Winner? I Don’t Think So…
Five years ago, Virginia Metcalf Merida, 51, won the Powerball jackpot lottery. She told the press after she won the $65.4 million prize that she was going to quit her job making corrogated boxes, and buy a house. Her husband, a forklift operator, wanted to quit too, and make a […]
Money in the Bank to Fix Tsunami Ravaged Lands
It’s unusual in the history of disaster relief: today NY Times’ Stephanie Strom writes about the surplus facing the NGOs who raised more than $1.3 million after last December’s Tsunami. “From our point of view, this is like dying and going to heaven,” said Charles MacCormack, president of Save the […]
No Car Payment? Sorry Your Car Won’t Start
”People come in the door and can’t get a car loan and can’t get a cosigner,” Doucette said. ”What do I tell them, to go get a bus pass? We’re in a tough economy. People don’t have a lot of money. They need cars.” Doucette was explaining a new device […]
HEY NOW! Hooking Up in Seattle
Bloomberg carried this story last week. “Geeks, Single and Proud, Turn Seattle Into Online Dating Mecca: To find a date in Seattle last April, Allstate Corp. attorney Steve Takahashi carried a stick of salami around a Trader Joe’s grocery store. He was following the instructions posted on a chat board, […]
Pillars Fall, Beau Winds Up in Jail
Rico, an instructor on a Semester at Sea Voyage, writes a blog about the trip.Here is a story about an unfortunate student travelern named Beau. “What would you do? One of the students in the trip you lead gets a little silly and while running after a monkey, knocks down […]
Hot Older Gals for Fun
The Village Voice’s Lusty Lady with advice on older women and sex. “For her, it’s still a meat market in some respects. “I can date younger or older men. It’s a question of do they want to date me? Men want younger, hot-looking women to boost their egos and impress […]
Mellowing out on Mountain Rd.
A warm Thanksgiving….the Franklin stove was crankin all day and the result was a warm house, while the snow blew outside. My sister and family are all joining Steve for a 38-person feast in the hills outside of Hopewell, NJ. That’s too many people around a turkey for me… We […]
Spurning Gifts from Iranian Captors
Mark Bowden wrote an article about the Iran hostages in December 1979, including this dispatch about one prisoner’s defiant gesture. The hostages and guards were having a Christmas party, allowing Rev. William Sloane Coffin and others to come into the embassy and cheer up the hostages. But Michael Metrinko would […]
Goodbye to Britain’s Fabled "Lock In"
It’s a tradition that had been enjoyed by generations of drinkers, with even the likes of Prince Harry enjoying a few covert pints. The BBC reported today on the new effect of longer legal hours at pubs, and the fading away of the “lock in” a British pub tradition. While […]
Mag tells ‘Nazi’ singers: Heil, no!
The NY Daily News reports on a pair I wrote about here a month ago. “Teen People nixed a story about Hitler-loving teenybopper twins Prussian Blue – amid outrage that the glossy had promised to avoid the words “hate,” “supremacist” and “Nazi” in its piece on the racist singing sisters. […]
Partying Naked at Columbia
Following in the footsteps of their exhibitionist peers at Brown and Yale, Columbia undergraduates are staging parties with one basic ground rule – all guests must part with their clothes upon arrival. The invitation circulating around Morningside Heights bans three additional items: cameras, masks, and “spikey things.” The NY Sun […]
Damn! I Wish I Could Remember that Joke!
Douglas Rushkoff has written a new book called “Back in the Box: innovation from the inside out,” and it includes this sage observation. “Observe yourself the next time you’re listening to a joke. You may start by listening to the joke for the humor – because you really want the […]
Progress. Real Progress.
RIght ON! I love reading newspapers on line but HATE having to register. I’m not alone. “Houston Chronicle website drops registration requirement “In response to passionate pleas from many readers, we no longer require you to register to read stories or access most of the site’s content,” says a chron.com […]
When the Worst Happens, He Cleans Up
Today’s NY Times answered a question I’ve often asked myself. Who cleans up after gruesome murders and grisly deaths? The answer in Andrews Jacob’s piece is Ronald Gospodarski, a former paramedic who runs a company called Bio-Recovery Corp, in Long Island City. “I’ve had guys left dead for months where […]
Eleven is the Number for Rebuilding Cities
While I was spending big bux at Whole Foods this week, I added a copy of the Atlantic Monthly to my cart. Inside was a short story called “Cities Rising.” They compared recently demolished New Orleans with other flattened and destroyed cities. Here are some other tales of cities coming […]