Rutabaga

Not one word from Tony's mom about him and his team both being on the front page of the Sports section? R

Here's David with (L-R) Brooklyn, Cruz, & Romeo. R

They have all made a name for themselves in skateboarding. R

For some reason, "the great Simon Charles Seymoure, doyen of the art world, master of the quick quip" reminded me instantly of the character Anton Ego, feared restaurant critic, in the movie "Ratatouille." And just as Anton Ego would have been mortified to learn that his exquisite meal had been prepared by a prodigy of a rat, it must have been supreme retribution for James to watch his late lover's artful mimicry capture so thoroughly the elite and moneyed (and pretentious) art world. And it was even more artful because, as far as I can tell, nothing James said was not literally truthful . . . at least so far as it went. Another terrific tale of justice served. R

After much searching I have concluded that no thread was ever started for this story that is a Pick from the Past. http://www.awesomedude.com/camy/perspective/index.php As always I am not crazy about Rashomon-like multiple viewpoints on the same events. This one is kind of interesting because of the ironies of what one character assumes other characters have not observed when they actually have. The one thing that seems inevitable is that the situation cannot end well, regardless of whether David chooses "the Lady or the Tiger." The link to the Bruin Fisher coda is broken. The working link is: http://www.awesomedude.com/bruinfisher/Carpark.html R

It does kind of give new meaning to the concept of decadence. R

What they said above. Talk about having the rug pulled out from under what seemed like the obvious assumptions. R

You've outdone yourself today. R

You should definitely do that, because it's a win-win. Readers like to communicate with such accomplished authors, and authors like to hear from such perceptive and discerning readers. R

How nice to have this upbeat story highlighted this month, among the downers! R

I'm sitll trying to figure it out. R

You can't miss the sense of foreboding in the first paragraph, when it states: "For the past few years, I’ve come here only once a year, in the summer, to remember my first love and to visit with him at Sylvan Abbey, where he lies with his brother." But it isn't until we work through the story that we discover just how sad the sadness is. Every one of my close friends from high school ended up either being drafted or enlisting when we graduated in the late 60s. I was the only one who managed to stay in college and snag a 2-S deferment. Miraculously, every single one of my friends -- as well as the other neighborhood kids, and kids from other graduating classes -- came back. A couple of the crazier ones even re-upped when their initial term ended. I found myself agreeing with the unnamed narrator of the story when he stated, "I had developed a strong dislike for the war," but for me it was entirely self-serving. I didn't want to get drafted, and I had no interest in marching around in the jungles of southeast Asia. I didn't want my friends over there either, although some of them seemed less troubled by the idea. One question I was left with -- would a U.S. armed service allow the only other living brother to enlist when the first brother had been killed in action? R

Did it occur to anyone, when they saw that Pete had transferred the registration of the Escalade to a third party, to check whether he had registered some new vehicle? R

I have an acquaintance in Wales whom I correspond with, but I'm guessing he is not native Welsh because what he writes seems like pretty standard British. I predict that I would have trouble listening to a Welsh speaker. It's bad enough trying to follow BBC dramas set in places like Newcastle. R

The story proves that readers can be engaged by a "hero" whose actions are morally reprehensible. The outcome of the story leaves me unsettled. Though some of the baddest bad guys were foiled and/or terminated, others seemingly survived and thrived. Overall it leaves me with the same dissatisfaction as the outcome of the recent movie "Arbitrage" with Richard Gere, which was a pretty forgettable movie overall but was distinguished (to me) by the fact that the characters never really ended up paying the consequences for their unethical and immoral actions. In that regard perhaps it reflects real life but it's not what one expects in a film. At least in "No Reason to Kill" there seemed to be a form of redemption which was utterly absent in "Arbitrage." So, all in all, an engaging story with an unsettling ending. R

He always was an upstanding, um, member of his community. R

In case anyone missed the reference above: http://www.awesomedude.com/nigel_gordon/a-fitting-occupation-for-a-queer/a-fitting-occupation-for-a-queer.htm R

Maybe you should have a word with Nigel about that. R

Still more congratulations to Tony and the team. Yet there seems no hint that his parents have grasped what they're yanking him out of. Good to see you writing and posting again after some rough times. R

So is Connor being written out of the show? R

I've actually been using Windows since Windows 1, a little-known initial version of Windows that was shipped with Microsoft's new spreadsheet product, Excel, in the late 1980s, which was the era of DOS 3.1 and 3.3. Windows 1 was a graphical interface that was required for Excel's graphing and display features. Ironically, it was a very compact and fast-running operating system that fit entirely on a single floppy disk for installation. And it ran just fine on the modest 286 machines of the day. But other than this little oasis of graphical interface, PC's used a text-based interface (DOS). Word processing was done on WordPerfect for DOS. If you wanted graphical interface, you went to a Macintosh, which had been introduced in 1984. So far as I am aware, there never was a Windows 2. Somewhere in the early 90s, Microsoft finally came out with Windows 3, which was fully graphical and was a technological catastrophe. It wasn't until Windows 3.1 came out, containing fixes to the major programs, that anyone could seriously consider using Windows for anything important. Then we had Windows 95, which was a huge improvement over Windows 3.1, and then Windows 98, which was a very modest upgrade, Windows 2000, and so on. On the business side, companies I was at used Windows 2000 until they upgraded to Windows XP in the 2004-2005 time frame. Windows 7 was the next version after XP that was any good; the intermediate ones had many problems. Windows 7 is much more stable and has fewer security problems than Windows XP, and has been widely adopted in the business world. I am perfectly happy with Windows 7 and am in no rush to change anything. I would not want to go back to XP, especially because it is no longer supported by Microsoft and therefore is highly vulnerable to hacking exploits that will not be fixed by software updates. I, too, wish that using computers didn't present so many problems for non-technical people. I am responsible for the network and workstations at my church, and it always seems like the people with the least technical expertise (and comfort) are the ones with the most problems, including being lured into clicking on nasty malware installers masquerading as something legitimate. I spend a lot of time cleaning that kind of stuff out of our system and scanning for other malware. Anyway, I would say to anyone with Windows 7 that they might as well stay with it for the time being. The free upgrade to 10 will be available for a year, and in that time Microsoft will undoubtedly fix a number of things and respond to a number of complaints. There's no reason to be an "early adopter." And I would say to anyone still with Windows XP that if they connect to the internet at any time in any manner, they are being very foolish because major infestations with malware are virtually inevitable. R

And Aunt Jenny will be excusing herself to go check behind the fish tank . . . . R

So much for the fantasy of "religion of peace." What a bunch of BS. R

R

Some one liners: -- When I was born, I was given a choice ‐ a big dick or a good memory....I don't remember what I chose -- Having sex is like playing bridge ‐ if you don't have a good partner, you better have a good hand. -- What do you do if you come across a tiger in the jungle? Wipe it off and apologize. -- I used to have fears of hurdles, but then I got over it. -- I always wanted to learn how to juggle, but I just don’t have the balls to do it. -- One problem with auto correct is that you always end up posting some thong you didn't Nintendo -- If a mute child swears, does his mom wash his hands off with soap? R