The Martian by Andy Weir, his first novel and soon to be a movie (click for trailer), was originally published on the author’s personal website without charge. You could read it free. That’s “free as in no money.”

When you travel to a place that uses a language you don’t know, things can be challenging. Where’s my hotel? Where can I get something to eat? What sign means “Bathroom” and which is which?

In Vancouver, a naked man displayed a sitar before switching to, aiming, and plucking his banjo at Police officers. Understandably, they “returned fire” with non-lethal ammunition.

Ok, Ok, you’re right. It’s a new toy and I wanted to show it off. You’re absolutely right. But I learned some things and can do better on my next wire antenna.

Writing from the heart occurs in two distinct phases: spew, and then clean it up.

This is a glass-cased version of why our Dad carried in a metal tube inside his coat pocket all the time. (Important detail: he’s a surgeon.)

I know ITAR, the International Trade Agreement Regulations.

Every time I see all those little turds circling after and following the big ones down the toilet, I look forward to the next general election.

I fear that those of us who have never known war first hand will, in our ignorance of and inaction to distant evils, serve only to give them time to perpetrate those horrors again and again.