The significance of “under God” and the pledge

NBC just made the pledge newsworthy again, so I’ve dusted off this old draft: What “under God” seems to mean After reading The Story of The Pledge of Allegiance to The Flag, I get the impression that “under God” was added to alleviate concerns about expressing unqualified allegiance to the nation: Those who believe in [...]

Posting by e-mail

Just because I can.

Our real names

In the car, on the way home from an outing, I started trying to explain to Jacob that my name is not “Daddy” even though he calls me that. In the space of a few minutes, he went from “No! Your name’s Daddy!” to “Oh, your name is Dave Domingo” to “I’m going to call [...]

Late night monologues in your inbox

If you want to subscribe to a daily roll-up of Letterman’s, O’Brien’s, Ferguson’s and Kimmel’s monologues, click here.

iTunes is punishing me for not owning an iPod

I downloaded eight tracks from iTunes Tuesday night. Getting those tracks to play on my Pocket PC phone has been one of the most frustrating tech user experiences of my life.

Twizzler conversation

Jacob, 3, pointing to a package of Twizzlers on the counter: “I want that.” Me: “Not right now.” “But I went poop.” (referring to successful toilet use the day before) “You don’t go poop once and get licorice forever.” (Calmly and confidently) “Yes, I do.”

Cool family kayak

Recently, my wife and I decided we wanted a tandem kayak — with extra room for our 3-year-old. With no yard and not much room left in the garage, an inflatable was the only option. So we plunked down for the AdvancedFrame Convertible inflatable kayak by Advanced Elements. Reviews of this kayak on Amazon were [...]

Traffic suggestion, broadly applicable

Two cars come to opposite sides of a four-way intersection at practically the same time.  One of the cars has a left turn signal on; the other is presumably going to go straight. The driver who plans to go left should promptly motion to the other driver to go first, regardless of who has right [...]

Music appreciation

My son Charlie, bass player and maker of electronic music, suggested we go to a performance last weekend by Bonobo and his band at at club in San Francisco, so we went. Charlie was shrewd enough to maneuver us to the edge of the stage before the club got crowded, so for two hours I [...]

Starbucks job poster

Poster on the door at Starbucks: “Opportunities Available.” I know the company is just trying for a more exciting word than “jobs,” but “opportunities” is not a synonym for “jobs.” Jobs are available, therefore opportunities exist.