released a public statement over the weekend. He’s been diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease: I would have liked to keep this one quiet for a little while, but because of upcoming conventions and of course the need to keep my publishers informed, it seems to me unfairContinue reading “On Alzheimer’s Disease”

On President Bush’s Teleprompter

Why doesn’t this surprise me? President Bush’s speeches spell out words phoentically on the teleprompter. The President’s phonetic pronunciation teleprompt was embarrassingly revealed when a marked-up draft of Mr Bush’s speech to the UN General Assembly yesterday briefly popped up on the UN website. The White House was left scrambling to explain the special guidanceContinue reading “On President Bush’s Teleprompter”

On a Case for Torchwood?

A meteorite crash in Peru has led to a series of mysterious illnesses. Villagers in southern Peru were struck by a mysterious illness after a meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area, regional authorities said Monday. Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball that many were convincedContinue reading “On a Case for Torchwood?”