- Proverbs for Paranoids, 3: If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers.—Gravity’s Rainbow
‘Is it about a bicycle?’ he asked.—The Third Policeman
Author Archives: WorldWideWeber
Idling
It’s a thought that recurs every time a bit of nature knocks us out of our technological groove: Modern people don’t know how to do nothing.
Drifting
I lost interest in the Great Snowfall of 2010 (February 5–6)* when it became clear we were not going to break any records. Snow, and then more snow, and snow yet again … yeah, we’re having an unusually snowy winter, big deal.
Then the “blizzard conditions” arrived, on top of the snow that had fallen so [...]
P-p-practice
The mercury is pushing 70 today, and some people are actually walking around in shirtsleeves. A typical midwinter Washington heat wave.
(Note the three o’clock shadows—already a month from the solstice, but the sun is still lying low.)
Two weeks ago today, the Potomac was frozen over, and I saw this scene from Key Bridge as I [...]
Strays
Messing around with Google Chrome again. “So what?” you say? You’re right—so what.
Five male robins were rummaging around in the dead leaves under the front porch and shrub this morning. It looked like they were looking for food. The leaves were flying left and right, and one of them made an angry open-mouthed gesture when [...]
Posted in Random Tagged corporations, cycling, ecology, education, fauna, music, photography, weather Leave a comment
Flakes
I can’t let December pass without recalling fondly the seventeen inches of snow that suddenly showed up. The snowfall of Saturday, December 19 (and a bit on Sunday), broke a bunch of records, the most easily remembered one being “the most snowfall in Washington in a single day in December,” something like that. For me it [...]
Escalator
Exactly a month ago, while drawing up Obama’s first-quarter report card, I wrote: “Still to be scored is his approach to Afghanistan—he is currently deliberating, and the hope arises he will ditch the simpleminded bellicosity displayed in his campaign and find a saner solution to that mess.”
During the 2008 campaign Obama trashed the Bush administration [...]
Sexagintennary
Today my parents marked 60 years of marriage. Only six of their kids made it “home” to help celebrate (all nine made it for their 5oth anniversary).
What’s that? Yes, they’re Catholic. But we like to think there’s more to their marital longevity than the fear of eternal damnation. “1 4 3 — 7” they would [...]
Threads
Picking up a few loose ones …
Armenia
Back in August we heard about the incipient rapprochement between Armenia and Turkey that was to culminate in an imminent restoration of diplomatic relations. On October 10, after a last-minute dispute over wording was resolved with input (shall we say) from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the two countries [...]
Posted in Agora Tagged Armenia, Cleveland, cycling, ecology, Iraq, politics, Turkey, Washington DC 2 Comments
Logotype
I came across this on a Facebook wall belonging to a company called Motto Agency. I was surprised at how many brands I could identify from a single stylized letter. But then, that’s what companies like Motto are all about.
I don’t think I’ll get them all, thank God. But a few of them will continue [...]
Riddance