Free Rolltop Desk

Rolltop Desk

The desk. It nags at me like a millstone around my neck. Huge—72” x 36”—and non-functional, except as a beautiful exemplar of a bygone era, and as a repository for anything and everything which can end up on a table or in large drawer.

The desk came my way in 1980, as an early law school graduation gift. My mom, early on in her interior design career, found the desk for a close friend / client who became a gentleman rancher in his early 40s. MG loved the desk! My mom did too and got MG to promise her he’d sell it back to her before he’d part with it.

Skip ahead a couple /

Godwin’s Law, and Taking Offense

Mark Rubin

A friend Facebook-posted a litany of informational fragments which equate Hitler to Liberals circa 2019. You’ve seen these things: prepackaged “projectiles” which have as their sole purpose provocation.

Usually, I ignore this crap. In particular, I try to leave my friend’s nonsense alone, for he’s a good soul gone wrong when it comes to politics. But, there’s Godwin’s Law! Attributed to Mike Godwin, it holds that “as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.” Here, the discussion started with Hitler.

So, with trepidation, I responded: “Not guessing you can possibly understand just how offensive your post is.” Not my finest moment, and maybe

SOTU … or the Jerry Lewis Telethon?

President Donald Trump

The man gave a good speech. He did, truly! Boring and predictable, and surely lacking in truth here and there. Still, competent. Wait. What? Pen•in-s(h)u•la? Eh! No BFD. Wait. What? “The Madero Maduro regime.”

Did some words piss me off royal? Absolutely. With respect, if someone I love gets shot, do I care about the identy of the shooter? Undocumented person, as opposed to someone whose gun comes courtesy of Second Amendment rights?

Talking about long wars, started by his party’s last president, without any acknowledgment that he knows Jacksh*t about the issues. Hello?

Does Wall nonsense infuriate me? Obviously, physical barriers in urban centers make sense. Just as clearly,

Obituaries … and the New York Times

Mark Rubin

Like many of us, I imagine, I have an early morning Internet drill. First up? Tucson obits. The functions suck (and don’t get me started on marginal newspapers and their lack of investment in tech infrastructure), but I need to know what’s up with my people.

Next? The New York Times. First, I glance at the headlines. Then, I read anything from Paul Krugman. (A few of my Wingnut friends have Econ degrees. I love listening to them spout off about why he did not deserve the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.)

Before I leave the Times, I always read the obituaries. Not, here, checking for people