It costs money to hire people to answer phones, even if they live in Bangladesh or wherever they tend to be these days. So websites that pretend to have customer service actively discourage phone calls. The first way they do … Continue reading →
The first couple of months I was blogging I didn’t post a photo of myself. I originally was completely anonymous, and publishing a photo didn’t even cross my mind. But I could not help but notice that all my readers … Continue reading →
The title of this post is a direct quote from commenter “Cornhead” today on one of the posts about the Ukraine phone call and its fallout. I don’t know about the American people, although I suspect Cornhead is right. I … Continue reading →
When I updated Firefox recently, I noticed that certain familiar and comforting words – “bookmarks,” for example – that used to point to the obvious and could be clicked on without much thought, have been replaced by symbols. And I … Continue reading →
It’s easy to mock George Packer for what he writes in this Atlantic essay about choosing a school for his son in New York City. But I find his essay heartbreaking as well as complex. He’s a well-meaning liberal who … Continue reading →
My mother was an excellent writer. She was also a good storyteller—that is, an entertaining one—although she sometimes embellished things for the sake of the story. I know this for a fact because I sometimes heard her stories about me … Continue reading →
Eighteen years is a long time. On September 11th of 2001, many of the people about to vote in 2020 hadn’t yet been born, and others were so young they don’t remember a time before 9/11. The attack has always … Continue reading →
Recently commenter “Tom Grey” wrote this: I actually think your writing should ALSO be in some more conservative media group site like PJ Media / Townhall / Breitbart? / OAN? but I can imagine even asking them to pay you … Continue reading →
A while back I was explaining to someone what it is that I do as a blogger, and I said, “I write a couple of term papers a day.” Strange, isn’t it, considering that I hated writing term papers in … Continue reading →
Did you ever wake up convinced you were in one place, and then look around and realize you’re in another? Maybe you’re on vacation and you think you’re at home, until you look around the room and everything is unfamiliar. … Continue reading →
Do you talk to yourself? Not aloud (although you may do that, too; I certainly do), but in your head? Psychologists who study the phenomenon say: …we don’t have to use full sentences to talk to ourselves, because we know … Continue reading →
Saturday night, at the end of a long day, I noticed that my computer’s ability to navigate Firefox had slowed down. It wasn’t the first time I’d noticed it; the problem’s been going on for a while. It’s a subtle … Continue reading →