For Square Dancers who haven't already received word from PACE, Midnight Square, or other distribution lists.

"Elsewhere, Google announced that it was taking its search technology to a new level by introducing a new service that would enable users to find their car keys. "-- tag line for the May 23, 2005 Borowitz Report"

Former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, former Governor of New Jersey, and on-going excuser of gross elitism and run-amok capitalism, Christine Todd Whitman is an archetypical "let them eat cake" Republican of the type I was born and bred to hate.  When we heard her speak last week at the Commonwealth Club, the smugness in her voice matched the tailored perfection of her clothes.  Her self-satisfied views on everything from arsenic on down the alphabet fanned a instinctive blood lust that made it difficult for me to sit in my chair without snarling. More Politics

"San Francisco writer, publisher and humorist Robert Wayne Davolt, 47, died on the 16th day of May, 2005, after a brief battle with cancer… in which, obviously, the cancer came out slightly ahead," begins his self-written obituary. Robert's irony and straight-forward honesty comes across in the written word just as it did in the few liquor-enhanced conversations I had with him in Daddy's. Robert was committed to the Leather Community and involved in a lot of other areas of San Francisco that mean little to me. It didn't matter.  I'll miss his willingness to share a conversation and his ability [...]

... and finally an updated website! Friends in Ashland have a terrific vacation home in the Conchas Chinas area of Puerto Vallarta.  They've had a web site for several years, but it has some problems that made it difficult to find on search engines and awkward to maneuver around. A while ago they asked me to update some pictures and edit in search-engine promotion-type stuff.  "No problem!" I said. Wrong! Gory details for web designers only

A month ago the DSL line went down, and I phoned EarthLink customer support in friendly downtown Bangalore.  So much for chance of getting effective support. Pitifully common and unsurpising details about bad off-shore support

Showing Saddam Hussein "Justice American style" sounds a bit like a John Wayne boast. But, as part of the Administration's PR effort, President Bush says we're showing Saddam and all of Iraq American justice by our exemplary treatment of the ex-Iraqi dictator.  The United States says that we're going to turn Saddam et al over to Iraqi-run tribunals and let the evil doers be judged by their fellow countrymen.  Sounds good, eh?  Read why it isn't good

A free after-school program for young Tenderloin/Western Addition children is holding an auction on eBay this week.  The charity, Up On Top, is selling goodies ranging from a week in a Puerto Vallarta condo, a Jardiniere dinner, and autographed books to tickets to the opening night of Fidelio. The after-school program gives some kids from very low-income families a safe place to go after school.  When they're at Up On Top, they're with adults who help them with their schoolwork and let them know that they are valuable members of our community. I'm not an online auction aficionado, but I've bid [...]