You can find out anything you want about a car now, and especially every bit of information about the price, without relying on the dealers.

Why, I wonder, should the popularity of a news story matter to me? Does it mean it's a good story or just a seductive one?

I think of myself as something of a connoisseur of procrastination, creative and dogged in my approach to not getting things done.

I have worked on PCs and on Macs and, while I have my preferences, I don't find it crippling to work on one rather than the other.

Every corny thing that's said about living with nature - being in harmony with the earth, feeling the cycle of the seasons - happens to be true.

Having animals in the city is entirely different from having animals out in the country. For one thing, it's more social. When you live on lots of acres without neighbors within a stone's throw, your dog-walks are usually solitary rambles over hill and dale.

Writing about unknown people means I spend a lot of time arguing to the reader about why it's worth knowing about them. That's challenging, but then the piece is pure discovery.