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During the depths of the recession, trucking companies and railroads took steep nosedives, running half empty, and leaving thousand of rail cars on sidings, empty and unused. I wrote a blog about all of these railcars causing dismay in little towns, giant barriers that nobody could move.  Well, officially, railroads […]

Today I read an essay by a college student living in Amman Jordan.  Unlike most of the stories I download and read for GoNOMAD, this piece had little of value to a traveler, but a world of moral value to anyone  interested in communication between cultures. In fact as I […]

A few years ago, if you drove down any Massachusetts road where work was being done, you’d pass a state cop in a Crown Vic with the engine running. All day. Unlike all of the other states, Massachusetts for decades used off duty staties instead of civilian flagmen…paying them $40 […]

Again and again, Hollywood types make Hugo Chavez out to be some sort of hero. Yet his country is sinking deeper into an economic morass than ever before. A story in this weekend’s WSJ detailed what market analysts are saying, that after contracting almost 5% last year, and the same […]

I read a story in the NY Times while sitting in the window of the cafe, it was about how bike trails and encouraging biking is bringing another unwanted class of bike enthusiasts…thieves. But bikers and cops are fighting back, using baited bikes to catch bike theft ringleaders, and using […]

Despite the threat of rain, the crowd was large and happy last night while we watched Garrison Keillor take the stage in a light khaki suit and sing with the Wailin’ Jennies and a woman named Nancy who sings with Nickel Creek.  The only thing that stumped me was the […]

If you’ve ever traveled to Rochester, NY, you know how depressing it can be up there, especially in the dead of winter. I thought about this hard bitten city when I read a story in the WSJ by Dana Mattioli about Kodak’s chief, Antonio Perez. The silver haired CEO talked […]

Here’s a news flash: Social media doesn’t really move the needle of events; though some events live or die by their Facebook coverage, others, not so much. Our wine party at the cafe went off brilliantly, with many Hidden Techérs coming from far away to sip and schmooze. But only […]

I worked for decades as a man who made a paycheck. Later on in life I became a salesman who made commissions…and this was much better, because companies are willing to fork over way, way more if they can call it commissions instead of wages. I remember when I was […]

It’s gonna be a sweltering day, yet we’ve learned in the office that we can live without air conditioning. We turn on a big fan and open a lot of windows….we used to keep it cool as a cuke until we got the $200 a month bill. Funny how quickly […]

When James Hunter was growing up in Colchester, England, I bet he listened to a much different bunch of records than his mates.  I can see a whole lot of Sam Cooke, old Elvis, and maybe some ska records on his teenaged turntable, instead of what his peers might have […]

Last night I sat by a fire with two new friends. One was a well-known graphic designer in town, who had biked over and after we said good bye he said he had 12 miles to pedal.  My other host told me when I admired her restaurant stove that she […]