ratiocinations out of thin air/a blog about this that and the other thing
THIS BLOGSITE could have a better title than my name with “dot com” tacked on to it. I had considered Ratiocinations Out of Thin Air as a title—and that would have been a great title, if a confusing one. Too many people wouldn’t have taken the time to ratiocinate over the meaning of the word … CONTINUE READING
ELVIS AND SOCRATES walk into a bar. No, wait—should it be “Socrates and Elvis”? Either way, here’s what this post is all about: I came across a 3-minute video of Indian guru Gaur Gopal Das talking about gossip. Normally, I avoid the advice of “wise” men—especially those I have not heard … CONTINUE READING
THIS MORNING, the question on Quora was, “Who is the most overrated music star of all time?” Rather than answer the question—which I don’t believe can be answered to everyone’s satisfaction—I addressed the assumptions of the question itself.
My answer is indented below between the images of Bert Blyleven (with the ball) and Sigmund … CONTINUE READING
ANOTHER DAY, another question on Quora begging for an answer from me. (Well, maybe not begging, but looking like it requires my attention.) Hopefully, my answer will be unlike others that will be posted and if it doesn’t inform, will at least entertain.
The question was, “Can you name an artist or musician … CONTINUE READING
THIS TIME, the question on Quora was “Why do you not want to be famous?” and I read it at four in the morning. That’s before I’d had the first sip of my Cafe Bustelo (a good coffee to wake up with). So I put on Miles Davis’s WALKIN’ (a good album to … CONTINUE READING
TODAY’S QUESTION ON QUORA that caught my attention was, “How do music artists have such rich lifestyles if everybody pirates their music?” Since I had just finished my monster mug of Cafe Bustelo—and I tried honey instead of my usual light brown sugar as a sweetener, which I won’t be doing again—I thought I’d … CONTINUE READING
I JUST PUT the finishing touches on a rewrite and update of an old article of mine on ’60s teen model Colleen Corby. While rereading the text and checking to see if the images were linked to their source, the opening sentence caught my attention. It read, “The term ‘supermodel’ didn’t exist when Colleen Corby … CONTINUE READING
RESPONDING TO A QUESTION on Quora, I used my answer as the basis for a short article that I titled, “Conservatives Not Exactly Enthralled by Trump Are a Problem.” I was addressing what I assumed was a conservative individual who posted that some conservatives “aren’t exactly enthralled” with Trumps’ presidency.
The point of my piece … CONTINUE READING
THIS ONE IS A DOOZY! The question on Quora was, “Would liberals be surprised to learn that conservatives aren’t exactly enthralled with Donald Trump either?” One must make some assumptions when engaging other Internetally, so I assume that the person who posted this question is politically conservative. I also assume that he assumes that asking … CONTINUE READING
THE REDMOND REPORTER is our local paper here in Redmond, Washington. It’s a typical smalltown paper: twenty pages with local news and advertisements. Unfortunately, I rarely pay any attention to it, but yesterday it was brought to my attention by an article on the front page of the September 7, 2108, edition.
The … CONTINUE READING
FOR THOSE READERS who have their own WordPress sites, I assume you occasionally do what I (alas) consistently do: mistakenly click the Publish button on the right side of your Edit Post work page when you meant to click the Save Draft button. To overstate the situation: leaving the Publish button exposed is like leaving … CONTINUE READING
THE BIG BANG THEORY is an endlessly rewatchable show: aside from the fabulous characters and the intertwining of their personal lives, the dialog is chock-a-block full of humor of all sorts, from the zany to the kind that requires the viewer either have a reasonable IQ or access to the Internet to look things up. … CONTINUE READING
I’M NOT FEELING WELL. It could be some late-Summer thing or an advance taste of what the upcoming flu season has in store for us. But it’s a low-grade headache and fever, sore and swollen throat (that makes me squeak when I try to talk, so I don’t) (which some consider a blessing), and Grate … CONTINUE READING
WORDPRESS. I don’t write about it because I am not technically qualified to say much. All my sites were built by me using WordPress and are maintained by me. I was able to follow most directions, even though many were poorly written. It took too much time and was unnecessarily difficult and frustrating—five years and … CONTINUE READING
MY SEVENTEENTH YEAR of this life-cycle opened with the Viet Cong launching the Tet Offensive, in which they put the lie to everything our government, our military, and our media had been telling us about the war “over there.” This supposedly causes President Lyndon Johnson to announce that he will not seek re-election.
In April, … CONTINUE READING
I SPEND SO MUCH TIME researching the various topics that I write about, I really don’t have much time left to read others’ blogs—which is a shame, because we are living through some kind of golden age of freedom of expression of whatever the hell you wanna say and have the actual possibility of having … CONTINUE READING
I START THE DAY with my usual mug of coffee and while there’s usually too much on my mind, today it’s simple: I can’t get the song “Australia” from the Kinks’ album ARTHUR out of my mind. My head bobs up and down and my body sways to the rhythm and melody and the delightful … CONTINUE READING