I'm not a copy editor, nor do I play one on TV, but I find myself irritated by the misuse of similar-sounding words. I'm going to post some examples to start. Others are invited to add more.
Read more…In my columns over the years, I've sometimes referred to the "Nerd Canon" (which has amused my editors no end). These are the books that virtually every fanboy and fangirl in the world read at some point in their life. Heck, as my editors have said,
Read more…In each of the quizzes below, match a numbered item in the left column with a lettered item in the right column. What’s the basis for the matching? That’s the puzzle. There are four principles – different but related – one for each quiz.
If you can’t
Read more…The New York Public Library has released its list of the 10 most often checked out books since 1895.
1. The Snowy Day, by Exra Jack Keats (1962)
2. The Cat in the Hat, by Dr. Seuss (1957)
3. 1984, by George Orwell (1949)
4. Where the Wild Things Are,
Read more…Hello Everyone.
Hope this isn't too forward of me, but while there have been numerous short stories in recent years, I now have a new book release!
HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE, BOOK 3: FEMME FATALE is now available on Amazon in both print and Kindle
Read more…Thinker, mathematician, and theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson has left the building. He was 96.
Read more…My Facebook memories just reminded me that it's been five years since we lost our friend Brian Jacoby, aka Dagwan. He was a special guy, a warm and friendly soul. I'll be among friends, and raising a glass to him tonight.
Take good care of yourselves
Read more…At the D23 Expo, Disney has outlined the specifics of its Avengers Themed Park, which it announced some time ago. The addition to the California park will open in 2020, and similar operations will open elsewhere in the world. The Avengers will have t
Read more…Once again, friends, it's time for the latest guidance from Marist College, which has inherited the Mindset List from Beloit College.
See the 2022 list here, the 2021 list here, the 2020 list here, and the 2019 list here.
The drill is the same as it
I noticed one day that I use a lot of metaphorical expressions picked up over the years (mostly as a child from family) whose origin I haven't any idea about. I know what I mean, others know what I mean, but I don't know what they mean in a literal s
Read more…Hello folks.
Some of you are friends with me on Facebook. For any of you that are not, my wife Tracy passed away on Sept 17 after a long battle with primary biliary cirrhosis or liver disease. It is a condition that she inherited genetically. You
Read more…Once again, friends, it's time for the latest guidance from Beloit College.
Actually, it's a few months overdue; the list came out in August. (Please forgive me for being late posting this, again.)
Also, it's now the Marist College Mindset List.
See
Read more…As you guys may (or may not) have noticed, I have been absent from this site for awhile. That's because I suffered a heart attack on Aug. 29 but didn't go the hospital until the 31th. I thought that I had the flu or something then the truth came out.
Read more…My wife and I finally broke down and bought a new TV, replacing the big tube thing we'd had for more than 15 years. We got a Samsung NU1701D, a 58" flast screen that plays nice with the internet.
But to our dismay, we could not watch Titans on the bi
Read more…Alison Bechdel's graphic memoir Fun Home was adapted as a musical (with a book by Lisa Kron and music by Jeanine Tesori), and won a Tony Award for Best Musical in 2015. I remember hearing NPR interviews with the creators at the time (including previe
Read more…The Legion of Superfluous Heroes will have to carry on without me this week, as I will be away from the Comics Cave on an important case of my own: Monday is my 30th wedding anniversary.
I trust you can handle things like the Infinite Final Identity
Read more…No, this is not an April Fool's joke:
From WRCB-TV, Chattanooga, Tenn.: "UPDATE: FORMER POLICE OFFICER ARRESTED AFTER 3-HOUR STANDOFF IN ATHENS"
Read more…Story. One of the sports heroes of my youth, and the man who stole the ball.
Read more…The object of this game is to guess the pattern.
But when you think you know it, don't say what it is; post the next hint.
I'll confirn whether or not you're right or wrong.
Ready?
Read more…As most of you know, I was laid off by The Commercial Appeal (after 27 years) last year, and laid off again by the Riverfront Development Corporation six months ago. I have been doing the job-search thing since.
But what's happening now is my inbox i
Read more…