November 15 Fundraiser for author Stuart Timmons

Artists and authors will gather to raise funds for the medical expenses for Stuart Timmons, recovering from a stroke, at the ONE Institute (909 W. Adams Blvd, at Scarff, between Figueroa and Hoover) on Nov. 15 from 3 - 5 p.m. The event is co-sponsored by the Lambda Literary Foundation, Monette/Horwitz Trust and Drk/rm photo lab.

For reservations or more information call 213-741-0094. Contributions may be sent to

Stuart Craig Timmons Irrev. Trust
c/o Gay Timmons
POB 472
Los Gatos, CA 95031.

Banned Books Week Sept. 27 - Oct. 4, 2008

What I wish I was having tomorrow (it will be volleyball-grade wonderful at the beach)!

Hide yer booty! It's Talk Like A Pirate Day! Arrgghh!

The interior of 221B Baker Street, London

This is going to be a most interesting election...

I hate to follow good news with bad

The final day of business for Acres of Books (and that is no exaggeration) will be October 18th.

After the compromise wrought from the hollywood CRA in their classic David vs. Goliath struggle, one would think the Long Beach CRA could find a way to keep this icon as part their redevelopment schemes, which have not --to be kind-- always worked out for the best, unless you're with a demolition firm or like fug-uttly buildings replacing classic early 20th century facades such as Acres of Books, shown above. The imitation streamline-moderne of the downtown Long Beach shopping center is a poor replacement for the original.

But I guess what I think about it doesn't matter.

George Takei and Brad Altman

Live Long and Prosper

Steinbeck map of America by Molly Maguire in the collection of the Library of Congress

Not that it has anything to do with what I'm reading at the moment (The Painter of Battles, by Arturo Perez-Reverte), but it's a cool map that I hadn't seen in a while...

What a difference (during hurricane season) a day makes

As recently as Memorial Day, the water levels of Lake Okeechobee were at a record low; now authorities are draining the lake to prevent the possibility of flooding South Florida.

As any student of Florida history knows, the storm surge from the lake poses a threat to life and property almost as severe as if it were the coast. Turn your back on the lake in a wet season at your peril; of course, if humans weren't building in places where they have no business being in the first place, maybe Nature knows what's it's doing.

Unfortunately, humans aren't going to go away any time soon, so Nature will take it's course, and if they have any intelligence, the humans in the path of its fury will learn to get out of the way.



Even if none of the storms this season make a direct hit on the Florida peninsula, eventually one -or two, or three-- will. And you thought Katrina (or Andrew) was something, well, just hold on to your hats...

Actually, to look at the projected landfall of the next few storms, finding a dry place in Florida will be like trying to find an honest politician in Miami.