A few weeks ago, Tom’s old iPhone exploded. We didn’t hear it happen. We just opened the drawer one day, and there it was – an exploded iPhone. I discovered it while we were packing for our trip to Lexington, and didn’t have time to figure out the right way to dispose of it. But … read more Exploding devices
Author: Lisa
Turning off Facebook
This morning I felt that my grasp of reality was slipping away. I had to do something. I identified a major source of my disorientation: Facebook. When you spend hours scrolling through your feed and reading comment threads, your thought process starts to work that way – unfocused, trivialized, random, contentious, fact-free. That’s not the brain I want … read more Turning off Facebook
The Facebook lie
Mark Zuckerberg says that, despite all the fake news it disseminated, Facebook didn’t influence the election. He even called that “a pretty crazy idea.” It would be easy for any media outlet, including Facebook, to claim that each voter is responsible for filtering information in order to make a responsible decision. That’s the essence of individual … read more The Facebook lie
Lives on the line
I woke up next to a veteran. And am so glad he’s alive. Because I’m not a veteran, I’ll never be able to fully understand how Tom survived what he survived as an Army Ranger in the 1980s. I am simply grateful to him for putting his life on the line repeatedly. Not only that – he … read more Lives on the line
How you doing?
I was getting annoyed. The two cars ahead of me at the parking lot exit were taking forever. Daily parking is free so exit usually takes 10 seconds, but not these two – after handing in their ticket, they just sat there. When I got to the booth, I did the same thing. The attendant … read more How you doing?
Where there’s smoke
The Appalachians are on fire. I am on my hands and knees, collecting documents that are irreplaceable before we evacuate. I’m fighting to think straight, control the panic. Acrid smoke has been hanging around our mountain community for days now, chased by strong winds from the wildfires in western North Carolina and northwest Georgia. The Rough Ridge … read more Where there’s smoke
Eternal vigilance
Today’s penny is a 2000. That’s the first time that Donald Trump ran in a primary election, as a Reform Party candidate. This post was updated throughout the day. Noon. Back at our own polling station – now there’s no line, and the handicapped spot is visible and open. We go in to vote. I fill out … read more Eternal vigilance
What you can do tomorrow
Fellow citizens of the United States: No matter who you are or where you are, no matter your party or lack thereof, you can do more than vote tomorrow. Vote – yes, of course, if you haven’t already. You can make sure you are ready to vote on ALL the positions and issues on your ballot … read more What you can do tomorrow
Time to change
I hate the time change. Why do we bother? We’re on Daylight Savings Time more than we are on regular time. It makes no sense. When I was a kid, after the Uniform Time Act of 1966, we had Daylight Savings for seven months a year. I remember people being confused by the time change, … read more Time to change
Keeping watch
Time was that I could rattle off the election regulations for Georgia – the Republic of Georgia, that is. In 2000, 2001 and 2002, I was in Tbilisi for a month at a time, working with local journalists to help them cover elections. Part of training them about their role in a new democracy was to train … read more Keeping watch