Oh joy, oh rapture. More growth

Image courtesy of Flickr user Gloria Manna by way of a Creative Commons license. https://www.flickr.com/photos/gloriamanna/

It’s a question of quality: The Hap-Hap-Happy News at the top of Friday’s Daily News left me with a lump in my throat. “Economist: Emerald Coast to grow for next 15 years.” I managed not to throw up as I… READ MORE

In the “olden” days, commercials were catchy

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user Kroelleboelle.

We were talking about memorable commercials when I began quoting all the jingles I could remember. Problem was, they were all from the ’60s and ’70s. In 1965, for instance, when the Ford Mustang first appeared, there was a radio… READ MORE

On junk phone calls and the ‘homosexual lifestyle’

Image courtesy of ph by way of a Creative Commons license.

Odds and ends from here and there: Universal Bingo is sponsoring S.O.C.K.S. (Save Our Cats and Kittens), a no-kill kitty shelter, on Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. Universal is next to Kinfolks on Racetrack Road. Get this: It’s 8 o’clock… READ MORE

I have never understood why people kill for God

Image courtesy of the Look and Learn History Picture Archive by way of a Creative Commons search.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – Thousands of Muslims ransacked churches, banks, shops and cars Thursday after a Chinese Christian trader reportedly insulted Islam by complaining about loud evening prayers, police and witnesses said. I have never understood why people kill for… READ MORE

Could God create a computer he couldn’t figure out?

This is the author's first computer, an IBM PS-1, along with an Okidata dot-matrix printer and, inexplicably, a Caffeine-Free Diet Coke. Image courtesy of Del Stone Jr.

Lately I have been shopping for a new computer, which is like saying, “Lately I have been trying to answer the question: If God is omnipotent, could he create a rock he couldn’t lift?” All computer questions are paradoxes. Paradox!… READ MORE

This is why people and cats bond

Recently I wrote about cats and received this letter from my friends Scott and Ann of Pensacola, who said: “Everybody has a cat story, so here’s ours. “Our cat is a master thief!” A partial list of what their cat… READ MORE

Holy penguins, Batman! The Aquarium of the Americas is pretty cool!

Aquarium of the Americas visitors stand eye-to-eye with species of fish that inhabit the Atlantic Ocean. The aquarium is a favored tourist attraction of New Orelans. Image by Del Stone Jr.

I was editing Staff Writer Pam Golden’s account of her trip to the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans when I was stung by the idea of getting in the face of a jellyfish. Let’s do it, I told… READ MORE