Dear Cybertruck Buyer: Expect ostracism, getting the finger all the time — even from electronic signboards along the freeway. I almost flipped off my Palm Springs Cybertruck. … More Love it or call it a styling fiasco, you can’t help but gape at the Tesla Cybertruck
Four months after his passing, word comes of the death of David S. Ombruni. My searches suggest his middle name was Scott. You see him mid-right in the second row of our fraternity composite photo above. Here’s the obit: Ombruni, David S., July 5, 1955 to October 29, 2023. Predeceased by parents Paul and Jeanne … More News of a frat brother’s death makes a harsh landing and creates distress over a mean fate
On the Badlands section of Route 60 between Beaumont and Moreno Valley, the van was a greased pig, wandering around in the lane and the steering being so numb you’d think you’re in a Mars car. It’s like bowling with a beach ball. … More Hawthorne round-trip on cargo duty ends my volunteer service in Palm Springs International Film Festival Shortfest 2023
The English tone is beginning to wear on me a bit. I wish I would have kept a tally from the beginning of how many times they serve tea in this book. I guess it isn’t too late to start. I could just count the last half and assume there were as many “teas” in the first half. … More Remembering Daneene Endicott, a good soul who had a playful side
Our satisfaction must have shown when a group of well-dressed fellow patrons sat at the open spaces next to our window seats. I remarked on their high-style and was told by the youngest, “We were out preaching.” … More Tamale Tour Part Three: Casa de Silvia excels at the make-or-break small details
I hang my head when revealing that strawberries have always been a problem for me. They were the one food that I hated most as a kid. We used to have them out of the freezer in cardboard cartons, which concentrated the berries’ tartness while yielding a mushy texture. … More Tamale Tour Part Two: Another sweet selection and longings for jalapeño
I admit being a tamale novice, having previously eaten only a few examples from a batch that a neighbor had prepared en el estilo de Puebla. This means I was unprepared for the hulls of a couple of kernels, one of which I spat out, causing Karin to frown at my terrible manners, although the pigeon that was stalking us might have been elated. … More Tamale Tour Part One: To Diana’s Bakery in Coachella before the line builds up
Quite a large percentage of those at today’s well-attended prelim have volunteered in 12 or more of the 18 annual events since the festival started in 2005. That’s a lot of leadership capability; we admire those stalwarts. … More Receiving the 2023 volunteer T-shirt and news of Modernism Week’s expansion to Beverly Hills
We are to deplore the amount of money devoted to the military budget, for instance, but the Ukrainians are happy that the United States Army developed the M142 HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) that has proven so effective against the invading Russians. And now the Ukrainians are clamoring for Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system, the development of which was supported by the U.S. to the tune of $1.6 billion. … More Five years and so many precepts: How Peter Joseph’s manifesto holds up to time–or not
How long can failure continue without rigging the system to work on your behalf? The question arises after reading “Killing off gas-powered cars, a July 31 letter to the Los Angeles Times. The writer, Paul Scott, co-founded the electric-vehicle advocacy group Plug In America, which has plumped for EVs since 2008. Maybe I met Scott … More Killing off gas cars, IndyCarnage in Nashville, and a nearly forgotten novel, ‘The Flivver King’
baggyparagraphs.wordpress.com 