tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52499422011-11-09T06:07:27.879-06:00<i>To say Noggle, one first must be able to say the "Nah." </i>Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.comBlogger51311100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-79928298095847463962010-01-03T13:39:00.003-06:002010-01-03T13:41:16.883-06:00

I'm taking this party over to www.brianjnoggle.com/blog. Everyone update your bookmarks and blogrolls. And by "everyone," I mean you, Charles.

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-31362288112856797152009-12-29T07:35:00.000-06:002009-12-29T07:35:00.236-06:00

This book collects a large number of Marcus Aurelius' thoughts about life as a Stoic. Marcus Aurelius, for those of you who don't know, was Roman Emperor in the middle portion of the Empire. He might sound a little familiar because Joaquin Phoenix killed him in Gladiator. The book reads like a set of Stoic tweets or fortune cookies. There is no flow to them, really, aside from a couple that

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-2898437783152179822009-12-28T08:00:00.000-06:002009-12-28T08:00:07.086-06:00

This is not a book about the action figure. Unfortunately. It's a 1979 dark novel about power politics and national and bloc-level conflict. However, in this future, although people are still flying Trans World Airlines, the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact are part of a larger bloc called the Food Bloc which squares off against oil-producing countries (including Great Britain) and the

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-12332565345217515982009-12-26T12:51:00.000-06:002009-12-26T12:51:11.709-06:00

It's been five years since I read the next volume in the series (The Darwin Awards 3, wherein the numbering went Arabic instead of Roman. You know, what I said about that book also applies to this book, really. It's a digest of Web site postings. The essays that introduce each chapter still annoyed me. But five years later, I'm less amused by the anecdotes of creative deaths. Maybe I'm

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-49012013553937700542009-12-26T12:36:00.000-06:002009-12-26T12:37:15.804-06:00

Well, I've read another book of cartoons to make my annual total more impressive. Also, it's a handy book to read when you're watching a football game, as you can read a cartoon or two between plays. So that explains why I spent some time on a fifty year old book of cartoons designated for the sophisticate reading a magazine founded by Ben Franklin. Back in the 50s, it was more a general

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-32749357797406509552009-12-22T19:41:00.002-06:002009-12-22T19:46:39.286-06:00

You know the tea party people, the ones who take off of work to travel to Washington, D.C., to protest? The ones who skip lunches to march in front of their Congressional representatives offices? The ones who show up on Saturday because they don't like health control reform? How do you think they'll like it that the Senate Republican leadership gave in a little early so everyone could go home

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-87354656552762789812009-12-22T07:04:00.003-06:002009-12-22T07:11:05.142-06:00

Things act according to their natures. The scorpion and the frog. Anyone familiar with these could have foreseen this: One of the biggest challenges to ending the foreclosure crisis is this: A surprising number of homeowners who get their monthly payments reduced fall behind again within a year. When borrowers get into financial trouble, lenders have several ways to help. They can offer

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-34442762918070320172009-12-21T08:03:00.000-06:002009-12-21T08:03:00.273-06:00

Yes, I did read another book of 1960s and 1970s cartoons to make my annual quota of 100 books. Well, what would you do? I guess some Family Circus cartoons are amusing. I certainly empathize with them now that I have Jeffy and PJ of my own. But they do seem to be relics of a bygone era of straight nuclear family cartoons. Although the pages of this paperback are yellowed with age, in my

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-4105715614931400822009-12-20T08:56:00.000-06:002009-12-20T08:56:00.247-06:00

Consider this book to be the antidote to the little elementary school books about 1980s television stars that I've read before (TV Superstars '82, TV Superstars '83, TV Close-ups). In it, the author recounts suicides, crimes, breakdowns, scandals, and all sorts of shenanigans that take place in Hollywood to television stars. Oddly enough, the book covers some of the same stars as the books

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-47727732578753788012009-12-19T11:11:00.000-06:002009-12-19T11:12:27.649-06:00

This might be one of MacDonald's darkest pieces. Set in Las Vegas, it focuses on a hotel manager who tries not to get involved in the mob doings on with the hotel or the casino. He falls for a singer who's been with the hotel for a long time (a couple of years), and he dreams of taking her away when he makes enough to buy himself a hotel of his own in Florida. She, however, is blackmailed by

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-4082647987154572562009-12-19T10:42:00.000-06:002009-12-19T10:43:58.386-06:00

This book is a set of reminiscences about growing up in the bend of the Gasconade River in rural Missouri in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The author is the son of a small farmer in the region who attends the local one room elementary school at the time and occasionally takes in a film in a nearby town. Strangely, the stories seem more from the time of The Great Brain series (Utah 1898) than

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-70520998952669765522009-12-19T08:12:00.000-06:002009-12-19T11:17:00.027-06:00

This is a shorter of MacDonald's works, it seems, and it combines two of his themes: business and crime. In it, the oldest brother of a family runs a business empire built on a Florida highway at an interchange. Businesses include a truck stop, a hotel, a motel, a couple restaurants, and a strip mall. His father, who bought all the land, has retired and lives on a hill overlooking his family

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-41469087686242572572009-12-19T07:37:00.003-06:002009-12-19T07:44:35.770-06:00

The Missouri State Democratic Party intends to file an ethics complaint because a Congressman explained his vote to his constituents: The Missouri Democratic Party is crying foul over a mailer U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt's office sent to 7th District residents addressing his vote against cap and trade legislation that aims to reduce greenhouse gases. The League of Conservation Voters has spent more

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-71994970536575871502009-12-16T07:22:00.002-06:002009-12-16T07:27:51.841-06:00

Taking to the streets, smashing things up: Police have forced back hundreds of protesters who tried to break through a perimeter fence at the UN climate summit venue in Copenhagen. The Bella Centre, where the conference is taking place, has now been shut off, says the BBC's Sarah Mukherjee. When conservatives take to the streets, Democrats in office characterize them as violent mobs. When

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-39861040023811877372009-12-11T22:20:00.003-06:002009-12-11T22:23:11.208-06:00

I am the first hit on Yahoo! Answers for brian bought a used bike for $25 less than its original . he paid a total of $ 88 for the bike , what was the original price of the bike. Ladies and gentlemen of the Internet, I cannot but feel nothing but desolate sadness that some poor, stupid product of public education could not help but try Yahoo! answers for a simple word problem. Can't these damn

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-9048403638729592592009-12-11T08:01:00.000-06:002009-12-11T08:02:29.149-06:00

Audit suggests driver training for K.C. police

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-64440993981405020412009-12-08T12:22:00.002-06:002009-12-08T12:33:33.521-06:00

You remember this chart? Click for full size You know what I think? A hint from RSMcCain: Hate to tell Harry Reid, but Danny Tarkanian is running for Senate. He's beating Harry in the polls. That's a lot of new plum government jobs to be had. Coincidentally, it looks as a large number of legislators will hit the job market in 2010. Or is it not coincidence?

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-2392099161933293572009-12-06T09:30:00.002-06:002009-12-06T09:34:10.209-06:00

Another electoral defeat for a tax increase just leads to a sequel, as the Christian County Library Board reanimates the undead and tries to get it on the next ballot: The Christian County Library Board is expected to decide this month whether to send a proposed property tax increase back to voters. If approved, it would help build three libraries. Library Director Mabel Phillips said the

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-71416911902523634322009-12-05T08:49:00.000-06:002009-12-05T08:49:00.619-06:00

This John D. MacDonald paperback original, written over 50 years ago, centers on a man working for a construction company whose boss commits suicide with a harpoon gun. The protagonist's harpoon gun. And it doesn't look like suicide after all. Circumstances and the individual plots of the individual people have hemmed him in as the suspect, though. But when the woman friend who the

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-33813892814810527402009-12-04T07:40:00.000-06:002009-12-04T07:40:00.569-06:00

I'm reviewing these books out of order; I read this book when I went through a recent sci-fi set including Solaris and Lovelock. So apparently it was not only a sci-fi set, but also a single word title sci-fi set. This book centers on the return of a human rescued in space by the Haklh'hi. The young man was raised from infancy by the herd-like aliens. As they return him, they behave a little

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-9961191390951911312009-12-03T07:29:00.000-06:002009-12-03T07:30:16.233-06:00

This is a very early thriller from a very young (from the book jacket photo) Cornwell. Probably precedes his success with historical novels, but this very book could be a historical novel of sorts since it deals with a veteran of the Falkland Islands War. A disabled veteran, winner of the Victoria Cross, finds that his boat--the one thing he missed most--has been beached during his absence and

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-77441009239419200632009-12-02T14:43:00.002-06:002009-12-02T14:54:12.851-06:00

I received two Forbes subscription renewals in the mail the other day. The same day. With a $40 difference in a six month subscription rate. First, a congratulations on my recent move and an offer to renew at $59.95 for 26 issues: Click for full size In another envelope, an offer to renew at $19.95 for 26 issues: Click for full size As you know, I take a larger number of magazines

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-1318631651929685602009-12-01T08:48:00.000-06:002009-12-01T08:48:00.903-06:00

As an anonymous commentor said when I reviewed Ben Bova's book of the same name, the novel Millennium by John Varley, based on the short story "Air Raid" by the same, is better than the film Millennium, based on the short story "Air Raid" by John Varley. You know, he's right, but it's a strange odyssey from the short story to each. According to Wikipedia: We had the first meeting on Millennium

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-70916576987671276272009-11-30T16:10:00.002-06:002009-11-30T16:13:11.770-06:00

John Nolte, formerly of the northwest side like yours truly and now of Big Hollywood, agrees with my assessment of the forthcoming Brothers: The budget for ”Brothers,” per director Jim Sheridan, is $25 million, which probably doesn’t include marketing for promotion and … well, tell me again how Hollywood is driven by profit and not ideology? We’re a month away from 2010 so it’s hard to argue “

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-29295073953551724522009-11-29T08:18:00.004-06:002009-11-29T13:28:15.731-06:00

How does a couple not on the guest list bypass White House security to get into the premises to mingle with the President and all the President's men? However does one get through a tight net composed of the Secret Service, the military, and "You asked for miracles, Theo, I give you the FBI"? By being swarthy, communicating with terrorists, and arguing for Jihad when told they're not on the

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-22162926655879166862009-11-27T07:23:00.002-06:002009-11-27T07:25:59.517-06:00

Well, after reading Scipio Africanus: Greater than Napoleon, of course I picked up this book, a novel about Scipio's adversary which I'd picked up a while back. The book is an interesting combination of first person narrative with historical fact in that the battles are in the right order makes a pretty compelling read. We get bits from Hannibal's childhood as the son of Hamilcar Barca and his

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-78201862600784319452009-11-25T06:38:00.002-06:002009-11-25T06:45:39.017-06:00

Lileks finds a value proposition in printed magazines versus online versions: Some of the happiest moments of my life consisted simply of sitting in an airplane reading the Economist, lost in the big thick glossy parade of news and stories from everywhere, assembled with skill, and presented without a slime trail of ignorant comments at the end. Another, of course, is that they lack

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-54316075354881740122009-11-22T19:22:00.001-06:002009-11-22T19:22:25.515-06:00

I liked this book. It involved a lot of aspects of home buying, moving, and whatnot with which I've recently been reacquainted. Also, it's old school Dave Barry, written when he was young, married to his first wife, and before he became a brand. You know how you can tell? Is his name above the title or below it? There you go. As Amazon shows below, this book was later rebadged with his name

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-32678175744454619302009-11-21T08:31:00.000-06:002009-11-21T08:31:00.492-06:00

I enjoyed Yakov Smirnoff's humor back in the old days (those 1980s again) when his America vs. the USSR and incredulous immigrant schtick brought a unique perspective to being an American. This book recreates a bunch of those moments, and since I can remember what that was like, I can still laugh with it. Since I'm seeing the USA of today turn into that USSR of his humor, it's not humor without

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-22687780280719900942009-11-21T07:29:00.002-06:002009-11-21T07:36:53.333-06:00

It didn't sound like the sort of film I'd see since I'm not dating/married to a girl who would want to see it, but this review of the film Amreeka doesn't make it sound like it delivers warm and fuzzies to people of a certain mindset: The two arrive at the Illinois home of her sister Raghda (Hiam Abbass of "The Visitor") shortly after the start of the war in Iraq, as anti-Arab paranoia runs high

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-78867865768300309952009-11-20T15:03:00.001-06:002009-11-20T15:03:28.075-06:00

This isn't the book for the Kris Kristofferson film of the same name or for the Lance Henrikson television show of the same name. Instead, it's a book written in 1996 about the state of the world and a close call for a nuclear war between the United States and the USSR except for a lunar rebellion that takes control of the warring sides' incomplete ABM satellite networks. It's a pretty good

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-22203673031618282009-11-19T20:23:00.001-06:002009-11-19T20:25:12.784-06:00

When I read the selected works of Cicero earlier this year, Cicero kept telling me about the Roman age of heroes and of Scipio. So when my beautiful wife and I were killing some time in Patten Books a couple months back, I found this volume for $6. That alone should tell you how far gone I am into my current Roman history sort of phase (for me, 4 books in a couple of months is a pretty

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-49935571010267231262009-11-18T08:12:00.000-06:002009-11-18T08:12:00.044-06:00

I read this book pretty soon after Missouri Deathwatch, so it posed stark relief. The professional wordsmith who cranked out this entry kept it pretty fresh and quick moving. In this book, Nick Carter goes against AXE itself when a Soviet spymaster comes to town and shoots Nick. In the hospital, another attempt is made on Nick after his boss visits. Why does AXE want the Killmaster dead?

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-78621093592481035102009-11-17T20:28:00.001-06:002009-11-17T20:28:29.200-06:00

At first, I thought this book was going to be a mash-up between a pulp paperback thriller and a romance novel. The cover looks violent. The back mentions the title character was trained in a mercenary camp. The first chapter features her infiltrating rebel-held territory for the second night to make a deal with a rebel leader and ends up in a mixed martial arts fight with a couple of

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-38129592654737935332009-11-17T06:36:00.002-06:002009-11-17T06:42:52.054-06:00

Sotomayor is not a reactionary ogre like Scalia or Roberts. She's a glamorous celebrity! Apparently, no one told Sonia Sotomayor that Supreme Court justices are supposed to be circumspect, emerging from their marble palace mainly to dispense legal wisdom to law schools, judges’ conferences and lawyers’ meetings. Since becoming the first Hispanic justice, Sotomayor has mamboed with movie stars,

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-91468962399451429442009-11-13T08:08:00.000-06:002009-11-13T08:08:00.238-06:00

After a couple years of watching the game religiously, I think I have enough insight into how it works to talk football. Okay, I don't have enough insight into the muscle memory mechanics of it to instruct how to block or how to turn the hips to fool a cornerback, but enough to talk it. As such, this book is really just a little refresher course on it except for the biographies of great past

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-6024420407892156052009-11-12T07:06:00.003-06:002009-11-12T14:43:26.458-06:00

I was treated to this trailer on Veteran's Day when I treated my wife to what turned out to be an anti-Iraq War film Men Who Stare At Goats: You know, it could have been a good drama. Soldier dies in combat, and his ne'er-do-well brother straightens out and grows up as he sort of steps into the role of father-figure for his nieces and eventually the lover for the widow. Then, the MIA

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-54378849710684811232009-11-10T08:17:00.000-06:002009-11-10T08:17:00.334-06:00

My goodness, if you've ever wanted to read a book composed of 88% bullet points, look no further. I'd hoped this book would be a thoughtful exploration of things Americans believe, but this is no Jan Harold Brunvand book. The authors have modeled it upon a book by H.L. Mencken from the 1920s. It lists, sorted by chapter, a variety of things they say Americans believe ca. 1983. A few of the

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-30272337142034721932009-11-09T08:04:00.000-06:002009-11-09T08:04:00.171-06:00

This book follows the story of the sons of a tribal chief in prehistoric England. The oldest brother is banished; the lame brother hides in the old temples and gets visions. The protagonist middle brother falls in love and gets his tribal scars of manhood. The oldest brother returns and slays the father, assuming tribal leadership and selling the middle brother as a slave. The middle

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-6417482629240752112009-11-08T08:06:00.000-06:002009-11-08T08:06:00.359-06:00

This book was sold by Doubleday Science Fiction, but really it's a mystery set at a science fiction convention. The book is thus very reminiscient of Murder at the ABA. In it, a professor who has written some science fiction becomes embroiled in a series of murders that seem to revolve around a rare science fiction pulp magazine. Not a bad read, ultimately. It's an old science fiction book,

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-71265297204586510592009-11-07T19:59:00.001-06:002009-11-07T19:59:43.142-06:00

Another Star Trek book "by" William Shatner (see also Star Trek: The Return). This one is the middle of a trilogy, so I'm in a world of challenge already. I've missed much of the set-up and back story, and brother, that book must have taken plenty. Not only do we have nods to all of the Star Trek series to that time (even Voyager), but the book deals with the universe from the "Mirror, Mirror"

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-35995095780418301292009-11-07T19:40:00.000-06:002009-11-07T19:41:01.127-06:00

Now this is premium 80s pulp fiction. The bad guys are obvious, and everyone aside from a few academics and maybe Teddy Kennedy agreed the Soviets were the bad guys. In this book, the mercenary band Soldiers of Barrabas (SOBs, you see) go into Siberia to rescue a dissident scientist. The book deals with the way which the team gets into Russia--through a phony computer deal that lands them in a

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-20149770831453217742009-11-06T15:15:00.001-06:002009-11-06T15:17:01.949-06:00

As you might recollect, this book was made into two films. One was made in the Eastern bloc the year I was born; the other starred George Clooney and was made in 2002. I haven't seen either, but I remember it was a big deal because it represented something of the pinnacle of Eastern European science fiction. The result is a mixture of Event Horizon, The Forge of God, and The Unbearable

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-60763771227268034642009-10-27T08:35:00.000-05:002009-10-27T08:35:00.342-05:00

I found this book at my first book fair in the Springfield area. The Friends of the Christian County Library book sale was laden with series pulp like The Executioner, so how could I not grab one entitled Missouri Deathwatch and set in St. Louis. Sort of. Aside from the title and the character mentioning that the action takes place in St. Louis, there's no real sense of place. Descriptions of

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-42774774300695073342009-10-26T08:34:00.000-05:002009-10-26T11:43:08.669-05:00

I read this book after my experience with The Ruins, and I was pleased to remember how good fiction should roll. This is my first Orson Scott Card book (although it's a collaboration), so I didn't know what to expect. But it's a well-paced science fiction bit. The main character is a mute enhanced monkey who acts as a "witness" for an important scientist as she and her family join a one-way

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-10871641425546064382009-10-25T10:28:00.001-05:002009-10-25T10:29:47.641-05:00

This book puts Scott Smith into some mighty fine company. Along with the complete works of Algernon Blackwood, I put this book down with no intention of finishing it. It is a slow mving, chapterless tale of some American students who go into the interior of Mexico and encounter something horrible. It's a horror book, blurbed by Stephen King for crying out loud. I meandered through almost a

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-9263029779122623652009-10-23T07:19:00.002-05:002009-10-23T07:28:46.187-05:00

Or maybe it was unfortunate placement for these ads: Click for full size Click for full size Thrills by day and chills by night. How's that working out for St. Louis?

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-64537418755897615312009-10-20T06:23:00.002-05:002009-10-20T06:27:20.926-05:00

The family of a slain family sues the murderer's employer for not preventing the murders: The Joyce Meyer Ministries did too little to prevent its security manager, Christopher Coleman, from alledgedly murdering his wife and two sons, according to an addition filed Monday to a wrongful-death lawsuit. The suit, filed here on behalf of Sheri Coleman's family, now seeks damages "in excess of

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-51863887758123117652009-10-19T06:41:00.002-05:002009-10-19T06:47:37.782-05:00

A St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist discovers that government aid helps the irresponsible: Let's consider two families with kids. The first mom and pop buy fancy cars, head off to Vegas, buy the biggest house they can afford. They take a lackadaisical attitude toward work and generally blow money. The next mom and pop work hard and advance in their careers. They drive clunkers, vacation in

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-33884819019952311422009-10-17T07:27:00.002-05:002009-10-17T07:31:02.636-05:00

From Marko: In order for something to be a human right, it cannot and must not be something that requires a good or a service from someone else. If you make it so, then the person providing that good or service will become a slave to the community, because they no longer have the option to refuse. That’s why health care cannot ever be a human right: because health care is a commodity, just

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-50496192116061108792009-10-08T15:43:00.003-05:002009-10-08T15:48:45.820-05:00

To own an NFL team, you should think like he does: I know how those words play out in Idiot America. They are embraced as gospel. But inside the locker rooms of the NFL, where the overwhelming majority of the players are descendants of slaves, Limbaugh's ignorant ramblings resonate with entirely different emotions. His money might be green, but his words are colored with hate and intolerance.

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-28971041891880972372009-10-06T11:40:00.002-05:002009-10-06T11:58:29.272-05:00

You know what we need to see? How about a reality show about the tough guys in the US Department of Fish and Wildlife conducting their raids in defense of helpless orchids? "You don't need to know. You can't know." That's what Kathy Norris, a 60-year-old grandmother of eight, was told when she tried to ask court officials why, the day before, federal agents had subjected her home to a furious

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-66165091679844572832009-09-30T15:20:00.002-05:002009-09-30T15:23:34.738-05:00

Missouri seeks court ban on intoxicated gun possession All joking aside, is this really how "law" is supposed to be made? The legislature whips something confusing up, and then the government lawyers get the courts to actually determine what the law is? Because that's not my understanding of a constitutional republic with a separation of powers.

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-56073722755286141002009-09-25T09:40:00.000-05:002009-09-25T09:40:00.937-05:00

This is the second book in the Tarzan series. Given its origins in pulp fiction, one must forgive some of the circumstances that come around for no other purpose than to spin a good yarn. Tarzan leaves the United States after leaving Jane to his cousin, who has assumed Tarzan's birthright. Then, he enlists in the French secret service. Stop snickering. Then he goes to Africa on a mission,

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-84451816072935839252009-09-24T08:31:00.000-05:002009-09-24T08:31:00.532-05:00

This is a collection from one of those poetry contests that makes everyone a winner and then puts all the winners into a book and then sells the winners copies of the book for $50. Full disclosure: I appeared in one of these books in 1984, and my sainted mother bought a copy. I probably even still have the copy of the Henderson Highlighter that reprinted the poem. But I digress. As for book

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-49872939704261320582009-09-24T07:06:00.000-05:002009-09-24T07:07:57.410-05:00

Business owners admit fraud Crap, they're onto us. We charge more than things cost us!

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-43137494514008713112009-09-23T08:53:00.000-05:002009-09-23T08:53:00.225-05:00

This book is the novel that launched two films. The paperback I have is not a true tie-in since it doesn't have the stars of the original on it, but it does mention that it will soon be a major motion picture. The book hinges on four guys who take a subway train hostage. It's gritty seventies suspense, and seems somewhat dated because these days we expect more dastardly plots than the lives

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-14250749981400167492009-09-23T07:20:00.001-05:002009-09-23T07:22:12.899-05:00

Sarah Michelle Gellar, husband welcome baby girl That husband, of course, is former "actor" Freddie Prinze, Jr. Or, to AP headline writers, nobody.

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-79247339494858239522009-09-22T08:25:00.000-05:002009-09-22T08:25:00.116-05:00

So far, I've kept my word. I didn't buy this book, I checked it out from the library. It's not that bad of a bit, really, compared to some of Parker's other recent entries. In it, Hitch and Cole rescue April Kyle Susan Silverman Allie from a whorehouse and they move to Brimstone, a town on the upswing. There, a revivalist preacher works to shut down the saloons. Hitch and Cole work as

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-64046740361078691132009-09-22T07:19:00.002-05:002009-09-22T07:24:24.902-05:00

Do you think there's a problem with this? St. Louis County's chief governmental lobbyist announced late Monday night that he would resign his position with County Executive Charlie A. Dooley's staff in favor of a career as an independent political consultant. Darin Cline, Dooley's one-time campaign director who was appointed to the county job of director of intergovernmental affairs in 2007,

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-78941510957173429372009-09-21T12:18:00.001-05:002009-09-21T12:18:26.206-05:00

I think David Barry wanted to write A Christmas Story for our generation. The book is short (117 pages, which is just right for a movie script). It's a sweet little story that's not full of quite the absurdity of his normal work or his full novels, and it's cut into a short number of scenes. It tells the story of a dog's death on Christmas Eve against the backdrop--or maybe it's the foreground

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-33475429981928317592009-09-21T06:35:00.004-05:002009-09-21T06:47:29.795-05:00

On the national scale, the Republican Party and rightwing commentators say that proper health care reform would include allowing insurance parties to sell across state lines and eliminating state mandates for coverage. On the state scale, Republican state legislators push for more mandates: "We know if we pass legislation, we will give these children a better shot," Sen. Eric Schmitt,

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-58986703587195447472009-09-20T08:54:00.002-05:002009-09-20T09:00:29.113-05:00

Here's a touching story about how a high school football team gave up a shutout so that its opponent could have a Downs Syndrome running back get a touchdown: So in the final stages of Benton's third game of the season on Monday at Maryville, McCamy decided it was time for Ziesel — a 15-year-old freshman with Down syndrome — to make his season debut. With about 10 seconds left in the game, and

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-39078124135930454052009-09-19T08:57:00.000-05:002009-09-19T08:57:00.130-05:00

This is a lightweight tip book, a self-help bit. It focuses mostly on staging your home when you're still in it and provides a lot of ideas about how to alter your furniture arrangements and little things you can do with your accessories to help sell your home. As such, it wasn't that helpful for me, since we're vacating before selling. However, if you're selling your house with your stuff is

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-57728076980174928502009-09-18T09:51:00.001-05:002009-09-18T09:51:51.937-05:00

This book, like Real Men Don't Eat Quiche, is an early 80s mocking snapshot of a demographic. In this case, it's mocking the young urban professional, the Manhattanite two-career couple with eyes on improving themselves. The craziest thing about it is you could substitute casual attire for the pinstripe suit, a DVR or Slingbox for the VCR, an iPod for the Walkman, and add some comic book

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-20710884735889344112009-09-18T09:42:00.000-05:002009-09-18T09:43:16.837-05:00

It takes a strong man to buy a book of photography depicting cats and then to admit it on his blog, publically. At least that's what I tell myself before the beatings start. This book focuses on cats in the workplace, mostly in New York City, in 1979. It's worth more for the backgrounds of the workplaces than the cats in the foreground. A liquor store that Ed McBain would have described. The

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-53196214462096730222009-09-17T11:06:00.001-05:002009-09-17T11:08:49.563-05:00

A riddle based on this news story: St. Louis residents happy with city police service, most tell pollsters. What do you call a St. Louis City resident who's dissatisfied with city policing? A St. Louis County resident.

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-57468704633536519112009-09-16T08:25:00.000-05:002009-09-16T08:25:00.038-05:00

I couldn't help it; I read another children's book about television stars in the 1980s. See also books as historical documents week here at MfBJN. Earlier this year I read TV Close-ups, and in 2005 I read the next edition of this series, TV Superstars '83. Unlike those books, I knew pretty much all the stars in this book. Perhaps 1982 was the pinnacle of my television viewing. The book

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-72946812529983004652009-09-16T06:35:00.002-05:002009-09-16T06:38:05.135-05:00

Lileks breaks with the church: Given the immense stuff-reduction program I’m on, it seems counterproductive. I set aside a great many books for the thrift store today, to give you an idea of the magnitude of this effort. (The piano required moving a table, which required moving a bookcase, which required distributing the bookcase’s contents.) Five grocery bags full of books – sorry, boys, but

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-76842118414330564992009-09-15T08:24:00.000-05:002009-09-15T08:24:00.712-05:00

It must be books as historical documents week here at MfBJN. This particular entry is a Heathcliff collection of cartoons from the newspaper (in those days, I would have been reading him in the Milwaukee Journal Green Sheet. This book, unlike Sweet Savage Heathcliff, does not focus on his love for Sonja, so I got my wish. Unfortunately, the book hits the same tropes of what Heathcliff does.

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-11608998495445449332009-09-14T15:04:00.002-05:002009-09-14T15:06:51.183-05:00

The piece is entitled "The Case for Killing Granny", so you know you're in for it. The very lede identifies the core issue of a government health plan: My mother wanted to die, but the doctors wouldn't let her. At least that's the way it seemed to me as I stood by her bed in an intensive-care unit at a hospital in Hilton Head, S.C., five years ago. My mother was 79, a longtime smoker who was

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-11177129263621345992009-09-14T08:20:00.000-05:002009-09-14T08:20:00.102-05:00

It's been over a decade since I listened to the sequel to this book, Real Men Don't Bond, as an audiobook during my hour-plus commuting days. I thought highly enough of the audiobook sequel that I went ahead and bought the original when I found it at a book fair. As a document from 1982, it's quite the historical document. Portions of it are amusing, and parts of it are not. Its uneven nature

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-30014783919662723872009-09-13T10:00:00.000-05:002009-09-13T10:01:08.643-05:00

Of course, I've seen the film with Alan Ladd as the titular Shane, and I own the The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking album which samples from the same, so when I saw the book, I bought it. It is the short novel (120 pages) upon which the film was based. Like True Grit, the book is told in the first person narrator through the eyes of a child. In this case, it's the son of the farmers with whom

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-64477006759585908752009-09-12T10:54:00.002-05:002009-09-12T10:58:07.063-05:00

That's what the prosecutors indicate here: Police in Coatesville say they stopped a white SUV being driven by a young girl on Sunday afternoon. Authorities say 30-year-old Lakisha Hogue was in the passenger seat when they stopped the vehicle. According to police documents, Hogue was laughing and said she was teaching the girl to drive. Hogue is charged with endangering the welfare of a child,

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-43205036156164972132009-09-10T11:24:00.003-05:002009-09-10T11:28:23.106-05:00

President Obama's remarks last night: We are the only democracy -- the only advanced democracy on Earth -- the only wealthy nation -- that allows such hardship for millions of its people. Question: Does India not count as a democracy or a suitably advanced democracy? Does it suit this characterization because it has hundreds of millions whose health care is not provided by the government? Or

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-33088832803487568042009-09-08T06:36:00.000-05:002009-09-08T06:37:01.259-05:00

Let's face it, looking at the cover of this book, a cheap black binding with only the words "Private Edition" underlined in pink cursive, one gets the sense that this might be a certain type of book. When one reads the first line of the first story, "As I fastened my dress--the soft, pretty one of pongee that I made especially for Dad's arrival...", one might think, Holy pongee, it is that kind

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-73923623347796691222009-09-07T08:02:00.003-05:002009-09-07T08:06:00.947-05:00

President Obama to Appoint Ron Bloom Manufacturing Czar: In Cincinnati tomorrow, President Obama will announce that he's appointing Ron Bloom his Senior Counselor for Manufacturing Policy, White House sources tell ABC News. Bloom is currently Senior Advisor to Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner as a member of the President’s Task Force on the Automotive Industry, named to that position in

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-42600203507932043222009-09-07T07:50:00.003-05:002009-09-07T07:53:53.618-05:00

Obama’s approval rating drops among whites: After a summer of health care battles and sliding approval ratings for President Barack Obama, the White House is facing a troubling new trend: The voters losing faith in the president are the ones he had worked hardest to attract. New surveys show steep declines in Obama's approval ratings among whites, including Democrats and independents, who were

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-41609424302583366122009-09-04T07:39:00.002-05:002009-09-04T07:41:49.828-05:00

This author argues that the United States will default on its debt: Almost everyone is aware that federal government spending in the United States is scheduled to skyrocket, primarily because of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Recent "stimulus" packages have accelerated the process. Only the naively optimistic actually believe that politicians will fully resolve this looming fiscal

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-67315675807334785772009-09-02T09:59:00.000-05:002009-09-02T09:59:00.805-05:00

Look, Ma! I'm actually reading the Classics Club books I bought. This book collects a number of Cicero's works, including his law defenses or prosecutions, some of his letters, and some of his philosophical essays. I found it to be an interesting sampler plate, as it captures many different modes of Cicero. The attorney, with eloquent courtroom or Forum arguments for or against someone. In

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-55714277183478446352009-09-01T13:10:00.001-05:002009-09-01T13:11:53.781-05:00

On the one hand, Sarah assures me help is on the way. On the other, SkyNet is after me.

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-27986700463742984942009-09-01T09:48:00.000-05:002009-09-01T09:48:00.574-05:00

This is a shorter 87th Precinct novel from the 1970s, before hardback bloat demanded every book be 300 pages. A blind man is murdered, and then his blind wife is murdered and the apartment tossed. Is someone murdering blind people, or were they targeted specifically? That's the question for Carella and the gang. Funny, the book deals with veterans back from the War (Vietnam) and shenanigans

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-58797564851266889832009-08-31T09:31:00.000-05:002009-08-31T09:31:00.786-05:00

I might count this as a historical novel. Well, a pulp novel from history. The cover says Tarzan is perhaps the most famous character this extraordinary writer ever created, but I know Burroughs mostly for John Carter, the Warlord of Mars. Tarzan has gotten quite the screen time, though, hasn't he? I remember the television program that KPLR ran on Saturday mornings before its movie triple

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-42218756897544775722009-08-30T09:20:00.001-05:002009-08-30T09:20:39.208-05:00

All the cool kids, and by that I mean Kim du Toit (PBUH), love the Flashman novels. So when I lit upon one for a couple bits at a book fair, I bit. You know if you've been reading here any length of time (and don't skip the book reports) that I've been reading historical novels, particularly the Sharpe series, so I have to draw a quick contrast between the two. Unfortunately, this book and

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-52942757017086611262009-08-27T06:20:00.001-05:002009-08-27T06:21:36.157-05:00

RI highway trooper delivers baby in pickup truck.

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-23823209272635094342009-08-26T06:55:00.003-05:002009-08-26T07:29:32.285-05:00

1 suspect in custody following Dem HQ vandalism in Denver: A 24-year-old arrested this morning on suspicion of smashing 11 windows at Colorado Democratic Party headquarters tried to conceal his identity while allegedly committing the crime, according to police descriptions. . . . . he other storefronts surrounding the building on West Eighth Avenue and Santa Fe Drive in downtown Denver's art

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-31934113283060051362009-08-25T07:47:00.002-05:002009-08-25T07:55:08.493-05:00

Britain proves again that ad absurdum defense of gun rights is valid: British government plans to curb alcohol-fuelled violence by introducing plastic beer glasses in pubs are unlikely to be popular, the pub industry warned on Monday. The Home Office (Interior Ministry) has commissioned a new design for plastic containers in an attempt to stop glasses being used as weapons, reports said. The

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-69678717768818133802009-08-23T07:58:00.002-05:002009-08-23T08:10:02.352-05:00

What, polls kept open extra hours to pour in extra Democratic votes? ACORN-backed fake voter registrations? Problems purging voter rolls of duplicates? No, silly. Election fraud in the 1876 election that split the city from the county: Prominent promoters cried foul and rushed to court. Hearings found such likely fraud as a rural precinct that recorded 132 votes against and two in favor, with

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-4882491570278182392009-08-20T05:52:00.001-05:002009-08-20T05:54:15.750-05:00

President Obama explains it to rabbis: "We are God's partners in matters of life and death," Obama went on to say, according to Moline's real-time stream. Stunning.

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-689168507397525052009-08-18T11:26:00.003-05:002009-08-18T11:47:59.331-05:00

Obama's MySpace page: I'm 52 years old, not 48: Would place president's birth during time Hawaii was a territory: If President Obama were indeed born in Hawaii, was it while the islands were a territory of the United States? A new wrinkle in the dispute over his birth – and whether he is eligible to be president under the U.S. Constitution's requirement that the president be a "natural born"

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-34178718808437579352009-08-17T08:42:00.003-05:002009-08-17T08:59:14.396-05:00

It's similar to a Googlebomb or a Googlewhack, but it's this: when someone tries to find a set of search terms to use to conduct a Google search that will link to a certain blog so that you can see if your search terms appear in that blog's round-up of weird search engine queries. For example: Go to Google. Search for betty naked with Mr Weatherbee. Click through on the Dustbury link. Watch for

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-35483873540826967662009-08-15T12:42:00.000-05:002009-08-15T12:42:00.367-05:00

I read this book right after the Gates thing and right after a conversation on race that pretty much ended with my black friend saying, "You're not black, so you can't understand and you're wrong." Maybe this book was penance. Or maybe it's because it was the first Mosley book I saw at a book fair after I read Transgressions. Pick whichever you want to fit into your narrative of Brian. This

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-76329644763369540522009-08-14T08:27:00.000-05:002009-08-14T08:27:00.338-05:00

I read the first book in this series (Sharpe's Tiger) earlier this year, and nobody saw fit to fill in the gaps in the series for my birthday, so here I am reading the second book. In this book, Sargeant Sharpe is the sole survivor of a massacre by a treasonous English major. Colonel McCandless takes Sharpe to try to capture the traitor and bring him to justice as English forces march to fight

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-27857853591254991942009-08-13T08:06:00.000-05:002009-08-13T08:06:01.272-05:00

One of the more interesting things about this story is the authors. Childhood friends in the 1950s in Illinois, they went onto different things. One wrote the story that became Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. The other became an archbishop. They got together and wrote a book that would hearken back to the sci-fi space operas they loved as kids. It's such a neat story, it appears on the back

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-21372359259128242312009-08-12T12:15:00.000-05:002009-08-12T12:17:12.677-05:00

Yes, I really did read an elementary school fanbook about television shows on television in the early 1970s. This book talks about: Gary Burghoff on M*A*S*H Michael Landon on Little House on the Prairie Darren McGavin on Nightstalker Patti Cahoon on Apple's Way Freddie Prinze on Chico and the Man Kurt Russell on The New Land Valerie Harper on Rhoda Clifton Davis on That's My Mama Ron Howard

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-19593647951852022892009-08-11T15:43:00.000-05:002009-08-11T15:43:00.209-05:00

From the wikipedia entry on the board game Risk: Using area movement, Risk ignores limitations such as the vast size of the world and the logistics of long campaigns. So you mean I'll need a navy to invade Iceland? There goes my weekend plans. Anyone want to go catch GI Joe instead?

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-18975045394837889362009-08-11T09:57:00.000-05:002009-08-11T09:57:00.142-05:00

The cover: Brad Pitt will take risks for love. Seriously? Take risks for something of value? You don't say. I think it would be more revealing to say Brad Pitt takes risks because he's celebrity-insular and reckless. Unless they mean Brad Pitt shoplifts at Toys 'R' Us and stuffs Parker Brothers games under the baby blankets of his adopted hordes. That would mean taking Risks in a way

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-58118866961310202592009-08-10T12:38:00.002-05:002009-08-10T12:44:32.870-05:00

Family losing home because of seven-cent mistake: A Michigan family is losing its home because it underpaid the mortgage by 7 cents in January, a legal aid group says. The statement is presented as straight fact in the lead. However: Rooks said [redacted] of Deckerville, in the Thumb, inadvertently underpaid their mortgage because a postal clerk issued a money order for $440 rather than

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-90667769473894654112009-08-10T12:33:00.002-05:002009-08-10T12:37:44.894-05:00

Man wins a gunfight with a knife: Normally you lose when you bring a knife to a gunfight, but not Ramiro Silva. . . . . The gunman stuffed the shotgun into a bag and ran into the woods and Mr. Silva grabbed his machete, a fearsome looking blade, and went in after him. . . . . Silva wacked the suspect with the sword, using the face not the blade. Knife, machete, sword.... All the same to the

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-45064408912105659432009-08-05T08:40:00.002-05:002009-08-05T08:43:31.093-05:00

Two disparate headlines indicating that state-run health care does death better than health: Health plan covers assisted suicide but not new cancer treatment Gov't insurance would allow coverage for abortion Dying is cost-effective when you're just a number in parentheses on the government ledger.

Brian J.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.com2