The boys are gone. Richard has moved downtown, Russell has left for Poughkeepsie, and they have left behind — socks. Lots and lots of socks. In so doing, they have inadvertently given me a new quest: to find a match for every orphaned male sock in the house. This is an ideal quest. It is [...]
Archive for August, 2009
Sock Quest
Posted in Family, Humor, tagged clothing, Family, Humor, socks on August 25, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Lockerbie Bomber: The Fallout Continues
Posted in crime, World, tagged Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, Lockerbie bombing, Nuremberg, Rudolf Hess, Scotland, terrorism on August 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Here’s an update on the Scottish decision to release Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the terrorist convicted of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Great Britain’s Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has finally addressed the issue after being quiet for some time, and he has drawn criticism both for his delay in commenting and the substance of [...]
Drug-Addled
Posted in America, tagged America, drugs, Health care, medicine, Michael Jackson on August 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The latest story about the circumstances of Michael Jackson’s death is sad, but also symptomatic of how modern medical practices often seem to be extraordinarily reliant on prescribing drugs as the cure for every ill. The amount of medication Jackson apparently received is astonishing. Can’t sleep? We’ll give you a drug, and if that doesn’t [...]
New House
Posted in TV, tagged House, TV on August 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Last night as I was channel-surfing I saw an ad for the new season of House, which apparently will be starting up in September. It came as a bit of a surprise, because I never know when new episodes will start for any shows anymore. (Don’t you miss the old days, when all shows started [...]
Dilemma ? How Can we Reverse this Trend ?
Posted in Uncategorized on August 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
As of late I have been starting to wonder when radio and cable talk show hosts have gone too far with their comments. We can all recall Don Imus’s “nappy headed ho” comments that caused him to lose his job awhile back, but most talk show hosts say and do pretty much whatever they want without giving it [...]
Nap Time
Posted in Growing Up, Work, tagged Akron, Growing Up, kindergarten, napping, Rankin Elementary School, Work on August 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
One day last week at about 2:30 or 3 p.m., I seemed to hit the wall. I began to yawn and my eyes grew heavy. So, to combat the fatigue, I went out to the coffee station, poured some cold coffee into my cup, zapped it to fiery heat in the microwave oven, and slugged [...]
Vacation Time: The Amusement Park Grand Tour
Posted in America, Family, Travel, tagged America, Busch Gardens, Family, Paramoutn Carowinds, Six Flags Over Georgia, Travel, Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, vacation, Vacation Time on August 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In the summer of 1999 or 2000 — I’m not sure which — UJ and I decided it would be fun to drive with Richard and Russell down to Mom’s condo in Stuart, Florida. The boys like amusement parks and so do I, so the plan was to stop at amusement parks on the way [...]
Compassion For A Mass Killer?
Posted in crime, World, tagged Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, crime, Libya, Lockerbie bombing, Pan Am Flight 103, Scotland, World on August 23, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Scotland’s release of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the man convicted of killing 270 people in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, is an interesting story. The stated reason for the release is that al-Megrahi, who is 57, has terminal prostate cancer, and he was released on “compassionate grounds.” As a result, al-Megrahi served only 10 [...]
“Inglourious Basterds” Review
Posted in Columbus, Movies, tagged Brad Pitt, David Bowie, Giorgio Moroder, Holocaust, Inglourious Basterds, John Travolta, Kill Bill, Movies, Nazis, Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino, Uma Thurman, World War II on August 22, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Yesterday, my friends and I went to the Arena Grand to see Quentin Tarantino’s new movie, Inglorious Basterds, which he has supposedly been working on for almost a decade. At the very end of the movie, after carving a swastika into a Nazi’s forehead, Brad Pitt’s character turns to the camera and says “I think [...]
A Trillion Here, A Trillion There . . . .
Posted in America, Politics, The Economy, tagged America, Budget Deficit, economy, Politics on August 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Administration will officially raise its 10-year deficit projection by close to $2 trillion, from $7.1 trillion to $9 trillion. Yikes! Even by modern inflated standards, that is a staggering sum of money, and it raises an increasingly daunting question: who is going to buy the debt instruments that would allow us to finance that [...]
Vacation Time
Posted in America, Politics, Travel, tagged beaches, President Obama, Travel, vacation, Vacation Time on August 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
President Obama and his family have left Washington, D.C. for a 10-day vacation in Martha’s Vineyard. From the descriptions in the press, it sounds like he will have a pretty good vacation, where he will play a lot of golf and spend time with his family. In fact, it appears that President Obama will comply [...]
The Carpenters, Or Bread?
Posted in Humor, Music, tagged Bread, Family Guy, Humor, Music, The Carpenters on August 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I enjoyed UJ’s post on the Carpenters and his crush on Karen Carpenter. Although I can’t say that I had a crush on Karen Carpenter — nice hair, by the way, in that 1971 Australia performance footage! — I did secretly like some of the Carpenters’ songs, like Superstar. My only question is: Was it [...]
Another Step In The Right Direction
Posted in World, tagged Afghan elections, Afghanistan, World on August 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
By all accounts, the election in Afghanistan went better than many expected. Although there were some security issues and attacks, for the most part Taliban threats proved hollow and voters were able to vote without intimidation. The BBC report on the election is here. The results of the election will not be known for some [...]
Afghan Hope
Posted in World, tagged Afghan elections, Afghanistan, World on August 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The elections in Afghanistan are about ready to begin. That faraway land is bravely attempting to elect leaders in the midst of war and attacks by the Taliban — who want nothing more than to intimidate voters into staying away from the polls and thereby failing to participate in democratic processes. This BBC story provides [...]
