1. Hop on... READ ON

I saw Kurt Vonnegut speak in 1997 at Florida State University, along with Joseph Heller (who is mentioned in the talk below) and William Styron. Vonnegut was crotchety and slightly addled and either very wise or very flippant or both. As part of the event staff, I remember Vonnegut being very unhappy that he wasn't allowed to smoke in university buildings, so perhaps that accounted for his mood when I saw him. But still, Vonnegut was a huge reason I became a writer myself. Reading Breakfast of... READ ON

My hunch is many of you probably check in often with our friends over at the Geek Dad blog on Wired.com. I've always considered it one of the best parenting blogs on the Web--especially for dad _flossers. If you're not a regular, you're missing out on great posts like this one: Top 10 Helpful Hints for Geeky Dads-To-Be, written by Geek Dad editor and friend of the _floss, Ken Denmead (wish I'd read that one before I had my son!). Or how about this really well written post by one of my favorite regular... READ ON

If you woke up one day and decided to write a series of letters to famous people, while pretending to be a ten year-old child, do you think anyone would write back? Bill Geerhart decided to try this experiment while he was unemployed during the 1990s. Surprisingly, quite a few people, or at least their representatives, responded to his inner child and the original letters paired with the responses are now available in his book, Little Billy's Letters. A few samples from the book are available on... READ ON