Whom I'm Reading Now

“So who is your favorite author?”

I’ve been asked from time to time

I’d have to answer, “Whom I’m reading

Now,” the question is sublime

Perhaps it’s something scary

Tales filled with horror – woe

Perhaps something from Steven

King or Edgar Allan Poe

Or maybe something humorous

To pass away the hours

Some good Mark Twain or Christopher

Moore enchant me with their powers

Or maybe swords & sorcery

With a dragon perhaps or two

Some Tolkien or some R.E. Howard

A Hobbit / Barbarian brew

If I feel mysterious

There are few places that I go

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s nice but

Dame Christie steals the show

Perchance it’s something fantastic

My yen for worlds unseen

Neil Gaiman & J.K. Rowling work

They can truly set a scene

Perhaps a graphic novel?

With true sophistication

Then you want to find some

Alan Moore, he’s your destination

And then there’s science fiction

That just may do the trick

May I suggest some Arthur C. Clarke

Or even Phil K. Dick

And then there are the classics

Too many just to name

Bradbury, Verne, & Stevenson

Deserve their well-earned fame

There’s Hemingway & London

Voltaire to name some more

I can’t forget Kurt Vonnegut

Their voices all still roar

There are many to discover

So many yet to read

I have only scratched the surface

Librarians take heed!

So, ask me who’s my favorite?

Who can I disavow?

The answer is so plain to see

It’s whom I’m reading now.

Bogart's Books ~ My Favorite Bookstore in the Known Universe

The Privacy Poll

This afternoon I took a Facebook poll on privacy.  I answered how satisfied I was with the privacy settings and if I felt they were easy to find.  Then there was a box for my comments so I commented.

"I enjoy FB.  However, privacy is an illusion.  I self-censor and I’m mindful of what I post, both status updates and with pictures.  FB is a free service but information is the new currency & knowledge is power.  That makes information priceless.  Right now FB is the 900 lbs. gorilla in Social Media and people, being people, like to share information about their favorite things; themselves.  I’m cautious as to what I share and to what extent I share it, I don’t think you can’t make a setting for that - yet.  I know this isn’t a space for questions but what is FB’s stance on CISPA?  - Thank you for your time."

And that was that. 

The price of admission these days is tied to data – your data.  I love Social Media; further, I am an apologist & proponent for it.  At this point in our history and, I hope, far into the future a user driven, free & open internet is in the world’s best interest.  That said, if you are going to participate in Social Media be it Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, Pinerest, or even blogging you should be aware of the price.  For many, including me, it is still worth the price of admission but that cost may be increasing if members of Congress had their way; CISPA (Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act) passed in the House but failed in the Senate.  It is only a matter of time before someone else who has no idea or concept of what they are talking about proposes legislation to take away your online freedoms & compromise your personal information.  I hope whatever may come next meets a similar fate as CISPA & SOPA before it. 

“You must pay for everything in this world one way and another. There is nothing free except the Grace of God. You cannot earn that or deserve it.” ― Charles Portis, True Grit

Satchelmouth

There’s a sound that takes me

Other places, it is a sound I know

When that trumpet plays and

The melody sways, it’s the only Satchmo

It transports to other destinations

That I wouldn’t have gone before

The music?  Well, it’s timeless

That should be underscored

His horn it conjures pictures

Of Amsterdam, New Orleans & Paris

It’s as constant as the Northern

Star the one known as Polaris

The man he blazed a thousand trails

And opened many a mind

This ambassador of music

Simply cannot be maligned

So go now and discover

What Louis Armstrong has

The magic of the music

His life, his art, the Jazz