In a minute I’m going to inject a non sequitur into this post, but I promise it will make sense eventually. Just brace yourself. A Facebook friend of mine recently posted a story about the election and the unpleasantness that surrounds it with the comment, “What’s happened to this country of ours that I love so much?” She was talking about the hateful rhetoric that the two major campaigns and their backers are spewing in their quest for the presidency. Okay, she was only t

In the last week in Cincinnati, a guy ran out onto the interstate in only a pair of shorts and flung himself at trucks until one of them killed him. Another guy went out and got into a gun battle with the police so that he could die, and unfortunately took a cop with him before he succeeded. In South Carolina last week, a guy shot nine people at a church and the country went nuts over the issues of race, gun control, and the Confederate flag. And all over the United States t

Last night, the former governor of Florida announced (as though it was a surprise) that he intended to run for the office of President of the United States. Last night, the former governor of Florida doomed me to an existence of perpetual explanation. I don't care about the man's politics, or more precisely, I care but it's my own business what I think of them and it's your own business what you think. I won't argue with you over that. Republican or Democrat? Doesn't matter.

Tell you a funny story. This old man has two daughters, see? One is beautiful, demure, obedient and everybody wants to marry her, while the other is loud, opinionated, strong-willed—your basic nightmare. So the old man sets up an arranged marriage for the “shrew” daughter, offering tons of money if anybody will marry her. Well, this guy takes the challenge. He—get this—he acts like a crazy man around his new wife, deprives her of food and sleep and decent clothes until sh

Like many pasty white geeks, I learned my "English Accent" from countless repetitions of Monty Python sketches and movie bits. I also learned my Scottish, Irish, and Australian accents from the Pythons. Since then I have become a man of a thousand accents--all of them terrible. In the confines of my gaming group, I break into accents with little or no provocation, and if I'm not careful, they can bleed into one another, changing from Russian to German to Australian without

Republican or Democrat? Doesn't matter. Liberal or Conservative? Who cares? Whig or Tory? Do you even know what that means? The only--THE ONLY--issue you should consider is the name of the probable candidate for President who once served as governor of Florida. Not Bush. That's a fine old name with a long history behind it, not to mention two previous Presidents who also bore it. But we as a nation cannot, under any circumstances, elect as President a man with the name "J