In the 2020s, Chimpanzee culture is alive and well. We’ve moved beyond the ape-ish shrieks of Trump into the deviant forms of House Freedom Caucus Lancelot Link aggression. But as Frans de Waal says, “Dominant males are always paranoid.” That paranoia was easy to spot back in the 1990s. That’s when I created my first political hit piece. It’s banner featured Orange County Congressman Bob Dornan’s head Photoshopped onto the…
The first time I saw the Carl Diedrich Memorial Van was in 1978. It was parked outside Diedrich’s 10-foot-by-25-foot coffee import shop at the back end of a strip mall near the corner of Irvine Boulevard and 17th Street in Costa Mesa, California. In fact, the VW van is how I found Diedrich’s. It was a landmark. If you spotted it, you had found the best coffee beans in the…
I am not myself today. It isn’t because I am awash in all variety of ruination — that my 17 year-old dog, Luna, died in my arms last Wednesday or that my 100 year-old senile grandmother — of whom I am the only grandchild — called me Herman (her long deceased brother’s name), and told me to milk the cows (I consented, hundreds of miles from the nearest bovine utter)….
Hell is hot for many reasons. Punishment, by itself, is not the only consideration. Dante’s thermostat may be in the red for inspiration…or as a forewarning…or as a symbol of passion to motivate us up here on the upper crust of planet earth. But sitting in the summer heat of an un-airconditioned doctor’s office yesterday, I was convinced that, at the very least, hell is real. My visit to Dr….
On this week’s episode, Nathan, Mike, and Mahler talk about Oreology, depth of field, killing contests, reptile extinction, zoonotic spillover, the electronic Twitter machine, water restriction, the definition of the word “girl,” bailing out Bezos, vault toilets, and so on.
Every year, my personal physician wants to drain blood out of me for testing. I oblige and the results, so far, have been excellent. On the other hand, my visit to the phlebotomist — the one who draws my blood — makes me ill at ease. Since I’ve never been a diabetic or a junkie, jelly popping needles into my blood vessels isn’t something I’m comfortable with. It’s not that…
The other day, my cousin Wayne — who, by his own admission, is a very religious man — told me I’d go to hell because of the language I use. He was half serious and half right. I do use language that could get me in trouble. Let me explain. The podcast broadcast you’re listening to is designated as “explicit” on iTunes. One definition for the word “explicit” is “precisely…
I’ve waved it, hung it, and ran it up a pole. I’ve “pledged allegiance” to it — to freedoms that include the right to criticize and to think freely. The American flag is a symbol of my government — a fabric rectangle, red, white, blue, stars and stripes — the representation, but not the foundation, on which we stand. Anyone can fly the flag and anyone can hide behind it.
On this week’s episode, Nathan, Mike, and Mahler talk about Jack Dorsey’s crypto crash, compound eyes, catalytic converters, sinkholes in Alaska, In the Night Kitchen, Barnes & Noble, guns, ganja, typeface prohibitions, Loch Ness, and so on.
On this week’s episode, Nathan, Mike, and Mahler talk about invisible art, trophy animals, the elusive ivory-billed woodpecker, saving water, your father the rapist, the San Bernardino County sheriff’s marijuana pay-off, forged COVID cards, the Santa Ana Police copyright infringement trap, bull testicles, and so on.
