Category: Uncategorized

​“This is an outrage,” I said to Rich over breakfast on Sunday. “Books are being banned all over America, and nobody’s ever challenged a single one of mine. What am I doing wrong?” A few days earlier I’d noticed the sign below in a bookseller’s window. Googling book banning in the land of the free,…

​In the noble sport of pig racing, the first thing that comes charging out of the starting gate is a flock of terrible puns. “You Never SAUSAGE a Show!” proclaims the gaudy trailer of the touring athletes, who sport names such as Shaquille O’Squeal, Luke Sky Porker, Lady Hoga, and Spongehog Porkpants. These are the…

​At first I thought she was cradling a monkey in her arms. Then I realized the grandmotherly goth lady was holding a baby werewolf doll, its wizened little face covered in fine, wavy hair. With a twinkle in her eye, she set down the were-infant and picked up another little bundle of joy. “This is…

​“A warning light just came on in the car,” Rich announced Friday morning. “Saying what?” “That the warning light is no longer functioning.” “But … if it’s not functioning, you can’t trust what it’s telling you. Which could actually mean it’s functioning perfectly.” Oh, horrors. This was like that classic riddle: you come to two…

​“Unless you’ve been living under a rock,” I read on a food blog, “you’ve likely heard of aquafaba.” Oh dear Lord, I thought. What fresh hell was this? Having plunged deep into vegan cooking sites in search of a treat to make for my sister’s upcoming visit, I discovered several promising recipes requiring this unknown…

When I heard California was adding rabbits to city police forces, I have to admit I was a bit flummoxed. What were they supposed to do, investigate the case of Peter Cottontail and the missing carrots? Unravel the mystery of how the Easter Bunny produces all those eggs every spring? But then I learned the…

“I feel like I just sold my soul to the devil,” I told Rich last week. I’d finally taken the plunge and signed up for ChatGPT, the new artificial intelligence that will soon be running the planet. How complex was the signup process? About halfway between taking out a library card and applying to become…

I sometimes envy my friends who have obsessions — I mean the mild kind, such as collecting ceramic mermaids, breeding show dogs, or hiking all 424 US national parks. Naturally some folks go overboard , like Jean-François Vernetti with his 11,111 Do Not Disturb signs, dermatologist Manfred Rothstein, who owns 675 backscratchers from 71 nations,…

​No one ever visits the same city twice. Because it’s not the same city, and you’re not the same person. I proved this to myself again this week when I revisited two Spanish cities that left me flabbergasted. My first impression of Zaragoza was wild. I’d arrived oblivious to the fact the city was celebrating…

“This is it,” said Rich, staring around in awe. “The epicenter of nuttiness.” Yep, it truly was. We were in a town I hadn’t even planned to write about; Palencia was meant to be a simple 24-hour stopover to break the convoluted journey from Oviedo to Pamplona. And I’d vowed to skip writing about houses…