As we settle into a very summer-like day here in Deerfield, I am somewhat relieved. That’s because my planned trip to Thailand has been postponed, due to the army of Red Shirts who are protesting against the government and making things difficult for travel around Bangkok. Today’s news is that […]
I picked up a copy of yesterday’s NY Sunday Times and found a portrait of a gaunt yet attractive woman. She was Norman Mailer’s last wife…and she’s endured a whole lot of tough times besides being cheated on by the famous philanderer. Her name is Norris Church Mailer, and she […]
Last night we joined our friends Lorna and Mark at a trendy restaurant and sat for a long time talking about places we’ve been. The couple has traveled extensively around the world and they’ve been to some places I haven’t. I listened intently to their stories about what it is […]
I met a man outside of our cafe in South Deerfield named Rapid T. He was unshaven and carrying a box of crushed Miller Lite cans. He had a bicycle with a pair of boots dangling over the handlebars. He told me that he was called a Rail Fan, and […]
I enjoy having lunch with an old friend every week. We meet at the cafe, and always have some great stories to share. When he was a young man, fresh out of high school, his dad wanted to help him out. He wanted a job, and dad was able to […]
In last night’s WSJ, Warren Kozak wrote about a story that tells much about how things work in China. Beginning with a topic of Google’s defiance of the government over censorship of results, he tells a story from his days in the mid ’80s when he lived there with a […]
Sayyid Qutb spent time in Colorado in the 1950s and wrote a seminal 30-volume series called “In the Shade of the Quran.” Members of most major terrorist groups including Al Queda revere Qutb’s words and his anti-semetic rants and have formed many of their hatreds of American morals as a […]
Outside the deluge continues. I think we have it so easy here in Mass, with no hurricanes, tornadoes, hailstones or monsoons. Other places have all of these and more. So a little of this rain outside doesn’t bother me. I read in the WSJ a story about how profitable it’s […]
Michael Wolf writes about the media and I tracked this back reading about Sir Rupert’s new idea about charging people for his UK newspaper’s web content. “Rupert continues his war with the Internet. Over the weekend, he told an interviewer (the interviewer, on Sky News Australia, works for him) that […]
Triumphs of the technical nature are rare for me. Here’s another fumbling admission that I’m not as clever as some young men. I tried to replace my truck’s radio, and was sent the wrong wiring harness. I like being able to talk about wiring harnesses even though I couldn’t figure […]
Two copies of Wired magazine arrived in my post office box on the same day. The March and the April issues, as usual, did not disappoint, but why they both came at once is a mystery. Inside the March issue was a colorful three-page spread about the ten years between […]
It’s a chilly morning, and today I am meeting another prospective intern who wants to come work with us. Graduating from college, I guess in today’s economy it makes sense to get an unpaid internship instead of a regular job. With or without the UMass credits, I think spending time […]