On a royal birthday every house must fly a flag, or the owner would be dragged to a police station and be fined twenty-five rubles.

One positive command he gave us: You shall love and honor your emperor. In every congregation a prayer must be said for the czar's health, or the chief of police would close the synagogue.

We said we'd fly the flag without him and carry on. I didn't give him a kiss because I still hadn't accepted what was happening. I was hoping that some miracle was going to happen. Of course, it didn't. I wish I had kissed him now.

If you don't like airline food, you'll probably have the same impression of space station food. I would not fly to space for the food.

I fly my geek flag proudly. Absolutely.

With a recent birthday, I've been acting now for twenty years.