Random

Some things I still can't come to terms with.

You know, like the members of Senate being all millionaires.

Then there are people who use their iPad as a camera. I know you can do that, but it doesn't mean you should, any more than you should drive your F-150 through the front door of a drive-through McDonald's.

The iPad as a camera feels like the shoulder pad as an expression of style.

I am, therefore, in some shallow sense, grateful to Busted Coverage for directing me to this video of a women's softball game at the University of Northern Iowa.… Read more

Even some of the more faithful might have wondered over the last few days whether there truly is a God.

Famed physicist Stephen Hawking would like to help. Let's imagine there isn't, seems to be his preference.

Indeed, in a speech at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., on Tuesday night, he made jokes about God's supposed power and omnipresence.

"What was God doing before the divine creation? Was he preparing hell for people who asked such questions?" asked Hawking, clearly not afraid of meeting a reddish man with a fork and a … Read more

Meeting someone in a club or a bar -- or even a church -- has its dangers.

You don't know who they really are. You don't know what they're like in a bad mood, as opposed to a bed mood. And you have no idea if they're really your cousin.

Such dilemmas have struck all those who are seeking love, or merely the comfort of warm, fragrant skin on a chilly Wednesday night.

Some extreme intellectuals in Iceland have decided to assist society's thrust toward safer human interaction.

They have created IslendingaApp, an app that gives you fair warning if the target of your pupillary expansion is, in fact, a close relative.… Read more

It would be easy to think that no one, no one was buying BlackBerrys right now.

Somehow, the brand -- at least in the U.S. -- appears to be enduring a soporific phase. Why, only the other day, some highly unreliable research suggested that it was the phone that people least wanted to buy.

BlackBerry, though, believes bigger and brighter days are ahead. Recently, it hired Alicia Keys as its creative director.

Some pointed out, to BlackBerry's discomfort, that Keys was an iPhone user with an iOS app.

Just as that information reverberated, Keys was seen tweeting from … Read more

Not all marriages end in paradise.

Sometimes, they dissolve into purgatory or even worse.

Sometimes, though, you can choose a partner who very quickly becomes someone entirely different. A glutton, for example. Or a bigamist.

A woman in Australia recently married the love of her life and became Mrs. Keyet. Excited that she was now Mrs. Keyet, she changed her relationship status to "married."

She might have wished she'd changed it to "harried."

For no sooner did she ask her most important friends to share in her joy than she received a Facebook message: "… Read more

I had a friend running in the Boston Marathon yesterday. Her husband was waiting for her at the finish. When I found out they were both safe, I felt relieved, but still numb.

Others in Boston weren't so fortunate as my friends. They lost so much in such a senseless, awful manner.

Many onlookers around the world went to the natural social place to express themselves: Twitter. Could they add anything? Doubtful. Could they make anything better? Probably not, other than to offer their respect for and solidarity with those who so needlessly suffered and those who risked their … Read more

You know those self-centered, self-regarding people who just have to look at their cell phones during dinner?

Facebook loves them. Facebook admires them. Facebook wants to promote them.

This thrust toward spiritual progress is the company's latest ad for Facebook Home, its attempt to turn your Android into something from Redmond.

In one recent ad, we saw Mark Zuckerberg's loyal troops ignore his dull corporate ra-ra in favor of a screeching goat.

Now, we can see a young woman ignoring her family.

Oh, all families are awful, aren't they?

They insist on imposing emotional control upon you. … Read more

The police are sometimes accused of linear thinking, especially when it comes to DUI checkpoints.

They set them up on Friday and Saturday nights. They redouble their efforts on New Year's Eve.

Perhaps the finest example would was one police force in the wine country of Northern California that decided to put a DUI checkpoint at the bottom of a winery's driveway. Yes, on barrel-tasting day.

The police now have a stronger enemy in the people -- the people who are using social media to warn others that this particular Friday or Saturday night has been selected for … Read more

So you're in the hospital. You want a reassuring environment. You want everything to go well.

But who's that man in the dark suit? The one with the shades. The one with the very suspicious face and accent.

Why, it's Agent Smith. The very same Agent Smith who contributed to making "The Matrix" something of a cult classic.

The very same Agent Smith who can occupy your body, or a version of it. How might this affect your surgery?

Please try not to worry. For the moment, this is just an ad for GE software. … Read more