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Winning, but before a true prize even existed

This year, 2024, marks the 42nd year (should be 43 years in a row since the tournament was canceled in 2020 due to COVID) that I have picked at least one NCAA men’s basketball bracket. I have copies of many of them, including the one from 1981, when I picked my Louisville Cardinals to win the championship. That was the year they lost their first game on a halfcourt shot. Some people might be deterred after that jarring experience, but not me! Then again, I was only 5 when it happened.

Figs are fun

figs are fun

It is really remarkable that after writing online stories for 25 years, I have a topic today that I’ve both never written about and something I know more about than almost anything else.

That thing is figs.

How did we get to this point? My uncle had a fig tree in his backyard, and we lived at his house 16 years ago. Coincidentally, my father-in-law also had fig trees, so when we bought a new house 14 years ago, we accepted a gift of a fig cutting and planted it in an auspicious backyard location.

Book review: "The Genesis Machine" by Amy Webb and Andrew Hessel

Great book that runs the gamut of synthetic biology

The term "natural" used to be substantially easier to apply to basic items like fruit and animals. It is both exhilarating and frightening to consider "improving" genetic material, but humans have a knack for putting their marks on everything imaginable.

Super Recognisers unite!

During high school and college, I worked at Kentucky Kingdom amusement park in Louisville, Ky. Besides battling racuous crowds and the blazing heat, one thing that was interesting to me was trying to keep track of the different people I was seeing throughout the day. As a games attendant (a.k.a. carnival barker), I would attempt to personally say things to people that I saw multiple times, whether at different games or at different parts of the park. This was mostly just a sales tactic, and I think the customers likely thought I was training to have my own magic show.

Knitting

I did this. It is fun.

From the Archive

Upcoming book fair and student writing contest in Evansville

The newly created Midwest Writers Guild in Evansville, Ind., is hosting a book fair and sponsoring a student writing contest.

The Spring Book Fair will take place 9 a.m.-4 p.m. March 17 at the Washington Square Mall in Evansville. High school students (grades 8-12) must submit their work during this time. Here is the contest registration form.

Authors who are interested in participating in the event must complete this registration form. The cost is $20 for a partial table. Barnes & Noble will handle the transactions.

Don't try this at home, or at IHOP

Two teenagers in Grand Rapids, Mich., set a new Guinness World Record recently by watching TV for 52 hours straight. And, of all places, they performed their feat at an International House of Pancakes.

The father of one of the young men said, "He has to be good at something, this is just as well." Is this for real? People don't have anything better to do than set records watching TV? Better yet, did they try the stuffed French toast?

Election wrapup

Mitt Romney and Barack Obama

The U.S. elections are finally over, and either you're elated, frustrated or somewhere in between (maybe your guy/girl won the big race, but that bond issue for building a life-size replica of the Millennium Falcon in your basement didn't quite make it). Following the races, specifically the presidential race, on TV, the web, Twitter, etc., was a somewhat dizzying experience. With the electoral votes changing rapidly, the election almost seemed like a basketball or football game, with continual highs and lows as the totals were revealed.

Next stop: Gaithersburg, Md.

Although my summer signing schedule is pretty light, I will be in Gaithersburg, Md., in July for "The Developers." The event will take place at 2 p.m. July 8 at the Barnes and Noble (21 Grand Corner Ave.). I hope to discuss this book, as well as my new project, "Polos to Ties," which is keeping me mostly off the book tour circuit this year.

Get directions to the Gaithersburg Barnes and Noble here

Cyber war came before the real thing

What better way to cripple a nation your trying to topple than to take down key websites in the country.

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