Sentential Links #235

Linkage....

:: Because nothing says “I’m a big tough guy” than anonymously railing at some strange woman who never did you any harm on the Internet just because she is writing about Square Pegs. (Hmmmm, I should see if I can line up that show again. I remember it being all kinds of awesome when it was originally aired...but I think I was eleven at the time. Anyone?)

:: Ha ha! It’s funny because Dagwood’s dream was crushed!

:: Now I know someone probably remembers that at one time or another I said that one should not wear socks with sandals but I also said that it’s okay if the sandals are casual and the socks are the kind that are meant to be shown off - novelty or any kind of print or colorful socks. (I love socks with sandals, and I consider that rule to be one of the deeply silliest of all the deeply silly fashion rules out there. So there!)

:: I loved it when I was twelve, and I read the sequels, which are each half as good as the one before, and I didn’t give up until they were homeopathically good. ("Homeopathically good" is a magnificent turn of phrase. She's talking about Dune, by the way, which is on my "to read in 2011" list.)

:: When people gather to mourn, you mourn with them. It doesn't matter if you don't follow their customs, if their rituals make you uncomfortable, if you disagree with the content or the direction or the language or the very existence of their prayers. When people gather to mourn, you mourn with them. And you don't get to pick how they go about mourning. (Right-wing pontifications about memorial service etiquette always make me want to reach for something pointy, that I might jab it into something fleshy. And then there's this....)

:: Down with DRM. There's got to be a better way to protect copyright than crippling the format. (This trend bugs me...the notion that when we "buy" something, we're not really "buying" something anymore, but just forking over money for the right to use it under certain circumstances.)

:: For some of us, when to retire is dictated by the policies of our companies, our governments, or perhaps, our health, possibly tied to the amount of our nest egg.

:: When I am writing fiction, however, it is hugely diverting, like losing yourself watching the endless countryside roll by. The idea train barreled along with no problem, but when it came to settling in with the idea, distraction was a given. (I couldn't agree more. New blog to me, by the way. It's run by a guy who works at my favorite used bookstore.)

More next week!