\u2022 I like to present myself as an expert on the last topic I read something about.<\/p>\n
\u2022 I have no problem with George H. W. Bush getting called out for butt-grabbing women who happen to be nearby.\u00a0 Old people should not have a free pass to grope, and let’s hope that this puts an end to that.\u00a0 Let’s also (at the risk of saying something a man might say) try to maintain a distinction among rape<\/em>, abuse, <\/em>bodily insult,<\/em> inappropriate touch <\/em>and sexual harassment.<\/em>\u00a0 The pedant in me would like to say that if words mean anything, they should be consistent with the acts they describe, just as punishment should fit the crime.\u00a0 But the woman in me says that all these acts fall on the continuum of living in a world full of arrogant, powerful-because-they-are-enabled, testosterone-driven men.<\/p>\n \u2022 Name-calling never served us well.\u00a0 It enjoyed a long tradition in the U.S. (see late-19th and early-20th century political cartoons) but Donald Trump brought name-calling and playground-bullying, his blunt-force weapons of choice, into the 21st century.\u00a0 We nerds know that the best response to a playground bully is to be smart, not to try to out-bully or out-ridicule, because that is the turf the bully knows best.\u00a0 Parody of Trump — making fun of his hair, his hands, his oafishness — may be an escape for some but it does not comprise a winning tactic.\u00a0 Smart people need to devise a smart response to Trump.\u00a0 Everything else distracts from that. \u2022 We in the United States seem to be helpless (perhaps impotent<\/em> is the better word) when it comes to dealing with those we suspect to be sociopaths.\u00a0 It is next to impossible for us to marshal and coordinate social, investigative and law enforcement resouces at the local, state and federal levels so that we might prevent the Sandy Hook or Las Vegas massacres. \u00a0 There is no 711<\/em> number to report people we think may be dangerous.\u00a0 If there were such a number, it would have to shut down in a matter of hours from the volume of calls.<\/p>\n \u2022 Mama Mia, Microsoft.\u00a0 They offer six easy ways to do things, one hard way to undo them. Take Excel and the task of assigning \/ deleting a name for a cell range\u00a0\u00a0 One can assign a name to a selected range by moving the cursor to the name box<\/em> above the grid, typing in the custom name and hitting ENTER.\u00a0 Pretty straightforward.\u00a0 But what if you want to undo this?\u00a0 Instinct tells me to move my cursor to the range whose name I want to erase, click the name box and hit DELETE.<\/p>\n Afraid not.\u00a0 One must instead: (1) Click the Formulas<\/em> tab (why Formulas<\/em>?)\u00a0 (2) Locate the Name Manager icon and click it.\u00a0 (3) Locate the range name in the name list.\u00a0 (4) Click on the range name to select it and then click the DELETE button to delete it.\u00a0 (5)\u00a0 And finally click OK when the “Are You Sure” box appears.<\/p>\n I’m convinced that Microsoft software was developed by Catholics: easy to get married, hard to get divorced, and the escape key doesn’t work unless the priest gives his OK.<\/p>\n \u2022 I would have liked to have been the guy my friends would call to help him or her move, after which we would have a beer or two afterwards.\u00a0 That never happened.\u00a0 Perhaps I sent the wrong message or — more likely — presented the wrong muscles.<\/p>\n \u2022 Note to self:\u00a0 The next time I go to Trader Joe’s and see a bottle of Barolo on sale for $13, it is going to taste exactly like what I think a bottle of Barolo on sale at Trader Joe’s for $13 would taste like.\u00a0 It is never going to taste better because I paid less.<\/p>\n \u2022 Halloween Quiz:\u00a0 If you stood perfectly still and an amoeba challenged you to a race to the nearest pumpkin, which one would win, the amoeba or the toenail on your big toe? Answer: an amoeba can crawl 5 micrometers a second.\u00a0 This means they are 10,000 times faster than the rate your toenail grows.\u00a0 So the amoeba would win easily, unless it gave your toenail a head start.\u00a0 What makes this a Halloween Quiz?\u00a0 Because fast amoebas are scary<\/em>, man.\u00a0 Especially the smug ones that challenge you to a race they know they will win.<\/p>\n \u2022 I have been cleaning out the storage room to make a space to do art.\u00a0 I came across my box of poetry from high school and college and reacquainted myself with it.\u00a0 I have finally acknowledged that these were not works of genius, and that even my well-scattered ashes would be embarrassed were someone to discover and read these writings after my death.\u00a0 Thanks to the Art Gods for granting me this chance to throw them out first.<\/p>\n \u2022 By the way, they were pathetic, and no, I’m not going to post an example!\u00a0 If you want a cheap thrill, go check your own storage room.<\/p>\n \u2022 Okay, here’s just one<\/em> howler, from a high-school poem titled The End Results Confusion<\/em>: “Aimless searches for meanings \/ Trivial in themselves \/ The confusion of our minds \/ Ends in rebellion from truth.”\u00a0 Did every 1969 high-school boy try to imitate Jim Morrison or was it just me?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2022 I like to present myself as an expert on the last topic I read something about. \u2022 I have no problem with George H. W. Bush getting called out for butt-grabbing women who happen to be nearby.\u00a0 Old people … Continue reading
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