Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 3,176 entries, all of them here in full.
August 28, 2007 · 447 words
Wide Stance
Another week, another conservative politician arrested on a morals charge. Senator Larry Craig of Idaho has pleaded guilty to “disorderly conduct” for attempting to have sex with a police officer in an airport toilet. Naturally, Senator Craig is a politician devoted to family values. Naturally, Naturally, he voted for
Read entry →August 23, 2007 · 976 words
Thin Man, Thick Plot
Since I live in the middle of nowhere, it takes time for me to get from nowhere to somewhere, time that generally I spend in an automobile. Usually I’m by myself and there’s no one to talk to. In order to engage my brain on the journey, I rely on audio books. A couple weeks […]
Read entry →August 23, 2007 · 267 words
Waiting for the Rain
2006 was, meteorologically speaking, the oddest year in New Mexico history. The first six months of the year were the driest on record: there was something less than an inch’s worth of rain in that entire period. The second half of the year was the wettest on record— it came down in buckets.We rejoiced. We’d [&he
Read entry →August 21, 2007 · 189 words
Butt Pluckers
The other day Kat gifted us with a package of eighteen fresh eggs from her chickens, collectively known— from one of their less savory behaviors— as “the butt pluckers.”So it has been Egg Heaven around here. We have had omelettes, but for the most part I’ve just fried the suckers, because that’s the best wa
Read entry →August 16, 2007 · 926 words
Water/Paper/Tea
Last night I did a hit-and-run on Santa Fe, to see the American premiere of Tea: a Mirror of Soul, by the Chinese composer Tan Dun, who among other things scored the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.We hadn’t intended to go to Tea, but the description in the program book made it too irresistible. Since […]
Read entry →August 15, 2007 · 58 words
Engage Shields!
A microwave-generated plasma shield has been granted a patent. Applications for the “pseudo surface microwave produced plasma shielding system” supposedly include “a stealth system from RADAR and SONAR, a protection system from WMD, and a weapon system to generate and launch plasmoids as a plasma gun.”Here’s a useful l
Read entry →August 14, 2007 · 224 words
Watermelon Man
Lest me just rant here for a while. About seedless watermelons, and why I hate them. They’re not seedless! The seeds are puny, but they’re there. So even calling them seedless is a misrepresentation. They should be “weeny-seeded watermelons.” They don’t taste good! They don’t taste awful, but they don’t have the full r
Read entry →August 13, 2007 · 1,010 words
Let’s All Make Fun of the Deformed and Unfortunate! (An Artistic Experience)
This was our weekend for the opera. We went to Santa Fe for two nights and stayed in Gene and Holly Bostwick’s lovely casita. The three-room guest house is well-equipped with beds and drinks and tidbits installed in a small fridge, but it lacks cooling. As the interior temperatures approached 90 degrees, we reflected t
Read entry →August 8, 2007 · 106 words
Uncle Howard Hath a Blog
Howard Waldrop— y’know, the writer who invented steampunk and has written the best alternate-history stuff in the world, and who is known to his friends as “Mister National Treasure”— has launched, or rather allowed someone else to launch, a new edition of “the world’s most technologically primitive blog.”
Read entry →August 8, 2007 · 60 words
Voice of the Whirlwind
“I like this book so much there’s a passage from it tattooed on my thigh.” —Peter J. Johanssen. Gee. Did I ever get around to mentioning that Voice of the Whirlwind is back in print?I suspect not, because I was caught up in the Taos workshop when it happened. It’s my best job of plotting […]
Read entry →August 7, 2007 · 94 words
Follow the Money
Huffington Post has done an extremely useful thing: created an online database of presidential campaign contributions, which can be broken down by zip code or by name of donor. As the site itself notes, Beverly Hills 90210 has given $1,212,014 to candidates; whereas South Central 90011 has given $4250. Which zone will
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