This week, three short answers for three long questions:
Dear. Mr. Smith: A friend of mine loves to e-mail Web links. He sends out at least four a day, to various groups of friends, some of whom "reply all." But he doesn't want to join Facebook and Twitter, even though his proclivity for sharing is perfectly suited to these media. I enjoy some of his links, but I would like to receive less e-mail in general. What to do?
Could you not just ignore them?
Dear Mr. Smith: How does the dapper gentleman properly accommodate a lumpy but essential personal electronic device in a well-cut suit? Is there any circumstance in which the wearing of a Bluetooth earpiece does not actually make one look like a total bag?
Phone in the breast pocket, wallet in the trouser hip pocket. Weed out all unessential paper and cards from wallet. Abandon change to servers or beggars. Remove the keys to your boat and cottage and garden shed from your keychain. Answer to final question: No.
Dear Mr. Smith: My girlfriend is getting strangely obsessed with another girl who is dating my friend. My girl really doesn't know anything about this other girl, but she has found pictures of the other girl (on Facebook) with three kids - three kids she never mentions. My girl thinks something sketchy is going on; I say it's none of our business. How do I get her to stop obsessing?
You are right, but you can't: Obsessing about Facebook is a pandemic. Without powerful cultural antibiotics, you can't stop her from being swept away by the virus. Could you gently point out to her that if the picture is on Facebook then it's hardly something that's being kept secret?
Russell Smith's new novel, Girl Crazy , was recently released.