Mostly the same old junk! New PDA friendly version, a little more spell checking... and TOM SWIFT BOOKS!!!

This site contains a bunch of stuff about someone you most probably don't know, might never want to know, wouldn't recognize if I crawled up on your shoulders and began yodeling — although that might be a give-away — and don't really give a rat's hindquarters about.

You lookin' at me?

The newest stuff on this site: Tom Swift books.

I became enamored with the "fan fiction" world of Tom Swift in late 2009. Of the five different series written, I tend to believe that the originals (100 years old as of 2010) and the "Tom Swift Jr." books of the 1950's - early 1970's are the best. CLICK THIS link to go to my Tom Swift page where you can see what I've been up to, and even order copies of the books.

If Tom isn't your thing, there are some other fairly good links, information and rantings about some of my favorite science fiction / fantasy and mystery authors (that's right... I try to stay clear of meaningful books. I believe that Moby Dick is just about the worst book ever written, and that if Melvill tried to get that drivel published today, his rejection letter would start off with, "Dear Really Crappy Hack;"), and info and some mp3 clips from — and about — different full-cast dramatizations (and comedizations) of sci-fi novels.

Have a PDA? Try my new PDA friendly squeezed site. I know it works on a Palm with a 320 pixel wide screen. Can someone tell me if it works on a Pocket PC (I'm not a big Windows fan, but I would like to know anyway...) or on a WAP-enabled cell phone? You can try it on your full-size computer -- it just looks squeezed; everything else (except the audios) is there.

Just added, a little bit of fluff on how I became a BAR. And, yes, I am as strange as I sound. Just read the first couple of paragraphs to see what this is.

Back in mid-March 2003 I added a small diatribe about putting in a Pergo wood floor in our living room (sore knees but great floor!)

And for June 2003 I added a story and complaint about Philips, the manufacturer of one of my most favorite toys and what can happen when Repair and Customer Service go completely haywire. Now, and new for 2005, you can read up on my experience in getting a dead unit replaced under extended warranty.

• I have added other new listings tot my "Favorite British TV shows" page (thanks to some great suggestions, folks!)

• I've gone a bit overboard on three pages discussing my favorite beverages: single malt whisky (Scotch if you will), some of the new small batch bourbons, and even a few surprising vodka and gin selections.

• Please check out my BBC and British TV listings to see if your favorite British comedy series is listed. Several wonderful people have been helping me by mentioning their favorites. By the way, the list is NOT intended to be a compendium (a $4 word) of all British comedies... just the ones that I and a few others have very fond memories of. Please don't inundate ($2 word) me with "You jerk! You left 'Bring Out the Bishop' and 'Whoops! Limp Upper Lip' off you list!" But if there is a comedy that you have seen, and can desctibe it to me in a paragraph or so, I'll list it. Except, perhaps, 'Keeping Up Appearances.'

• And speaking of sliced bread and other great inventions of the 20th and 21st centuries... if you are a Macintosh user, be sure to check out the Apple Music Store. If you are being abused by a PC, take heart; Apple has a version of iTunes for PCs that will give you access to the friendliest and quickest way of previewing and then purchasing/downloading/cutting to CD of all the great music out there. Brand new albums for about 1/2 what you would have to pay at a store. Don't want the entire Björk album? just purchase "It's Oh So Quiet" by itself for 99¢ and put it on a CD with other single tracks for a custom CD.

But... if you've gone over to the iPod already, why not treat yourself to an iMac or even a full-fledged desktop or laptop Mac?

• I've got the usual assortment of information about my family and a link to our larger, more attractive web site managed by my smaller, more attractive wife. If you are interested, you can even read about my newest toys.

This site was designed to operate as well as possible when you are using Netscape 4.7 or newer, and to operate as might be expected if you use that other browser. You know...the one that never seems to fully integrate new features, like Java, until an extra one or two revs?

It plays well with Safari.

Also, you will find some background music that may be played (located just to the left of this paragraph. It requires that you have QuickTime (Macintosh or Windows) installed. The music files are copyrighted, so don't go taking them and repurposing (which has nothing to do with dolphins) them on your own site.

Finally, there are mp3 excerpts on this site. (NOTE: I'll be adding an Australian comedy to the downoads some day).

They require that you have an mpeg level 3 player. I use to use the "AMP" products such as MacAMP and WinAMP. Today, and since I am on a Macintosh, I use iTunes. Download whatever you wish to use(and don't forget to spend way too much time looking for nifty skins for the ...Amp products.) WARNING: I heard bad things about WinAmp and Windows Media Player and how Microsoft is getting automatic downloads of what you are listening to through their latest version. I dumped my copies.