Monthly Archives: July 2017

“FIRE!” commanded Prime Minister Norine Maciel. With one word, then, Norine had begun the real war – Mars United versus the mothership. With the fate of human freedom hanging in the balance. No big deal, Norine told herself. She watched on the virtual cameras as their nuclear missiles sped to the mothership. “The virtual cameras are really doing their job,” Weaver said. “I know it’s just a composite image of the missiles, but they look so real.” “Definitely better than […]

Dar’s new thing is not being able to live without me and/or wifey, especially in the evenings. He’s following us around the house more during the day, that’s for sure. I go upstairs to hit the head, I can almost be certain Dar will follow me. (In that particular scenario, I don’t mind, because I’m modeling behavior for him.) He tracks me around the halls, the garage, the laundry room. Not all the time. Dar still spends a great deal […]

Right. So. I love showers. I’ve been blogging weekly for almost four years without mentioning this, which represents remarkable restraint on my part. Maybe I’ve just been choosing my moment. This is my moment. This is the story of the greatest shower of my life. I hasten to clarify that I mean that in both senses: my personal best time taking a shower, and also the all-time most wonderful shower apparatus I’ve witnessed. Now, I’m not rich. I’ve never flown […]

Standing in the large central plaza, Julia Maciel led a training of about fifty residents of New Dagreb. The trainees stood in formation doing various lifts, turns, parries, sweeps, and swings with their bodies. They, and Julia, were using bamboo sticks instead of real bos. Julia was exhilarated. Sure, picking fruit and clearing fields was all right, but this was the kind of thing she really enjoyed. She would probably have enjoyed it more but for the presence of Kenyatta. […]

Have I mentioned Dar’s obsession with water? It’s worth a full post. Last month wifey and I were considering buying a house down the street from us. The thing that I loved best about the house was that Strawberry Creek ran right next to it (if you know the Berkeley Rose Garden, the house borders the creek as it leaves the bandshell area), giving us a natural Japanese-like water feature. This also threatened to become the house’s worst problem, because […]

(Here are two shots that aren’t in the new movie, despite trailers/reviews that imply otherwise.) As a kid, I’m sure one reason I loved Spider-Man was that like myself, he was 100% geek and a regular target of bullies. The fantasy of being Spider-Man sustained me for years before I learned about what adults called fantasies. Even though I knew it wasn’t real, it’s odd how the brain clings to imaginary notions. I remember taking long walks from suburban school […]

Martina Maciel finished a round of 100 push-ups, rolled over, and let herself feel the excruciating pain she was pretty much always in. Yes, they had drugs for that. But she had now run through them. Some people got paralyzed and managed with bionic limbs. Sure, some people. Martina’s injury was too severe for that. For the first month of her recovery, Martina was barely permitted to see blades, nor ropes nor strings. Apparently, it’s standard procedure to assume that […]

For the first time in the 3000-words-a-week, almost-4-year history of this blog, I’m going to confess to a crime. Sort of. But before that… Speaking of firsts, for the first time let’s talk about the Better Care Reconciliation Act, the Senate’s current bill that means to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare). I’m not a big fan. I have that in common with about 83% of Americans. But my personal connection is different than most. […]

written by F. Akenews After nearly 200 years, the Democratic Party is doing a re-branding. Today on Capitol Hill, in a press conference, Democratic leaders announced a new symbol and an altered name for their party. The Democratic Party will henceforth be known as the American Democracy Party, and its symbol will now be a bald eagle. “You can still call us Democrats,” laughed Tom Perez, chair of the Committee formerly known as the Democratic National Committee, now known as […]

  3:00pm, March 13th. Prime Minister Norine Maciel and Chatterjee walked around the halls of the Mars White House. As they walked past various low-level functionaries, Norine glanced at her holo-screen, at speeches meant to inspire soldiers from Churchill, Tudela, Hernandez. None of them felt right. Someone once said you don’t go to war with the army you want, but instead with the army you have. As it happened, their army wasn’t as bad as feared. Several thousand soldiers had […]