Bookworm Room

I have a friend who’s looking for a job as C, C++ programmer.  My friend specializes in databases, and can also program in other languages.  He’s also very smart and very nice, which is always an excellent combination. If you know of any jobs, please send me an email (bookwormroom *at* gmail.com), and I’ll forward [...]

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I’m sorry I was incommunicado this weekend, but my Mom has been up and down, and up and down, both health- and mood-wise.  Yesterday, she was gasping for breath in the ER with CHF, today she says from her hospital bed “Actually, I feel great.” Obviously, I’m not suffering as my Mom is, since I’m [...]

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Just last week, I wittered on about my disrespect for so many ostensibly scientific studies nowadays, since they’re focused on establishing an agenda that they have little to do with the scientific methods.  And of course, I routinely lambast here those self-styled experts who are also pushing an agenda.  One of the worst areas for [...]

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I’m very suspicious of “studies.”  As a liberal, I was ready to trust anything that came out of academia.  As a conservative, I’m suspicious of academia, because I know it’s more interested in specific outcomes than in the scientific method.  A good example of this is a survey that was sent around to Marin County [...]

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I drove Mr. Bookworm’s car today.  That means that, when I turned on the radio, I got NPR.  I don’t listen to NPR anymore.  I find very dull the carefully packaged stories, all of which advance, with greater or lesser subtlety, a Progressive political agenda.  I prefer freewheeling talk radio, where hosts do live interviews [...]

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It’s been quite a year and, frankly, one that I think lots of us could have done without.  Let’s hope that 2012 offers more in the way of positive excitement and good outcomes!

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This is an exercise in pure speculation. I invite all here to bring their own notions to the table. An old friend of mine visited me last Saturday to catch up on things. We walked my dog and began a long conversation that ended later in my backyard over coffee and tea. Bob is fascinated [...]

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Merry Christmas!

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Mom’s in the hospital again and suffering greatly, not in body, but in mind. She’s mildly delusional, and very paranoid, angry and anxious. I can’t imagine how grim it is to live in her head. I slipped away for an hour and had lunch with Don Quixote. Our conversation turned to evil. I believe evil [...]

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OK, I’ve been mulling (as in mulled wine) Earl’s gingerbread pudding recipe (and thank you for introducing us to Earl’s blog and photo). Hmmm…I need to try this, but probably won’t be able to until between X-mas and New Year. Those of you that know me, know that I am, for better or worse, at-least [...]

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If you’ve been wondering what will happen if the North Pole ever falls under federal aegis, wait no more.  The answer is here:

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Hanukkah starts tomorrow night at sunset.  David Goldman explains beautifully how important this holiday is to our modern understanding of individual freedom, the value of life, and faith in God.  It is not, and shouldn’t be, Christmas’ echo.  Each holiday is an important remembrance in its own right. And here’s a little happy song to [...]

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I am buried under laundry, house cleaning, caring for parent and children, organizing photos to be digitized (half price, thanks to a Groupon), getting out Christmas cards created and sent, and paying bills.  Coherent thought eludes me.  Cogent essays are an impossibility. But, all is not lost!  Even as I moulder intellectually, others are writing [...]

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Please forgive me in advance for committing quite possibly the worst punning offense ever seen at this blog. Back in the 1970s, after assassinating San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, Supervisor Dan White’s legal team came up with the novel line of defense:  Dan White couldn’t help himself because he ate too [...]

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It was inevitable, but that doesn’t make Christopher Hitchens’ death less sad for those of us who valued and enjoyed his intellectual honesty, brilliant writing, and all around caustic joie de vivre. Christopher Hitchens — Requiescat in pace.

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You’ve been to other sites that have words that are randomly highlighted.  When your cursor accidentally drags over those words, an ad pops up.  I’ve now joined those ranks. If the highlighted words are too irritating, I’ll stop.  Truthfully, though, much as I love blogging, I would also love to see a little revenue flow [...]

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Bret Stephens, writing about his father’s dying.  (Not his death, but his dying.)

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My poor mother got hospital delirium last night.  The nurses called me at 5 a.m. in the hopes that hearing my voice would help orient her.  It didn’t.  “You’re not my daughter.  I don’t know who you are, but my daughter wouldn’t have put me in this awful place.”  Mom quizzed me about her mother’s [...]

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My Mom, thank goodness, is not dying or, more accurately given her advanced age, she’s not dying imminently.  The problem is that she thinks she’s dying.  She has a benign, but very unpleasant, heart condition.  Every time it acts up, and it acts up with increasing frequency as she ages, she panics.  The problems begin [...]

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I am not by nature a ministering angel.  If I had to describe myself, it would be as competent and reasonably kind, but also self-centered and lazy.  I’m therefore surprised every morning when I wake up and remember all over again that mine is the life of a caregiver:  a sick, aged parent; a tween; [...]

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America’s old Secretary of State is Hillary Clinton.  Although she still holds the job, Keith Koffler points out that there’s also a new sheriff in town: In the past couple of months, Biden traveled to Greece, Turkey, and Iraq, held an important call with President Saakashvili of Georgia, met with a Kurdish leader, spoke by video [...]

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For reasons unclear to me, myriad conservative sites are hosting an advertisement for Alan Grayson, a Progressive’s Progressive. You might remember Grayson from his last go-round in Congress.  This is not a guy who’s shy about sharing his convictions.  During the health care debate, he gave a quick and easy summary of the Republican position:  [...]

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There’s just something awesome…a je ne sais quoi..about Israeli humor in the face of adversity. For all you Dylan fans…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nbA0h0WfA4U     A Ka-nife?

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We’re back in the car today, so my blogging will be on hold for several hundred miles. When I get back to my computer, I’ll tell you about two fascinating people I met yesterday. Until then, I hope you have fun with this open thread.

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Maybe what we see today is a final struggle for America between those that want to be free and those that don’t.

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