george orwell

It is not often that one recognizes a significant turning point in history while it is happening — yet here we are.

Right now in Austin, change is a-brewing. We are in the midst of a vicious turmoil that, if left unchallenged, could easily warp the routine goings-on of our everyday lives.

One concerned Austinite has already spoken out, saying, “I have questions about Big Brother deciding what I can and can’t do.” Our civil liberties are at risk!

No, I am not referring to Occupy Austin or March to Abolish the Death Penalty or Zombie Crawl.

Whilst walking the dog this rainy evening, I happened upon an illuminated, inflatable lawn ornament of the Halloween variety.

These decorations are an easy, relatively inexpensive way to acknowledge the holiday.

They require little or no thought beyond which one to buy and where to buy it. The set-up is easy, so is the clean up and off-season storage.

Easy is good.

More people are getting used to reading e-books on devices like the Sony Reader or the Amazon Kindle. Recently Kindle owners who had purchased George Orwell's 1984 or Animal Farm had their books snatched back by Amazon when a rights issue arose.

The buyers were credited their $9.99, but such a recall could never have happened with actual books.