Sense of Adventure

Holy cats! They’re actually broadcasting the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee on ESPN! (At least according to Deadspin.)

That’s gonna be like watching mold grow on those containers of semi-identifiable foodstuffs in your fridge!

Unless, of course, you have a stake in the proceedings. Such as your kid is participating. Then it’s merely hours of boredom punctuated by bursts of sheer terror. Like war. Except without the chance of being blown to bits. Unless you’re homeschoolers, in which case you risk being taken out by an NEA hit squad.

I feel entitled to make fun of broadcasting the National Spelling Bee, inasmuch as I was in it in 1968.

After several years as a perennial contender, I finally won the New Mexico state bee in my final year of eligibility. Off to Mordor Washington I went, all filled with eagerness and youthful dreams.

The practice round went swimmingly for me. Too bad it didn’t count.

Then came the first round. The first - flippin’ - round. My turn comes, I step up, and they give me my first word. And I confidently sing out, “E-M-O-R-Y.”

Unfortunately that’s a university. A “fine-grained impure corundum used for grinding and polishing” is E-M-E-R-Y.

Ding! “You … lose.”

On a five letter word. A Five. Letter. Word.

It was official. I totally sucked.

Fortunately, I was able to recover from my humiliation after only a couple of decades spent as an anonymous yak herder in Bhutan.

And that’s the story of my Secret Shame. Which, sadly, was headline news at the time, back in Burque. Nothing feeds the adolescent ego, I assure you, like sucking in the newspaper.

Anyway, when it comes to watching on TV … I’ll pass. Too rich for my blood.

I don’t actually watch Jericho. I tend to watch very little series TV.

That ‘fessed up to, I want to direct the attention of all my readers who do watch series to an online effort to save Jericho from cancellation. If you’ve enjoyed the show, or even think you might if it came ’round again, please cruise on over and give the site a look, sign their petition if so moved.

My vested interests in this are two. First, some of my pals from the [in]famous St. Louis Firehouse Gang of long years past have been working F/X on the show. While they assure me they’re not going to be on the bricks over the cancellation, it’d be nice for them to continue to be employed. When you’re dealing with Mad Geniuses of this caliber, idle hands really are the Devil’s playground.

Second: in general, as a guy who’s written a fair amount in the “After the Holocaust” genre - from The Guardians to Cybernetic Samurai to Deathlands - I, well, approve of that theme getting prime time airplay. Like The Dude, (and Earth itself in an early classic of the genre), it abides. Which is fine with me, since it’s a pool I’d like, and intend, to play in a bit more.

In a kinda sorta related subject, I continue to get fan email on The Guardians series. In a way it’s very cool, inasmuch as it’s been out of print for over 15 years and wasn’t printed under my name. It’s also a bit sobering that it’s what generates most of my fan email.

The usual query is whether there will be more Guardians books (short answer: probably not as such), with a fairly frequent kicker about the possibility of a Guardians movie (short answer: seems unlikely; I love the concept and think it could rock; please stay tuned). Real Soon Now I need to put together a boilerplate answer to send to these kind, interested folk, as well as post up on my Forum for all to read.

Actually, I don’t buy that for a moment. I’m not that kind of hedonist. Philosophically speaking, I agree with Lazarus Long: “Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks.”

Leaving that aside, I need to inform you, my loyal fans, that comments to this blog are held for moderation. I apologize for the inconvenience, but I feel it’s necessary. On my Forum I’ve had horrific but instructive experiences with drive-by posters and with spammers - who, sadly, outnumber legitimate members of my Forum community by literally 20-1.

(You could help with that, of course. /unsubtle hint mode)

Anyway, for now all new comments to the blog will have to await my approval. I’ll get to them as quickly as I can. Currently I’m trying to figure out (among a great many things) how to get WordPress to notify me when there are new comments to be vetted.

In any event, so it is. And given the nature of these here Interwebs, likely so shall it be.

Update - OK, I think I’ve got it set so I’ll be notified when comments come in for moderation.

So the gentleman at The Happy Curmudgeon was kind enough not only to post my PDA plight on his own blog when I had yet to figure out how to enable the “Comments” function in WordPress, but to add some additional kind words. Thanks!

Yet I find myself with a bone to pick with this good Samaritan. You call yourself the Happy Curmudgeon. I certainly can’t cavil with anyone choosing to characterize him or herself as “happy.” And curmudgeons definitely have their place.

But you are clearly a good person as well as a reasonable, incisive social critic. You, sir, are not a curmudgeon. This, this is a curmudgeon.

Meet Everett True, incipient folk hero, John Bull lookalike, and walking Explosive Personality Disorder. Apparently, The Outbursts of Everett True was an actual early 20th-Century American comic strip.

The key word here is outbursts. Miss Manners (remember her?) may have gotten all prissy-faced and said, “Miss Manners wants people to behave,” in a constipated voice. Ah, but when Everett True wants people to behave, he makes them eat curb.

Needless to say, I don’t advocate or condone committing random acts of violence. Particularly against people who ogle pretty women. Especially not them. And by that I mean, “us.”

But there is something deeply soul-satisfying about seeing some fat guy with his belt in his armpits pound serious lout head.

And as Will Smith said in the utterly ridiculous but wildly entertaining Independence Day, “I have got to get me one of these!”

(There may be Everett True t-shirts in the birthday-present futures of certain of my friends.)

A lid-tip to Brian Doherty at the Hit and Run blog for the ungarbled word on Everett.

Clearly, we need a Congressional commission to look into violence at … Boston Pops concerts.

Just say no to the local symphony, kids. You’ll only fall in with a bad element.

And don’t even get me started on how the public schools are so bad, even the squirrels are dangerous.

A wise man I know (OK, I’m foolin’: it’s really me) is fond of saying, “I find myself living in the science fiction future I read about growing up - and, mostly, I enjoy it.”

Who else finds today’s headlines reminiscent of those you might find in an old Heinlein novel? Show of hands? Anybody?

I’ve no idea why I called the post that. My subconscious insisted.

I think I’ve got Comments enabled now. If nothing else I’ve got a trackback showing now from The Friendly Curmudgeon (thanks!), who was kind enough to post my plight on his blog.

Thanks to those who have tried to comment on my post “Oh no,” including Chris Hibbert, who by means of some clever sleuthing managed to turn up my email address and send me a helpful recommendation.

As of right now I’m inclining to go with either the Palm TX or the E2. Another friend and faithful Forum Warrior recommended the Palm Z22. It’s tiny and affordable, but having managed this afternoon not only to handle one but actually turn it on for about two seconds before it died (the clones at CompUSA having naturally failed to recharge their display model, or hook it to a power supply, since who’d actually want to look at the display before buying?) I have to say the 160 x 160 screen is just too small.

The color’s nice, but the thing I use a PDA for most in terms of sheer time is as an ebook reader. My late, and still much lamented, Miss Clié had a 320 x 320 pixel screen, even if it was greyscale. If I boost the onscreen font size to somewhere I can actually read on a 160 x 160, I’m afraid I’ll get like five words a screen.

The TX is very nice if a little long. The E2 is about the same height and width as my Clié but thinner. The TX gets good reviews from Amazon and ZDnet. Chris gives a thumbs-up to the E2. I liked the look and feel of both, but the ones I saw today, natch, wouldn’t turn on. I’m guessing I’d be pretty happy with either display.

The TX is a bit pricey for me right now. The less expensive E2 would no doubt serve me fine. At the same time, since I not only use my PDA as a reader but want to amp up my evangelization for ebook reading, it might be worth it to me in a business way to suck it up, shell out the $100 or so more to go with the 480 x 320 screen on the TX.

I’m still … dithering. I may just say shuck it and get a used Clié off Ammie. I could replace the old one straight-up for about $65, or upgrade to a later, if still outmoded/discontinued (as are all Cliés) model for a hundred bucks. But I also understand that getting a used, hence non-guaranteed, machine might prove tantamount to setting my money on fire.

We shall see.

Next - I attempt to enable permalinks!

Sadly, yesterday afternoon, I cleverly contrived to drop my beloved PDA, Miss Clié (yes, I’m aware that I need to get out more, thanks so much for pointing it out) onto my bathroom floor, with the result that it is no more. It’s one of the most useful things I have; it literally accompanied me everywhere except the shower and the swimming pool. So I have to suck it up and get a new one.

Any recommendations, please? I prefer PalmOS, and costing less than the Earth. The latter, anyway, is more by way of a necessity…

…when perusing the latest issue of The Libertarian Enterprise, for Number 416, May 6, 2007, I came upon a link to this piece by this suave devil.

A pleasant surprise, on the whole. I’m unsure why this was unearthed now. Possibly editor Ken Holder was trying to, ahh, tell me something…

Emma and I took our (mostly) daily walk on the ditch that runs along the east side of the Rio Grande Nature Center preserve. In the southeast corner, the southern end of the field marked off by stands of trees was flooded and marshy. Along with the inevitable mallards and huge Canada geese, strutting right near the fence was a cattle egret, with its sulfur-colored crest very visible.

Hummingbirds have arrived - saw one sitting on a wire, sorting things out. I finally saw a couple of Gambrel’s quail - they usually hang out near the ditch all the time, but I haven”t seen any for months. And over by the clear ditch, that runs along the paved bike path west of the RGNC proper, there was a kind of whirlwind of swallows, mostly barn.

A pleasant day. Rained vigorously last night. Wasn’t too muddy, but the smells were freshened and accentuated.