I’ll be a contestant at the 3^rd annual Stand Up for Education Celebrity Spelling Bee on Friday, August 8. The bee starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Temple of Music and Art. Ticket info is here. Proceeds help Tucson Unified School District students through the Education Enrichment Foundation, and is sponsored by The Sakin Foundation.

By the by, I am a 3x participant, and have the runner-up trophy from year one. (Never mind about last year!) We—contestants and the audience—all have a good time in a very relaxed setting, and no cause is better than public education!

Blogger success depends on picking the right battles. Write “What is a Will” or “Powers of Attorney.” Sure, although very few people read your posts. Food is always safe … so long as you’re not too assertive about whose pizza is best. Even inequality and Hobby Lobby seem to be mostly non-controversial. (We’ll see how my review of the Dinesh D’Souza movie goes; watching it today at 2:10; stay tuned.)

I’ve been cautious about commenting on Debra Harrell. She’s the South Carolina mom who works at McDonalds—yes, Ed Gillespie, former RNC Chair and candidate for the U.S. Senate from Virginia, grown-ups do have minimum wage jobs and try to support families, and they don’t just use the money for drinking

These have been a really, really awful few weeks! Yes?

We have a war in Ukraine we really don’t acknowledge, and a bizarre missile attack on a commercial airliner which reminds us that, in fact, Ukraine is at war. (My theory? The separatists intended to blow up a plane, because they could, never intending to hit a commercial airliner. No reason for them to have messed with this plane. Bad move!!!)

We have yet another war between Israel and the Palestinians. There have been so many we don’t identify them as we did in the past. No 1948, no 1967, 1973, etc. No one knows for sure “why now,” but we have a war.

Awfulness in Africa is off the

Not long ago an old friend who lives out East told me I’m a little narrow in my political universe. He called me “close-minded,” and said I’d see the error of my ways if I got a more “fair and balanced” perspective on the world. I hollered about Fox News for a while, for I know “code” when I hear it, even when it’s bunk. He ranted back at me, demanding that I go see America:  Imagine the World without Her, Dinesh D’Souza’s new film. He even offered to send me the money for a ticket, but I passed on that, only imagining the “freeloading liberal” crap I’d hear. I can pay my own way, thank you very

I saw David Brooks’ June 30 column, The Evolution of Trust, several days after the New York Times published it. Hmmm, I wondered, trust evolves? And in which direction?

The first lined grabbed me. “I’m one of those people who thought Airbnb would never work.” As it happens, we’re Airbnb-ers, Ms. J, the daughter, and I. Months ago, after a hotel booking problem, Ms. J found herself needing a bed for two nights in San Francisco, on a not-so-small-but-this-is-SF budget. Enter Airbnb. Ms. J stayed in a deluxe Soma loft, with the owner, for two nights. Great stay. Pleasant company. Fair price.

So I took a look at Airbnb for the DC-NYC trip in May/June. New York places did

We Didn’t Start the Fire was written by Billy Joel, whose real name is William Martin Joel. He married Christie Brinkley on March 23, 1985, and they divorced on August 25, 1994. And the Uptown Girl in Uptown Girl—Mr. Joel’s big 1983 hit song—was maybe only partly inspired by Ms. Brinkley, as this 5’5” downtown guy, while he knew and was friendly with Ms. Brinkley when he wrote the song, was dating 6’ uptown girl Elle Macpherson.

Some readers know about my affinity for trivia. Every Monday night for going on four years I play with my team, the Emperor Penguins, at Sky Bar in Tucson. Only illness, a family crisis or being out of town keeps me away,

Coming soon, today:  the annotated We Didn’t Start the Fire! Stay tuned!