Charles Burress

Flowers are a bit like Moby Dick in my experience – boring in high school, entrancing later. (Though I still think Melville might have benefited from trimming some of the blubber from his exhaustive descriptions of the whaling industry.) #MobyDick #poppies #Melville

A strange mix of crime and courtroom drama was brewed in a Berkeley trial Sunday when three women long known as witches were convicted of violating state law banning the improper use of dead bodies. Scanner guest contributor @crburress reports. berkeleyscanner.com/2023/05/04/com…

I generally don't follow Ariel's diet ("Where the bee sucks, there suck I"), except for honeysuckle. (Photo taken on walk in Berkeley today) #Ariel #TheTempest #Shakespeare #bees

Three years after coming to America, a young Japanese artist, 20-year-old Chiura Obata, portrayed the aftermath of the Great San Francisco Earthquake, which occurred exactly 117 years ago today: #ChiuraObata #SFearthquake #SanFrancisco

The conception of San Francisco, hardly immaculate, occurred on this date in 1776 when Juan Bautista de Anza chose the site for the Presidio, the main military base anchoring Spain's empire in what became the Western U.S. #SanFrancisco #Presidio

Tip of the hat to Marcel Marceau, who gained worldwide renown for not using words. He was born 100 years ago today. #MarcelMarceau #Mime

Much good advice at today's SCWBI online conference, including from Andrea Welch of Beach Lane Books: Instead of chasing shifting market trends, focus on "what you love, what lights your fire and what makes you excited to sit down at your desk and start writing." #SCBWINY23

When I ordered a used paperback of H.L. Mencken newspaper stories, I thought I'd receive a normal-size paperback, not one of larger-than-Biblical proportions. #Mencken #Bible #writers

These daffodils made me think, not of Wordsworth, but of a line from Lord Buckley's "The Nazz": "how pretty the flowers, how pretty the hours" #daffodils #LordBuckley #Wordsworth #TheNazz

Not a bumper sticker I see every day. I wondered if the Homeric juxtaposition is just coincidence . . . #Feynman #Odyssey

@MicrosoftHelps My Office for Home and Student suddenly is blocking my editing access to Word, Excel documents, saying I need to activate (and buy) Office 365. How can I regain access without buying 365?

Chicken Little is fed up with the world thinking she’s a hysterical nincompoop. So she tells the true story of what really happened that fateful day when she ran around shouting, “The sky is falling!!!” #kidlitpit #PB

Ginger’s strange-looking horse, Mr. Popcorn, shocks some people, but his appearance was nothing compared to the sensation he caused when he showed an astonishing ability at the county fair. #kidlitpit #PB

At last – the longstanding mystery of why the dish ran away with the spoon is solved in DISH AND SPOON MAKE THEIR GETAWAY. This humorous tale features friendship, rescue from a potential calamity and a STEM bonus of drama-filled volcano science. #kidlitpit #PB

Coincidence of the trivial sort: a clue in today's LA Times crossword, "'Anna Karenina' novelist," appeared when I'm happily engrossed in this extraordinary book. @latimes #Tolstoy #AnnaKarenina

One reason I like the Washington Post is the advice on living a healthy lifestyle. @washingtonpost @Adela_Suliman @NatlParkService #psychedelics #toads

I'm feeling a bit skittish about staying on Twitter. #Musk #ElonMusk #Twitter

Not exactly the Hello Kitty I thought I knew. #HelloKitty #Halloween2022 #Halloween

These costumes are getting real niche.

Two girls in Tokyo – one Japanese and one American – bond in a cross-cultural friendship that takes them on an otherworldly adventure to visit the mochi-making Moon Rabbit and learn the true story of the origins of their favorite treat! Co-author: June Kinoshita #POC #PBPitch