I was about twelve years old when I first read Orwell’s masterpiece Nineteen Eighty-Four. It scared me more than anything I’d ever read. Did I understand every single bit of it? No, but I understood a surprising amount. And it … Continue reading →
In yesterday’s thread on a poll indicating a steep decline in patriotism in the US, commenter “charles” wrote: That is one thing that makes polls like this so disheartening; if more and more people believe that love of one’s country … Continue reading →
This article claims that giving up novel-reading can be a sign of senility: Fiction, on the other hand, requires you to exercise your memory, as you proceed from beginning to end and retain a variety of details, characters and plots. … Continue reading →
Today is Valentine’s Day and I’m feeling somewhat raw, for obvious reasons. And yet I’ve never been really big on Valentine’s Day celebrations. After all, for the last thirty years or so I haven’t been able to eat chocolate without … Continue reading →
[NOTE: Here’s a repeat of one of my earliest posts, written in my very first year of blogging: May, 2005. Back then I didn’t have all that many readers, so I thought I’d bring it out for another go-round.] I … Continue reading →
[NOTE: This is a repeat of a post originally published five years ago. Gerard had made the first comment on the original post, as you can see if you follow that link. “Many great dears are taken away…”] —John Updike: … Continue reading →
[NOTE: First published here in June of 2006.] I try to do about three miles of brisk walking every day for exercise. On rainy or snowy days, I’m off to the gym and its treadmill, which feels like–well, like being … Continue reading →
Although today I had hoped to publish Part II of my series on the Kari Lake election fraud trial, I’m planning it for tomorrow instead. I got a later-than-usual start today because I was dealing with some health issues involving … Continue reading →
[NOTE: This small poetic effort of mine has become somewhat of a holiday tradition at the blog. So here it comes again—just like the holiday itself.] ‘TWAS THE BLOGGER’S NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS ‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through … Continue reading →
Don’t really think so. But the other day some commenter brought it up for discussion, and here’s the idea: A paper published in the journal ‘Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology’ looked into the origins of life here on our … Continue reading →
I’ve always liked the work of Jorge Luis Borges. His writing isn’t to everyone’s taste, but it is to mine. I was reminded of Borges the other evening when I did a search for “science fiction stories about immortals” and … Continue reading →
When I moved to smaller digs over a decade ago, I stored a couple of boxes of my stuff and some pieces of furniture in my ex-husband’s storage unit. Actually, at the time he had two storage units, both of … Continue reading →