the Scott Stein


There are lots of Scott Steins out there, but this is the Scott Stein, the one you’re looking for

Greatest Hits
Posted on Tuesday September 12, 2006 at 3:29pm.
I'm busy making what I hope will be final edits on my forthcoming novel, Mean Martin Manning, and will probably have little time for blogging for several days. So I'm going to steal a page from the music industry and, like a rock group that releases a greatest hits collection after recording only two studio albums, I will post links here to the greatest hits of the Scott Stein. I've been blogging since June 2006, almost a whole four months, and if you're just discovering me or came to my blog late, here's a good sampling:

I wrote about technology in Digital Cameras and Lost Childhood Memories and Serendipity Still Serendipitous.

Only a Theory is about bumper stickers and Evolution.

Be Happy They Wear Those Gloves (or Annals of Desperate TV Writing, ER Edition) takes on the sexual habits of America's most popular doctors.

In Armstrong--Harder than Hard, I distinguish between Neil and Lance.

Happy Birthday recounts my son's birth and is a reminder of how fortunate we are.

Meaning Enough offers a closer look at the copy on a toy package.

I note political correctness at war with itself in "At Risk for Overweight" and do some math after getting a sandwich in Lies, Damn Lies, and Subway.

In Praise of Consumer Culture is my answer to people "sick of the excesses of a nation..."

The challenges of writing and publishing are detailed in The Story of a Story: "The Stacker" and Novel Beginnings.

I proposed the Circumcision Jewish Conspiracy Theory, which for some reason has not yet caught on.

Here and there I've been posting brief reviews called "Book Notes."

For my humorous fiction, read Kangaroo Court and The Last Peanut.

Finally, I gave One More Reason I'm Not on NPR and tackled hysterical book blurb nonsense with This Is Not Chick Lit, or, What Gloria Steinem Doesn't Know Could Fill a Book, my most popular post to date, since Frank Wilson and Reason's Hit and Run both linked to it, which led to others linking to it.

That's it for the first four months. I hope this keeps you busy and entertained for a few days and makes you want to subscribe (free) or visit every week. And, of course, please read more about Mean Martin Manning.
Customer Service Award
Posted on Thursday September 7, 2006 at 8:24pm.
At the deli counter I ordered lunch to go. "Turkey, cheese, lettuce, tomato, light mustard."

"Dark mustard?" she asked, taking notes.

"Yes." It was close enough.

"What kind of bread?"

"Rye."

"White?"

"No, rye."

"Rye," she said, writing it down. "Sorry about that."

A couple of minutes later I was home and ready to eat my sandwich. It really was a delicious turkey on white bread with mayo.