Up at 4:45 for a 6:20 flight, and here I am still at the gate at 8:20. At the gate but, alas, on the plane, typing in a cramped space mostly to dispel the boredom and in the full expectation of a whole day to enjoy Amsterdam. It seems that a baggage conveyor belt hit the fuselage, causing a minor de...
"While the political and/or economic topics discussed herein could be very important, it's also possible that they don't matter jack squat because the world as you and I know it is about to be parboiled."
I mean, why get agitated about a U.S. nuclear strike on Iran if we're all going to die in...
Once upon a time there was farmers’ lung, caused by contact with the spores of mouldy hay and other crops. Today, in a signal shift that summarises just about everything that has changed about the way we feed ourselves, there is popcorn lung disease, which afflicts workers who mix, prepare and u...
I hadn't planned to say anything about Bob Dylan’s Modern Times; what would be the point, with all those words already flyin’ about the æther? But then Neddie went and posted a fine item on the structure of songs, and I felt I had to. Actually, it isn’t only about the structure of songs. It’s ab...
Sunday evening, on the way home from a day trip up-country, and the traffic is intense. Bad enough. Then we approach the first of the tollbooths on the way home and the Italians, desperate as ever to Get Ahead, are cruising up any empty lane, assuming they can squeeze in later to where they want to...