Late-Night Quick Takes

Seven quick takes during a late-night blog session:

1.  Reading one's own writing can often lead the author to question his or her own intelligence.  Case in point, see "Time Waits for Snowman" below.  I actually still like the post a little bit, but to me it seems quite random and off-the-cuff.  Maybe I've matured as a blogger, maybe I'm just wincing at how I seem to have written whatever popped into my head at the moment.  Who knows what I'll think of this post in 5 years?

2.  I cannot believe it is already almost April 2011.  If you were born one third of the way through 1990, you'd be turning 21 right about now.  I feel like time is slipping through my hands faster and faster.  I've heard 20-somethings complain about how fast time is going by, and all I can think is, wait until you're older.  I imagine this phenomenon gets worse over time.  To put this in perspective, today's high school seniors have only known Pres. Clinton, Pres. George W. Bush, and Pres. Obama as the U.S. Presidents for THEIR ENTIRE LIVES.  Pres. Clinton is a vague memory from when they were no more than 4 years old.  When I look back on what I thought I knew in high school, I realize now that it wasn't that much.

3.  Speaking of not knowing much, I learned tonight that the Clovis people have been considered the oldest group of American people, dating back more than 13,000 years from the present by radiocarbon dating.  They are named because of a certain shape of arrowhead that was found in Clovis, New Mexico in the 1930s.  I had never heard of them until I stumbled on a New York Times headline.  I decided not to read the article because of the Times' new pricing model, but I did find the information I wanted on Wikipedia.  Ain't the Internet grand?

4.  That new pricing model has led to a dilemma of sorts for me -- thanks to their tracking cookie, I discovered that I read about 40 articles last month from the Times, which means I should be signing up for their online subscription soon (if you read more than 20 articles a month, they ask you to pay a fee).  I feel like this is a reasonable pricing scheme, plus I would like to have access to the Times on my wife's iPad if I feel like it, so I may go for the full online subscription.  However, I don't like paying for content on the Internet.  I know that the Times Co. needs to make money somehow, and I don't like the more and more intrusive ads they have come up with recently, so I'd probably be willing to pay for "premium" Internet content.  Still, I think the Internet should be free.  That's what we've all come to expect, isn't it? 

5.  These quick takes are not so quick.  I've taken at least a half-hour to write this, I think.

6.  To be brief, I think 2012 is going to be a doozy of an election cycle.  Smears from all sides, especially in Nevada.

7.  Thanks to the Las Vegas Gleaner for giving me entertaining, thoughtful, funny analysis from a liberal perspective on local, national, and international politics.  I'm glad he's still free...for now.