if the pen isn't on the paper, no ink will flow, no words will form. put the pen on the paper. — Kent Beck (@KentBeck) December 30, 2014 Read more →
January 2015
Good Title for a Memoir
Passers-by
Passers-by, Out of your many faces Flash memories to me Now at the day end Away from the sidewalks Where your shoe soles traveled And your voices rose and blent To form the city’s afternoon roar Hindering an old silence. Passers-by, I remember lean ones among you, Throats in the clutch of a hope, Lips written over with strivings, Mouths that kiss only for love, Records of great wishes slept with, Held long And prayed and toiled for: Yes, Written on Your mouths And your throats I read them When you passed by. — Carl Sandburg, “Passers-by” Read more →
The College Football Playoff is Working
Under the old two-team BCS format, the teams that lost the semifinal games — Alabama and Florida State — would likely have played each other in the championship game, while the two winners — Oregon and Ohio State — would likely have been voted out. Florida State, as the defending champs and only undefeated team, would have been in for sure, while Ohio State would have just as certainly been out. That leaves Alabama and Oregon. One would have had to be dropped and it probably would have been Oregon. Four teams is still not enough (see TCU’s 42-3 blowout of Mississippi State) to be able to say that none of the teams voted out was good enough to win it. Also: I am sick unto death of the goddamn Larry Culpepper commercials. Enough of that already. Read more →
More People I’m Sick Unto Death Of
People I Thought Were Dead
Al Kaline – baseball player, Detroit Tigers Wink Martindale – game show host Read more →
Donna Douglas, 1933-2015
Donna Douglas was 81?! This is how I remember her: R.I.P. Donna Douglas Read more →
How to Tell if Your Food Server is a Robot
I’ve been reading some articles recently about increased use of robots in the food service industry. I think we had a robot server the other day at the Jack in the Box drive-thru. My boy ordered a medium Mountain Dew with his meal and I ordered a large Coke Zero with mine. “Which one is the Mountain Dew” I asked the woman (robot) at the window as she handed us the drinks. “The medium one,” she said. Only a robot would answer the question that way. A human would say “The yellow one.” Because it’s a dopey question and a human recognizes why it’s a dopey question and answers accordingly. The robot only knows that the medium drink is the Mountain Dew and the large drink is the Coke Zero. Read more →
Happy New Year
But will we make this new year worthy of its promise of true change or will we just go around in circles? Read more →