A couple of weeks ago I received a letter from my health care provider, which included a check for $196. One of the facets of ObamaCare is the 80/20 rule. A firm must use 80% of its revenue on customers. It was determined that the company in question allocated only 69%. In a sense, it was fined, forced to make payouts even to those, like me, who ha
I haven't been this hooked by a song in a long time. I heard Gotye's Somebody That I Used to Know for the first time last week. It's a tale of love gone bad, the bitterness after the break up. It appears simplistic musically. In this case, the old adage "less is more" is as true as ever. Of course, it helps to have compelling lyrics. They are not a
Open Book presents High Rollers, the interview part 2. Envy Red & Q continue their interview about her new novel High Rollers. Q wants to know about the fem fatale in most novels. He and Envy discuss life off the wood. Open Book started as a forum on Author's Info for writers, authors, publishers, storytellers, bloggers, vloggers. If you ha
I caught up to Steven Spielberg's War Horse (2011) last night, courtesy of Netflix. Based on a 1982 novel by Michael Morpurgo, it is solid film-making, but it rarely soars. It is unusually understated for a Spielberg film. It is basically a reworking of Homer's The Odyssey, set during WWI, with a beautiful stallion at the center of the story. One b
I caught up to Steven Spielberg's War Horse (2011) last night, courtesy of Netflix. Based on a 1982 novel by Michael Morpurgo, it is solid film-making, but the story rarely soars. It is unusually understated for a Spielberg film. It is basically a reworking of Homer's The Odyssey, set during WWI, with a beautiful stallion at the center. One big plu
Baseball writers are proffering their opinion on the Skanks acquisition of Ichiro from the Mariners, the team he spent eleven years with. His once awesome hitting skills seem to be in steep decline. Being a Yankees-hater and a fatalist when it comes to the Bronx Bombers, I predict that the 11-time all-star will be revived, embraced by their front-r
I just read about the penalties the NCAA imposed on the Penn St. football program. Wow - four-year probation, no league championship game appearances, no bowl appearances, a cut in scholarships, and the vacating of 111 wins since 1998. I didn't expect that last part. This knocks Joe Paterno from winningest coach in history to twelfth. According to
Here's another troubling sign for America: Last quarter 246,000 were added to the rolls of Social Security Disability. There were only 225,000 jobs created. The government printing press must be working overtime to cover all the outlays. I just read a recap of the British Open. Australian Adam Scott had a four shot lead with four holes to play, and
I needed a break from the sampling of mystery writers I've been doing the past few years. I was in the mood for serious fare. Among the donations given to me was Adolph Caso's The Straw Obelisk, which I'd never heard of. I balked when I read the jacket and saw that it was an anti-war novel. All reasonable people know that war is the worse thing ima
What's to be said when a maniac breaks down an emergency door of a theater, hurls a smoke bomb, and opens fire on innocents? The political arguments will rage. The left will demand greater gun control, the right slacker so that an armed citizen might kill or severely wound such a murderer before fatalities climb. I'm in the right's corner, although
I opened the floating book shop an hour later than usual. As expected, my friend passed her cardiograms with flying colors. Needless to say, she is pissed at her regular doctor's associate, who threw a scare into her without even taking her blood pressure or having enough imagination to discern that a person with a rare neurological disorder is vul
The sky has darkened. Thunder is crackling. It looks like the heat wave is about to be broken. I probably should log off and pull the plug from the laptop, but I'll wait a few more minutes to see if the lightning is a serious threat. I went with Plan B today. Returning from my morning walk, knowing the storm was predicted for late afternoon, I move
I was rooting around with the remote control last night, searching for something interesting to watch. PBS came through, as it so often does. Photographer Robert Knight was profiled in a documentary called Rock Prophecies. The son of a Baptist minister who failed to shelter him from the devil's music, he has taken photographs of all the guitar grea
Here's a quick quiz: which is the most valuable sports franchise in the world? I was shocked at the answer, which will be below. In terms of temperature, it was the hottest round of golf Cuz and I have played this season. Last night's heavy thunderstorms slowed the track down considerably. There was no extra roll to shots. I really messed up the se
Fortunately, the cloud cover and breeze negated the heat, but the humidity was draining out there today. I was fortunate to attract a buyer immediately, who spotted Suzi Orman's Women & Money, which I'd displayed prominently. An early sale always goes a long way to lessening the feeling of futility the endeavor engenders. I sold a sci-fi novel in R
I had another odd, vivid dream last night. In it, I was in bed and someone, probably my mom, was moving the quilt in the area of my feet. Then I heard an announcement over a loudspeaker. I approached a window and saw a repair shop set up in the driveway shared by the Mazzos and Venerusos. When I awoke it took me a moment to realize I was in Sheepsh
This week I have the honor of being profiled in the Brooklyn newspapers. My thanks to Sol, who led me to Eli Rosenberg, who wrote the article, and to Steve, the photographer. Here's the text, amended by my own comments: Brownstone Brooklyn has the title for the borough’s most literary land around, but a Brooklynite who sells his books on the street
We've all heard the old saying: "It pays to shop." I ignored it in large part when I had good cash flow. Not so the past four years, when I've watched every nickel. I've dreaded July, when the car insurance bill is due, the biggest hit of the year, which I always paid in full to take advantage of the discount. I was shocked to find that Liberty Mut
Yesterday, conservative talk show host Mike Gallagher mentioned an interesting development concerning a movie star's mom. I got the following from NYPost.com, editing it a tiny bit. It illustrates how intolerant some liberals can be: Brad Pitt’s mom, Jane, has faced a barrage of death threats and other slurs after writing to her local paper bashing
I had a fun dream last night. I was riding the subway and seated next to me was none other than the lovely Tina Louise, the "movie star" among the odd group stranded on Gilligan's Island. She fell asleep and her head rested on my shoulder. When the train lurched suddenly, her face went to my lap and she shrieked. It's not hard to figure that the dr
