Going Inkless

On August 7, 1913, Samuel F. Cody fell out of the sky.  Despite having done so before on several occasions and generally being thought of as indestructible, his luck had run out this time.  Investigations concluded that a bamboo strut in his biplane's wing snapped under pressure due to the sustained heat wave in England at the time.  Immediately, stories circulated about sabotage and murder.  People were convinced that some nefarious plot had played out that summer day.  A mere accident could not have been the end of Cody, adventurer, inventor, and showman. Now, unless you're interested in the history of aviation, you probably haven't even heard of Samuel F. Cody, much less the controversy at the time of his death.  I wouldn't have known, myself, were it not the subject of a book my father pressed me to read.  This exchange was fortified with stories about Cody's career in Wild West shows (and the inevitable conflict with Buffalo Bill,) the use o...

Common belief holds that what you do at the new year sets the pattern for the year ahead.  This is why people throw parties to welcome the new year, why they try to spend New Year's Eve with the ones they love, and why some are determined to make that midnight kiss happen.  There are superstitions about wearing new clothes, starting off debt-free, and generally declaring your intent to be a better you starting January 1.  New Year's Day is a time of omens for the coming year.  Everyone hopes that good luck on the first day will presage good luck through the year. And we really needed that hope in 2017. It's pretty well accepted that 2016 sucked.  Whether you were saddened by the many deaths of beloved celebrities, shocked by various disasters and humanitarian crises, or disgusted by political developments, chances are you've had a rough time lately. I was a little overwhelmed by the politics, myself, which is part of the reason I fell off posting to this b...

      We've been exploring Netflix lately, discovering movies and TV shows we've intended to watch but had forgotten as well as stumbling across things we never heard about before.  It eats up some time, but it's a good use of those spare evenings when the work day has left you unwilling to stray too far from your couch and unable to put your mind to more creative work.  "Veg"ging, it is.  Sure.  But, there's a lot of good stuff out there, and all that input is bound to spark ideas. One show we particularly enjoyed was "Stephen Fry in America," a BBC series that (Surprise!) sent Stephen Fry touring the United States in 2008.  I suppose there may be a few folks who are unfamiliar with Mr. Fry, and if you are one of them, I encourage you to seek out and sample his work.  He is a witty, likeable, British actor- intelligent and from all indications, a genuinely nice guy.  So, knowing this about him and being generally interested in how a s...