David Beemer's Blog
RSS
Apr.12.2011
While not exactly a magazine snob, (I recently bought a Mad Magazine, for pete's sake) I have usually avoided Popular Science because much of what they cover seems unlikely to ever actually happen. A superstrong cable reaching all the way into space, kept taut by the earth's rotation, capable of...
Continue Reading »
Mar.16.2011
The tell a story about one of the Rockefellers coming in from the outside, taking off his coat, and simply holding it out to the side and letting go of it, because he knew there would be someone there to catch it and hang it up. People with servants get used to ignoring the help, perhaps revealing...
Continue Reading »
Mar.03.2011
For the most part, I have about an average life as far as big events go: births, deaths, marraiges, divorces (someone else's this time, thank you very much) and so on, but for the last eighteen months or so, the hit's just kept on coming. Like a boxer who hasn't been tagged on the chin, but has...
Continue Reading »
Feb.05.2011
Recently, I helped my son move into a new place. It was one of those things where he's moving to a bigger house and needs stuff to fill it up, and logistics dictated that we rent a vehicle here in Napa. The guy behind the counter appeared to be of Indian or Pakistani descent. At least he had a...
Continue Reading »
Jan.18.2011
Someone said that facts are stubborn things. Democracies can put off dealing with facts for an amazingly long time, but when things get to crisis mode, those damn nagging facts are still there. We could pretend all we want that all the negroes in the South are happy with the way things are, but...
Continue Reading »
Jan.13.2011
In my experience, nothing good comes of a call at four O'clock in the morning. It was my ex-wife, who is not prone to this sort of thing, telling us that there had been a fire. My son Micheal and his girlfriend Andrea were ok. So was my youngest son Jeff, who lived with them. Andrea's daughter...
Continue Reading »
3 comments
Jan.04.2011
Sinee (I can't pronounce her real name) grew up in the North of Thailand, where everyone has enough to eat, but school didn't go past elementary. She wanted better for her kids and moved to Bangkok, where they have better schools. She taught herself Chinese, because it is as useful as English there...
Continue Reading »
Dec.14.2010
It was not a surprise to any of us, and some of us felt a pang of guilty relief that her ordeal was over. She had been impatient for the Lord to take her for the last year or so. She had been growing steadily weaker all during that time, and was having trouble remembering things. She would chastise...
Continue Reading »
Nov.26.2010
As some of you may know, I once worked for a giant oil company. For a brief period, I auditioned for the lowest rung of management. The job consisted mostly of keeping a list of contractors on file, and knowing which ones to call when something unpleasant hit the fan. There was someone for mucking...
Continue Reading »
5 comments
Nov.11.2010
My first thought upon seeing this week's subject was to think of the free speech that was recently granted to underprivledged corportations, who have for so long been forced to stand by mutely while their concerns were being weighed by the unwashed many. I remember thinking that, in our political...
Continue Reading »
Nov.05.2010
When I got drafted into the Army, back in the Dark Ages (1966), the Vietnam war was heating up and long mothballed bases were being re-opened. They needed infratsructure, and that meant pay clerks, maintenance crews, MPs, and a thousand other things. In it's infinite wisdom the Army decided that I...
Continue Reading »
Oct.21.2010
Like everyone else in the Bay Area, I have had a ringside seat for the San Bruno disaster and it's aftermath. I imagine everyone is about as confused as I am about what caused it and exactly what it is that the PUC actually does. As near as I can tell, their function is similar to a WWF referee;...
Continue Reading »
Oct.06.2010
Bob was having a bad day. Actually, it had started the night before, when his wife had told him he was 'selfish in bed'. She had prattled off a bunch of stuff about him never listening to her as well, but by then all he could think about was how threatened he felt, and how unfair she was being....
Continue Reading »
Oct.02.2010
As you probably know, TV signals can't follow the curvature of the earth or transmit through mountains, but they are omnidirectional and travel at the speed of light. That means that the earliest experiments with TV signals, (back in the thirties, believe it or not) have travel about eighty light...
Continue Reading »
Sep.23.2010
I just got back from my first writers conference in Santa Barbara, the Willow Rock writers retreat, and I have to say it was encouraging and daunting at the same time. I was easily the most inexperienced writer there. Some were in the process of converting screenplays to novels, some had been...
Continue Reading »
I seem to be compelled to tell stories, whether in the form I have currently chosen or some other, time will tell.”
—My son, to the best of my knowledge.
About David
Writing a techical mystery. Progress has been slow, because I'm barely computer literate, and it gets in the way at unexpected times. I am well into the third rewrite of this damn thing, and I am determined to simply finish it this time, and then maybe write...
Causes David Beemer Supports
Wife works as an advocate for Seniors. Sponser a child through World Vision
David’s Favorite Books
A Fine and Private place, the Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle Covenant with Death, When the War is Over, by Steven Becker Animal Dreams, etc, by, well, you...
David is a fan of
