Stephen Gold

Thank Goodness It's November!

6 takeaways: California’s deadly failure on drunk driving As DUI fatalities surge, a CalMatters investigation finds state leaders have shown little willingness to address the issue.

I've lived in California for 39 years. Generally speaking, I love it. However, I still find the state's tolerance of drunk driving a bit difficult to swallow...

calmatters.org/investigatio...

This language is a kleptomaniac. And you know what happens when you target a victim too regularly ...

Anyone who believes they live in the best of all possible worlds
.
.
.
is welcome at my casino.

I can't help wondering: am I living the life Godzilla intended me to have?

Probably ... but if you can't indulge yourself, who *can* you indulge?

Pacing is vital.

Woot!

Indeed. And he had math and music to keep him entertained.

And now Tom Lehrer, who predicted we would "all go together when we go!"

I was barely done mourning Ozzy when I was asked to Give It All. Maybe the slow version? open.spotify.com/track/4C68Lq...

I hate websites where the only way to change your password is to pretend you've forgotten it. It's demeaning.

Maybe it's not too late/To learn how to love

On my morning walk today I saw a flock of 6 wild turkeys.

Westerfeld, I take it, not Hobbes.

Why can't we just admit the "Anyone can grow up to be President" story has gone too far?

I for one welcome this new, improved Nale.

Happy Fathers Day!

The International Space Station!

TIL: if you followed someone (on Bluesky) to keep in touch, but you don't want their posts in your Following feed, you can "mute" them using the 3-dot pull-down menu.

For the 1st time, my observance of Mothers Day will be mainly about people other than my mom, trapped in a hospital & unable to speak clearly. Happily, I have fond memories and friends who are mothers. However imperfect the mothers in one's life are, one may still cherish the ideals of motherhood.

On Saturday, H&I watched "A New Hope"; on Thursday, we got a new pope!

Today is Cinco de Mayo, which commemorates a battle fought a long time ago (1862) and far, far away (Mexico) when (French) imperial forces attacked republican bases (Loreto and Guadalupe) in a war started by a trade alliance (the Convention of London).

Lucas's dramatization is, alas, ahistorical.

I crave likable characters. All major characters in the 1998 have at least one likable quality, and not all the same. Mulan has piety and a sense of justice. The major characters in the 2020 are all stoic. Perhaps that's what's expected of martial arts fantasy. Not what I want from a Disney film.

After watching Disney's dramatizations of "Mulan" I've concluded the (animated) 1998 has too much comic relief and the (live-action) 2020 has too little. I've watched the 1998 maybe 3 or 4 times; I walked out on the 2020 about halfway through. But the difference goes deeper than that one issue.

Perhaps the proprietor used AI to generate the recommendation. Or was imitating an AI in the hope of pleasing you.

Bay Area city settles excessive force suit after police dog refused to let go of man’s throat The San Jose incident is among a rash of settlements by Northern California law enforcement agencies in K9 bite cases over the past few years.

Police dog up for adoption. No refunds, no returns.
www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news...

Moon landing conspiracy theories - Wikipedia

Something too boring for a book? That's what Wikipedia is for ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_la...

Today I learned that my local hospital now offers valet parking. Next time I visit, I'll try this out.

Each day I receive multiple e-mails claiming to be from someone other than the actual sender. Most appear to be clumsy fraud attempts. (These days, scammers don't bother to forge e-mail headers.) Why do we (as a society) tolerate such behavior?