ANOTHER BIRTHDAY.
Author: Neal Ross Attinson
Neal Ross Attinson is one of those text-compulsives who feels naked without a keyboard, or at least a a pad and pen. He is unafraid of adverbs, loves astronomy and gastronomy with equally unabashed passion, and lives with/in an eclectic library in Sonoma, California.
Pithyism #-11
RUTHLESSNESS ONLY LOWERS THE CONVERSATION for everyone.
See Augie? It IS A City!
IN 2008, A LOCAL CITY councilmember proposed changing our urban appellation from “City of Sonoma” to “Town of Sonoma” — reflecting the bucolic values to which we cling with blue-jean-and-Stetson stubbornness. That task proved a quixotic one, but good for…
Why I’m Called “Dances With Boulders”
FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS, a group of friends has made an annual equinoctial hike to a secret location for the sole purpose of … well, I can’t really say, since what fun is a secret society if you don’t…
Sign In A Radio Newsroom, c. 1993
SAW THIS WHERE I FIRST interned as “Neal Ross.” I was naive enough then to think it merely humorous. Cub reporter: “If it’s news, I report it.” Old journalist: “If I report it, it’s news.” Newsman Emeritus: When I report…
Why Is Purim Like Yom Kippur?
“Yom Kippur brings the joy of teshuvah; Purim the teshuvah of joy.” (TO UNDERSTAND THIS, YOU NEED to know that this was my response to Rabbi David Wolpe‘s Facebook post this morning. “Every Jewish holiday has its partner,” he said,…
Aristotle’s Pernicious Hand
PEOPLE OF EARTH, HEAR ME: There are more than two ways out of this moment. (Say it with me: “There are more than two ways out of this moment.”) Some would have you believe that you can only go this…
Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy!
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN you mount a high-definition camera on a spaceship and send it to Saturn: (More information at http://www.outsideinthemovie.com/. For maximum fun, expand the view by clicking on the arrow-square in the bottom right corner.)
Poker Face
WE WERE FIVE MEN PLAYING draw poker. “Ante up, gentlemen,” said R. “Nickel apiece.” The cards went round once, twice, thrice. B coughed. T took a sip of his Cuba Libre. R sent the cards round again. And again.
When Tefilin Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Lay Tefilin
March 14, 2011 (JTA) — An Alaska Airlines flight crew issued a security alert after three Mexican Orthodox Jews began praying with tefillin. The flight attendants, who were concerned by the prayers being said aloud in Hebrew and the unfamiliar…
Looking Back on Apocalypse
HOW STRANGE TO SIT IN 2011, and wax wistfully nostalgic over the heady nihilism of Repo Man. Had we but known …
All-Natural Selection
ONE REASON WHY CALIFORNIA HAS so many smart people is that, periodically, the lesser-reasoned go down to the seashore to watch the tsunami come in.