The AP (via CNN) reports that the FDA has approved a new wheelchair, called the iBOT, that can climb stairs. The story talks about how the device relies on gyroscopes, and how it’s being sold by a division of Johnson & Johnson. Not until the 15th graf does the story mention that the wheelchair was […]
Continue reading... August 12, 2003
California Scheming
I was all set to gloat a lot about the fact that Gallagher, Larry Flynt, Gary Coleman, and Ahhhnold are running for governor of California. Then I remembered that I live in the state where recent senatorial candidates included Al “Grandpa Munster” Lewis and parking garage magnate/certified nutball Abe Hirschfeld, and where Norman Mailer, William […]
Continue reading... August 9, 2003
Feral Chihuahuas
Sometimes, you can go months without synchronicity. Then it bites you on the ass. Bryant Park is a picturesque park in Midtown, behind the New York Public Library’s main branch and the site of one of the better-known free Wi-Fi zone. There’s a lovely carousel there, and they show free movies on Monday nights during […]
Continue reading... May 2, 2003
Bomb Scare Arrest
Faithful readers will recall that on March 31, the kids and I were evacuated because an explosive device was found in a car about 20 feet from our front window. The local paper reports that police have made an arrest: the former cellmate of the guy who blew up a building down the block a […]
Continue reading... May 2, 2003
The Problem with New York: Too Many A-Holes
Actually, they’re talking about potholes. From the NYDailyNews: “Basically, you got three types of holes: You got your A-holes, and then you have your B-holes, and your C-holes,” McFarland said in describing the pockmarked streets.
Continue reading... April 23, 2003
Throat Culture
After digging and thinking for four years, journalism students at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana think they’ve figured out the identity of Watergate figure Deep Throat. If you had that weasel Pat Buchanan in the office pool, like Dateline NBC did, you’re wrong. If you had John Dean, you’re warmer, but not quite on the […]
Continue reading... April 23, 2003
Back. Been Busy.
April is always tough, between taxes, Passover, Holy Week, and the hangover and cleanup from the same. We now resume our regular posting.
Continue reading... April 7, 2003
Yes, Peggy, But…
Peggy Noonan has a pretty fair column today about unashamed patriotism, but she gets tangled up. In the late 1960s a lot of young people and liberals thought you were a dope to love your country, “to wave the flag.” But that is also the precise moment that American flag lapel pins first became popular. […]
Continue reading... April 4, 2003
Random Thoughts
April 4, 2003
Edwin Starr Dies
Edwin Starr passed away the other day. He was a soul shouter with a killer band and only three hits, but my oh my what hits: Agent Double-O Soul Twenty Five Miles War One of my reference books describes “War”, from 1970, as “cataclysmic,” which is as good a description as any. Where Marvin Gaye talked […]
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