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“Everybody knows they’re going to die, ” he said again, “but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently.” So we kid ourselves about death, I said. “Yes. But there’s a better approach. To know you’re going to die, and to be prepared for it a any time. That’s better. That way…

Frankly, a sleigh would have been a far more appropriate vehicle to use today than my trusty Escort. I’m not saying that the Escort didn’t do a yeoman’s job; indeed it met or beat expectations at every hairy intersection and daunting hill. But snow clean up is far from complete in my little corner of…

“Very little of the great cruelty shown by men can really be attributed to cruel instinct. Most of it comes from thoughtlessness or inherited habit. The roots of cruelty, therefore, are not so much strong as widespread. But the time must come wherein humanity protected by custom and thoughtlessness will succumb before humanity championed by…

Encyclopedia of Arda: Orc Click on “orc” in the text for more information than you ever wanted on the evil critters under Sauron’s sway. The Encyclopedia of Arda is the best on-line reference for everything Middle Earth.

The weekend went quickly, and I’ve little to show for its passing. Saturday I spent three hours at a local pet center, trying to raise funds for the local cat shelter I’m becoming involved with. It was a slow day, and I don’t think we earned that much cash, although I suppose anything is better…

I hate getting those cutesy mail-it-to-everbody joke emails. As a rule, I don’t send them, and I seldom read them. I have a friend, who I otherwise think very highly of, who includes me on his mass-emailing list of jokes. He’ll send out three or four of these a week, and each email may contain…