Each of the seven writers who regularly contribute to this web log writes on a deadline without any knowledge of what the others are writing about. Deborah was a little concerned that this column, which she had already written when Rob’s column appeared yesterday, might be deemed by our readers to be too similar to […]

AND NOTHING BUT by Rob Lopresti A long time ago someone on an e-list I belonged to spread an old urban legend about a corporation. I don’t remember which one it was. Not the ancient claim that a well-known manufacturer of consumer products shares its profits with a Satanist church, but some story of that […]

I HEAR VOICES by Melodie Johnson Howe Sometimes when writing my blog I need to look something up to make sure my dates, quotes, etc. are correct. I have become aware that I usually sit for a moment deciding if I want to Google or walk into my library and search for a particular book […]

BALANCING ACT by James Lincoln Warren “Medio tutissimus ibis,” the Roman comic poet Terence advises: “You will go safest in the middle.” This, of course, is a paraphrase of the Golden Mean, the concept that the best path in life is somewhere between austerity and excess, “Moderation in all things.” The idea itself extends beyond […]

NUMB3RS, Part 2: LIKE TOTALLY by Leigh Lundin Fido A few months ago, a reader sent me an on-line puzzle and asked how it worked. I did a step-by-step explication of that little mystery at the time. Recently another reader, Wendy, sent in an on-line puzzle. This one, called Fido, has a higher level of […]

QUOTABLE NOTABLES by John M. Floyd One of my many faults (along with video late charges and homemade cinnamon rolls and naps during sermons) is that I buy too many books about writing. How-to books, I guess you’d call them. I have more than hundred, last time I counted, in my home library. Why do […]

WHEN I’M SIXTY-FOUR by Steve Steinbock This week’s column marks my sixty-fourth installment of Bandersnatches. The number sixty-four may have numerological significance. I don’t know. But I’ve been listening to the Beatles, so I figure it’s as good an excuse as anything to celebrate. Earlier this week, my High-Heeled colleague played an experiment by invoking […]