Bookworm Room

I am distrustful of television, since it often creates a false reality.  When the Loma Prieta earthquake hit San Francisco in 1989, I was out of town.  The images shown on CNN made it look as if the whole city was in ruins.  I was terrified about what had happened to my family and friends.  [...]

5 Comments »

Questions swirl (a little bit) about whether the fatal swine flu plaguing Mexico is a “man-caused disaster” or just the run-of-the-mill Nature triumphs kind of thing.  There can be no doubt, however that the earthquake  that just struck is Nature’s little reminder that she is now, and always will be, in charge. From Twitter’s breaking [...]

2 Comments »

So sad. I think many of America’s planning departments have a Code fetish that is counter productive, since they try to impose on every single building — and every aspect of every building — a standard of perfection that is unreasonable for the ordinary risks and uses people face in connection with those structures.  For [...]

4 Comments »

Today is the 102nd anniversary of the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. Nature celebrated this anniversary in style, by visiting a bone-shaker on the American Midwest. I found it an amusing coincidence, especially since nobody seems to have gotten hurt in today’s reminder that the earth is never still. UPDATE:  And wonderfully, there is still [...]

5 Comments »