Spitball Army

Christopher Hitchens, who seems to have made a career out of frustrating, infuriating and intriguing his readers on matters of politics, history, and social culture, talks here with CNN’s Anderson Cooper about his recent encounter with, and treatment for, cancer.

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I read the e-mail message completely, rather than deleting it immediately, as it was obviously not spam. I have been receiving e-mails for some other Fred for years, and they rarely have been of much consequence. This day I was feeling frisky, so I decided to have a little fun.

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The Orchestra Rocks;
celery;
interactive journalism

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Great Lake Swimmers’ Lost Channels;
printable paper;
water

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– My favorite writing instrument is an L.C. Smith manual typewriter with glass keys that is in perfect working order, sits atop a desk in my office, and rarely gets used.

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Making a list such as this is a really simple activity, really. In fact, if one is able to separate the really personal and intimate details about oneself from the mix, there are hundreds or thousands of fascinating bits of minutiae that can populate a “25 Things” list many times over.

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This year I pledged to make good on my internet yapping and mail Christmas cards, something I haven’t done for many, many years. It turned out to be a pleasantly satisfying experience.

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There are many things that are behind us, other than 2008. Some are in a constant state of sputtering back to life (see above, excepting Dodos), while others have been wiped from existence forever (see Dodos, above).

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The Birmingham News’ John Archibald writes a thrice-weekly column of opinion, most often about the happenings at Birmingham’s City Hall and the Jefferson County Commission. His writing is usually pointed, insightful and well-reasoned if, at times, a melodramatic match for the political histrionics he’s observing. Today’s “Archiblog,” as his column is called, veered unpredictably toward the illogical.

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