TweetFor years, I have been a fan of Gary Larson’s The Far Side.  If you’ve never heard of it, it’s a comic strip that explores the little oddities of life, and the way we say things, using cows, chickens, insects, headhunters, fat women with beehive hairdos and hornrimmed glasses, and buck-toothed, freckled kids.  It’s usually [...]

TweetHere’s a little fun site I have helped out with in the past. It’s kind of like a magic 8 ball. You ask a question, and “The Internet God” will give you an answer. Be careful, this can be addicting. It’s quite fun, and sometimes scarily accurate and real. TheInternetGod.com Tell them theNewsbase.com sent you!

TweetI found this book incredibly interesting and I read it constantly until the end. What was so interesting? The author is from Canada, the characters were well developed, and it is a story about conjoined twins (yes, siamese twins, but the proper term is conjoined twins). Of course, since Lori is not a twin, much [...]

‘m not saying mentally disturbed people should go without therapy and medication when necessary, but it’s interesting to look at artists (Van Gogh for instance), writers, and public figures in the past who would today be forced to assimilate from their uniqueness into bland submission to the ordinary. Maybe we should search for a way to keep the extraordinary while seeking to heal.

TweetI’ve started a new collection of cookbooks. The Beautiful Cookbooks truly are beautiful, as well as informative. These are oversized coffeetable books about various regions in the world. So far, I have the American, Texas, Asia, and Provence cookbooks. Each of these cookbooks has historic information about the region, including its people, culture and food. [...]

It puts a lot of things in perspective, and makes you look at them a different way. You don’t necessarily agree with the viewpoints, but you can see where they’re coming from. Combined with a twisty plot line, well-developed and believable characters, and shocker ending that isn’t sappy sweet, it all makes for a great novel.

Food is, of course, the most basic of our needs beyond water and air (and toilet paper!). Isn’t it funny how we take these simple things for granted? You breathe in and out, you pull on the roll, you turn on the tap, you pop a Lean Cuisine into the microwave, or answer, “Yes”, to “Fries with that?” Easy, automatic, instant. But of course, it’s not. All of these things, with the exception of air, require a complicated combination of infrastructure and workforce to get to us. We only think about it when the system breaks down (imagine a toilet paper factory worker’s strike!), or when we pay our bills.

TweetOnce again, I started watching a movie, expecting a documentary (this time about the evils of the tobacco industry). Instead, I was given a delightful thinking comedy movie about the tobacco industry, lobbyists, spin doctors, and the sales industry. Nick Naylor is the spokesman for the tobacco industry. He lobbies in Congress, appears on talk [...]

TweetI found this book at the free store and almost didn’t take it. It looked kind of cool, a hand with candy sprinkles all over it. But the description, about a man with an addiction who goes through rehab didn’t sound that exciting. I’ve read a few of those, and they’re mostly over-Christiany, “feel sorry [...]

TweetI’m always interested when I see an “Oprah’s Book Club” seal on a novel, and I’ve never yet been disappointed. They are always haunting, thought-provoking, realistic stories. Once again, I was not disappointed. The story is from the point of view of the 14 year old daughter (Connie) of a Vermont midwife (Sibyl). The girl [...]