Nobody Ever Got a Callous Building a Web Site
This expression cracked me up when I read it on a poster selling power tools. Indeed, my hands don’t bear the callouses found on hard-working carpenters, iron workers or painters. But today I did one of the jobs that gives you callouses and it felt great. I painted the front […]
A Cunning Raid Yields Freedom in Colombia
News about Colombia always pulls me in, ever since I visited Medellin last April. I am going back in late August to Nuqui, a little beach town in the far north. Yesterday’s big news in Colombia and around the world was the raid that freed 15 hostages from the hands […]
Gilded Vanity Plates for the Richest in Abu Dhabi
I thought it was a bit of an extravagance when I bought my “GNCAFE” license plates for the cafe truck. Today I realized that I’m in little league when it comes to extravagant plate splurges. In yesterday’s WSJ, I read about vanity plates going for millions of dollars in Abu […]
Imagine! Staffers Who Actually Live in Hartford
Colin McEnroe is a blogger and writer for the Hartford Courant. Today he gives a sharp-tongued piece of advice to the folks down there, who just recently suffered through another round of massive layoffs, and must be smarting. He makes some good points. Among them is that a morning newspaper […]
Why Do So Many Planes Crash in Iran?
Ben Leffell writes on eTN and asked the question: Why are there so many plane crashes in Iran? It’s an epidemic, statisticly speaking, with nine fatal accidents since 2002 and as many as 302 killed in a single flight. eTN has the story. “The maintenance of the aircraft could certainly […]
Thinking Locally, I Met A Bunch of Like-Minded Business Owners
I’m just back from an important meeting, that brought dozens of local business owners together in Northampton to talk local. It was a membership meeting for Pioneer Valley Local First, an organization of volunteers that seeks to promote buying locally, and getting the public to think about where the money […]
"A Prairie Home Companion" Sets Down in Lenox
Last night Garrison Keillor sang in the rain. In his white shirt and red tie, fifteen minutes before the live Saturday night broadcast of “A Prairie Home Companion” at the Koussevitsky Music Shed in Lenox, he serenaded joyful fans seated on the lawn with a version of the Gene Kelley […]
Google’s New Phone Will Do Much, Much More
Andy Rubin had a meeting with Google’s Larry Page that turned out much better than he expected it to. Rubin, the inventor of the Sidekick phone, wanted Page to give his endorsement to his new telephone software called Android. An article by Daniel Roth in this month’s Wired gives the […]
North Koreans Leave Simply to Eat and Be Free
There is a new movie about North Korea that I’m eager to see. Apparently it’s tough to watch, because it is about defectors who have made the crossing over the Tumen River into China in search of food and a better life. Melanie Kirkpatrick wrote about a new film called […]
Reaching Full Mobility and Listening To Larry
Today I am more mobile than I’ve been in years. I dragged my old 1997 Avalon to the third mechanic I could find, this one in Amherst, figuring that this was the final straw before I gave it to the American Lung Association. But — I drove away with an […]
I Can See! I Can See! Better than Ever
Yesterday I left the office early for an important appointment. I had been waiting months for this day, and at 3 pm, I was seated in a dark office popping two Valium with Cindy by my side. It was time to slice open my eyes with a laser and shave […]
We Just Ran Out of Excuses for Incandescent Bulbs
I read an angry diatribe in the Boston Globe a few months back about the tyranny of forcing consumers to switch to compact flourescent lights. The story railed about how unfair it was to make Americans use more efficient lightbulbs that burn a fraction of the energy. How it was […]
On "The Beach," Life Is Idyllic Until….
Last night’s movie called “The Beach” made me dream about writing blogs. Leonardo DiCaprio is Richard, a hard-partying traveler who meets a crazy Scot named Daffy in a Bangkok fleabag motel, and then finds him dead after he’s killed himself. But before he dies, he gives Richard a map to […]
This Is Progress! Right On Cape Wind
It was mighty encouraging to read that opponents of Cape Wind, who have thrown up all manner of legal obstacles to building offshore wind turbines in Nantucket Sound, have been pushed aside. We have to begin building our green infrastructure and wind, solar and even nuclear power have to be […]
Solar and Wind Tax Credits Should Be Extended!
Thomas Friedman once again calls it right…in a blistering column today he points at President Bush and scolds him for not being any sort of leader on energy. Great stuff, I just wish Bush and the Repblicans would read it. “The Senate Republicans — sorry to say, with the help […]
The Mini-vacation on the Cape–Good for the Soul
We have been enjoying our Cape Cod vacation and last night met a wonderful young couple who sat with us at the wedding reception. Bride and Groom Jackie and Mark included many personal touches that made the wedding more fun. At the table, the placecards were all little snippets of […]
Blackberry Time on the High Seas
Even with the Pittsburgh skyline and the fascinating company aboard the Gateway Clipper, the lure of the Blackberry is a tempation that’s hard to put down. Here uber traveler Johnny Jet checks email while we cruised the Allegheny river on Thursday night. We caught up with many interesting writers and […]
Maintenant, Nous Sommes en Vacance
It’s been a long time coming, we’re finally on our long-awaited Cape Cod mini-vacation to attend the wedding of Jackie Stevenson and Mark Archer. This young couple invited us way, way back when the snow was on the ground and the day has finally come for our two-night stay at […]