October 2006

Escape from America

October 28, 2006

I recently ran across a reference to a forthcoming new book, “Getting Out: Your Guide to Leaving America,” by Mark Ehrman. Here’s the blurb for it from Amazon: Had enough? Whether you find the government oppressive, the economy spiraling out of control, or if you simply want adventure, you’re not alone. In increasing numbers, the [...]

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Making Headlines

October 26, 2006

I check up on the world hourly or so, via Google News. It’s the first page that comes up when I open my web browser, and I’ve set it to show headlines for the World, US, Business, Sci/Tech, Health, India, and Italia (I’ve just eliminated Entertainment as a category because I’m sick of Madonna, Paris, Pitt, [...]

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Communicating with Your Customers

October 25, 2006

Someone anonymous claiming to be an Apple employee launched a blog (now vanished) to discuss his/her thoughts on Apple’s communications with its customers. This was big news in the blogosphere, because Apple is notoriously secretive and uncommunicative. The only Apple product I own is an iPod (I had a Mac SE 15 years ago, my [...]

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A Missing Mother

October 23, 2006

This is often a low time of year for me. The days are getting shorter and colder; I wake up in darkness, leave the house in twilight, and by the time I get home it’s dark again. This is hard on my tropical psyche. And October 25th is the birthday of Nancy, my ex-stepmother. She’ll [...]

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Oh, Lord, It’s Hard to Be Atheist

October 18, 2006

I have just read Daniel Dennett’s book Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. It’s a great book. Unfortunately, I doubt that it will be read by the people who really need it, though the author tries very hard to preach to them, rather than to the choir of convinced unbelievers such as myself. [...]

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Dental Trauma

October 11, 2006

At five months, human babies love the world and trust everybody in it. When I took her in for a routine pediatric checkup, my daughter Rossella smiled and gurgled and laughed, assuming that everyone in the world loved her, and nothing and no one would hurt her. The checkup required that a little blood be [...]

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Windy Sunday on Lake Como

October 8, 2006

A beautiful windy Sunday on Lake Como – perfect weather for kite boarding, wind surfing, and sailing – and video.

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Riding the Bus in Italy

October 4, 2006

I wrote last year about the irritations of riding the bus with the schoolkids in the morning. They haven’t learned any more manners this year. As always, they gather where they think the bus doors will be when it stops, then elbow each other to get in first. When I see the bus coming I [...]

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Buying a Car in Italy – Are Car Salesmen the Same All Over?

October 4, 2006

On Monday Enrico brought home our new car, a Fiat Stilo. It took him a month of intensive research to eventually return to his first, instinctive choice – which is simply the next generation of the Fiat Tipo turbo diesel that served us (more or less faithfully) for 13 years, which was itself a replacement [...]

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