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 […]
Afghanistan is a tough place. Try using your cellphone after 5 pm. A story in today’s WSJ described the stranglehold that the former rulers of the country, the Taliban, have on the public’s cellphones. They’ve issued edicts to all of the cellphone companies in parts of the country to turn […]
Here are some great places I visited last year. Nelson New Zealand: Arts town with nice layout, right next to Abel Tasman wilderness some of the nicest hiking and beautiful scenery anywhere. The seaside city of Granville, in Normandy, offers a truly French beach experience, with tides that stretch out […]
Last night I did something I haven’t done in a while. I stole away to Amherst for dinner and a movie by myself. I strolled down the streets of this town, where in the 1990s I sold newspaper advertising, and saw all of the new businesses who have taken up […]
Jamie Oliver clearly has good intentions. The celebrity chef visited Huntington West Virginia, a city that has been ranked at the very bottom of the scale in healthy eating across the US. He makes a bunch of mistakes, calling every woman ‘hon’ and pissing off a local radio station DJ […]
Everywhere in Furnas are bubbling, superheated hot springs that both entertain and provide relaxation for locals. People come from around the world to see them and there’s a big hotel in the center of the town where guests go to swim in orange colored, iron-laced waters. The waters of the […]