Snarking

You know what I like to do? Write nasty, mocking comments on articles by neocons in the Washington Post. Why? Because I think there's a good chance that the egocentric assholes will read them. This morning I dashed off this comment on some lame-brained smog article by former George W. Bush speechwriter and recently-accused plagarist Michael Gerson. I wasn't the only one who was surprised to see a man accused of plagarism in the national media only a few days ago writing an opinion piece for the Post...

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If you enjoyed this article, here are some other works by Michael Gerson that you might enjoy:

"War and Peace" by Michael Gerson
"A Tale of Two Cities" by Michael Gerson
"Hamlet" by Michael Gerson
"The Catcher In The Rye" by Michael Gerson
"The Bible" by Michael Gerson

Fred Hiatt and the Washington Post are proud to bring you credible, honest writers such as Michael Gerson.

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The Post seems determined to become an even bigger joke than it already was, if that's possible. Here's hoping Gerson reads my comments and has his feelings hurt, at least a little.

Snarking

You know what I like to do? Write nasty, mocking comments on articles by neocons in the Washington Post. Why? Because I think there's a good chance that the egocentric assholes will read them. This morning I dashed off this comment on some lame-brained smog article by former George W. Bush speechwriter and recently-accused plagarist Michael Gerson. I wasn't the only one who was surprised to see a man accused of plagarism in the national media only a few days ago writing an opinion piece for the Post...

---

If you enjoyed this article, here are some other works by Michael Gerson that you might enjoy:

"War and Peace" by Michael Gerson
"A Tale of Two Cities" by Michael Gerson
"Hamlet" by Michael Gerson
"The Catcher In The Rye" by Michael Gerson
"The Bible" by Michael Gerson

Fred Hiatt and the Washington Post are proud to bring you credible, honest writers such as Michael Gerson.

---

The Post seems determined to become an even bigger joke than it already was, if that's possible. Here's hoping Gerson reads my comments and has his feelings hurt, at least a little.

Book Repair

This may be a "humidifier" post. If so, sorry.

I have a ton of old paperbacks, and some of them are starting to fall apart - literally.

Many, of course, weren't printed on acid-free paper and are therefore doomed to a slow death. But some are simply falling apart from many re-readings.

I should explain that I have an apparently unusual brain glitch: I can re-read a good book and get as much or more enjoyment out of it as I did the first time I read it. With some books I have to wait a year or two; with others six months is sufficient. That's lucky for me, because I read quickly and often. If I couldn't re-read my favorites, I'd soon be out of reading material!

The down side is that some of my favorites get worn out. I try to treat my books carefully and gently; I don't break the bindings, I never fold page corners down (it actually shocks me when I see anyone do that), and I try to keep them dry and clean. Still, the covers eventually start falling off. I pick up duplicates of my favorites, multiple duplicates in some cases, but even when I have several copies of a particular book I try to save every copy.

My technique is probably horrible, and would make a librarian scream. Still, over the years it has successfully kept some of my books from falling apart.

I use transparent packing tape, the kind that's perfectly transparent and about two inches wide. A strip along the spine comes first, trimmed carefully to avoid protruding edges. Then both the front and back covers are wrapped with strips of tape. Each strip wraps the top and bottom of the page, overlapping at the middle of the inside cover. The outer edge of each cover gets an extra length of tape folded around it. Lastly, I put an additional strip of tape (trimmed to fit) at the point where the inside covers meet the first and last pages of the book. This reinforces the connection between the cover and the pages.

The result is a book that's virtually immune to further physical wear. The covers are waterproof. And the binding stays together; I have yet to have a book that has been preserved this way fall apart. The binding could fall apart completely due to glue rot, I suppose, but so far that hasn't happened. Of course I don't do this to valuable books, and only do it when a book in in jeopardy of losing a cover! In one case I took an old paperback of Shogun (which is so huge that the spine almost always cracks quickly), that had already lost the back cover during a trip. Since the cover was gone, I double-taped the last page instead - it was an advertisement, not part of the story. It worked out better than I expected, and years later, that book is still unchanged despite several re-readings.

Of course you have to be very careful when taping, to avoid crinkling or misplacing the tape. I haven't lost a book yet, though.

Book Repair

This may be a "humidifier" post. If so, sorry.

I have a ton of old paperbacks, and some of them are starting to fall apart - literally.

Many, of course, weren't printed on acid-free paper and are therefore doomed to a slow death. But some are simply falling apart from many re-readings.

I should explain that I have an apparently unusual brain glitch: I can re-read a good book and get as much or more enjoyment out of it as I did the first time I read it. With some books I have to wait a year or two; with others six months is sufficient. That's lucky for me, because I read quickly and often. If I couldn't re-read my favorites, I'd soon be out of reading material!

The down side is that some of my favorites get worn out. I try to treat my books carefully and gently; I don't break the bindings, I never fold page corners down (it actually shocks me when I see anyone do that), and I try to keep them dry and clean. Still, the covers eventually start falling off. I pick up duplicates of my favorites, multiple duplicates in some cases, but even when I have several copies of a particular book I try to save every copy.

My technique is probably horrible, and would make a librarian scream. Still, over the years it has successfully kept some of my books from falling apart.

I use transparent packing tape, the kind that's perfectly transparent and about two inches wide. A strip along the spine comes first, trimmed carefully to avoid protruding edges. Then both the front and back covers are wrapped with strips of tape. Each strip wraps the top and bottom of the page, overlapping at the middle of the inside cover. The outer edge of each cover gets an extra length of tape folded around it. Lastly, I put an additional strip of tape (trimmed to fit) at the point where the inside covers meet the first and last pages of the book. This reinforces the connection between the cover and the pages.

The result is a book that's virtually immune to further physical wear. The covers are waterproof. And the binding stays together; I have yet to have a book that has been preserved this way fall apart. The binding could fall apart completely due to glue rot, I suppose, but so far that hasn't happened. Of course I don't do this to valuable books, and only do it when a book in in jeopardy of losing a cover! In one case I took an old paperback of Shogun (which is so huge that the spine almost always cracks quickly), that had already lost the back cover during a trip. Since the cover was gone, I double-taped the last page instead - it was an advertisement, not part of the story. It worked out better than I expected, and years later, that book is still unchanged despite several re-readings.

Of course you have to be very careful when taping, to avoid crinkling or misplacing the tape. I haven't lost a book yet, though.

Sebastian and School, pt. 5

Starting yesterday, Sebastian started going to kindergarten five days a week. That's a first for him; until now, he's been going Mon/Weds/Fri. I have to wonder how Teri will deal with it - she'll be alone all day on weekdays, now.

Unfortunately that also means that Sebastian will no longer be able to spend Tuesdays with my parents. I hope we can find some other way for him to spend time with them!

Thus far no problems at school, incidentally.

Sebastian and School, pt. 5

Starting yesterday, Sebastian started going to kindergarten five days a week. That's a first for him; until now, he's been going Mon/Weds/Fri. I have to wonder how Teri will deal with it - she'll be alone all day on weekdays, now.

Unfortunately that also means that Sebastian will no longer be able to spend Tuesdays with my parents. I hope we can find some other way for him to spend time with them!

Thus far no problems at school, incidentally.

Cumberland Fest Addendum

I told Teri and Sebastian about my carnival post, and they reminded me about one more event that might be interesting.

Oh, make that two: Sebastian wanted me to write about the three or four wasps that we saw going into an abandoned cup of frozen lemonade. He found that fascinating and terrifying.

Anyway, when we came back to the fair with Teri we stopped first in the "food court". She was starving, and needed a late lunch. As she ate (and Sebastian and I sampled), a youngish mother sat at the table next to us. She was carrying a small baby and had two other small children with her, if I remember correctly; one of them was a young girl, perhaps three years old.

It soon became obvious that she was going to nurse the baby.

Um. How shall I put this? I'm all for breast-feeding. When Sebastian was born I urged Teri to do it. And it should be legal to do it anywhere - women should NOT have to do it in the bathroom or anything like that.

That said, I'm still male. When breasts are out and about, even in a nursing capacity, I notice - and get embarrassed. Well, in that context, anyway. So I looked in the other direction, not pointedly (I hope), but just to avoid staring. I also kept an eye on Sebastian, but he didn't seem to notice what was going on.

A few minutes later the wasps came around, swarming around the woman, her baby, and her children. Are wasps attracted to milk the same way that they're attracted to sugary drinks? I don't know. The kids noticed them first, and started to shriek. The mother panicked and stumbled away from the picnic table - an awkward and embarrassing situation for her, I'd think. I suspect that there was a certain amount of exposure, although I wasn't looking too carefully.

The little girl was trapped between the table and the attached bench. A wasp was right in her face, and she was starting to scream. The mother tried to come back to help her, but she had one kid grabbing her and the baby still attached to her breast - "I can't help you!" she shouted. Teri was more abreast of the situation than I was (sorry, the pun was inevitable), and jumped up to shoo the wasp away and get the little girl out of there. The mother thanked her, and then they all left the area.

Cumberland Fest Addendum

I told Teri and Sebastian about my carnival post, and they reminded me about one more event that might be interesting.

Oh, make that two: Sebastian wanted me to write about the three or four wasps that we saw going into an abandoned cup of frozen lemonade. He found that fascinating and terrifying.

Anyway, when we came back to the fair with Teri we stopped first in the "food court". She was starving, and needed a late lunch. As she ate (and Sebastian and I sampled), a youngish mother sat at the table next to us. She was carrying a small baby and had two other small children with her, if I remember correctly; one of them was a young girl, perhaps three years old.

It soon became obvious that she was going to nurse the baby.

Um. How shall I put this? I'm all for breast-feeding. When Sebastian was born I urged Teri to do it. And it should be legal to do it anywhere - women should NOT have to do it in the bathroom or anything like that.

That said, I'm still male. When breasts are out and about, even in a nursing capacity, I notice - and get embarrassed. Well, in that context, anyway. So I looked in the other direction, not pointedly (I hope), but just to avoid staring. I also kept an eye on Sebastian, but he didn't seem to notice what was going on.

A few minutes later the wasps came around, swarming around the woman, her baby, and her children. Are wasps attracted to milk the same way that they're attracted to sugary drinks? I don't know. The kids noticed them first, and started to shriek. The mother panicked and stumbled away from the picnic table - an awkward and embarrassing situation for her, I'd think. I suspect that there was a certain amount of exposure, although I wasn't looking too carefully.

The little girl was trapped between the table and the attached bench. A wasp was right in her face, and she was starting to scream. The mother tried to come back to help her, but she had one kid grabbing her and the baby still attached to her breast - "I can't help you!" she shouted. Teri was more abreast of the situation than I was (sorry, the pun was inevitable), and jumped up to shoo the wasp away and get the little girl out of there. The mother thanked her, and then they all left the area.