A little while ago I was wandering around Amazon.com, looking for a mother’s day present for my mom. Bath stuff seemed like a good idea, so I went to the “Health & Beauty” store, which turns out to be Drugstore.com. How could I resist taking a peek at “Sexual Well-Being” (yes, it’s very prominent on… Continue reading Rubber Ducky
Category: bio
Frequent Flier: The Strange Perks of Business Class
Over the years I’ve lived in Italy, I’ve ended up travelling to the US far more than I ever expected, mostly for work. The first such trip occurred soon after Incat Systems moved to California, in late 1993. I was the technical writer, so I had to meet with the engineers from time to time,… Continue reading Frequent Flier: The Strange Perks of Business Class
Girls Who Love Horses
Actually, my first love was dinosaurs: at age eight, I knew everything about them. I had a set of dinosaur cards which I could put in chronological order, and I knew that a tyrannosaurus could never have eaten a dimetrodon – they lived millions of years apart, in completely different eras. I don’t remember exactly… Continue reading Girls Who Love Horses
The Beginning of the End
A number of people wrote to say that they liked my dad’s piece in the last newsletter; some liked it enough to forward it to others (which you are welcome to do). I liked it, too, but I’m glad and very relieved that Iraq does not, after all, look like turning into another Vietnam. One Italian headline… Continue reading The Beginning of the End
Hearts and Minds, Echoes in the Desert
written by my father, Al Straughan: I do support the British and American troops in Iraq, though I regret that they are there and I believe that there are no good reasons for their being there. I further regret that all of this cannot simply end and the troops be withdrawn, because this would only… Continue reading Hearts and Minds, Echoes in the Desert