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Today we drove up to Greenfield to scout out a location for my daughter Kate’s wedding in July. The White Eagle Society’s Polish Picnic Grounds looked like the perfect spot. A big pavillion, acres of grass, tables, a huge barbecue pit and a nearby river. It will be great in […]

Clive Thompson writes in the NY Times magazine about Google and China. “Google was not, in fact, a pioneer in China. Yahoo was the first major American Internet company to enter the market, introducing a Chinese-language version of its site and opening up an office in Beijing in 1999. Yahoo […]

A few months ago we had dinner on San Francisco’s Fishermen’s Wharf with another couple, and I learned a lot that night about the man, Stan. We began talking about his father, with whom he has always had a stormy relationship, fraught with terrible fights, accusations, and a tangled web […]

I love words and expressions, and sometimes I chuckle to myself as I am driving or walking about certain turns of phrase. Yesterday I mulled over “poor man’s,” for example. I was thinking about a friend who is an adventure writer, and thought “he’s a poor man’s Jon Krakauer.” Meaning […]

According to a recent AP report, 11 movies so far this year haven’t been shown to critics–up from two in the same period last year. Forbes this week discussed how film critics are becoming almost obsolete. “For the folks who make their living reviewing films, this new tactic adds insult […]

Tonight I drove down to Northampton and joined dozens of others in a high-ceilinged room where we did yoga. Telling people you are going to yoga class is funny, there’s always a reaction, either what for? or how great! This was more than an exercise class, it was meditation, and […]

In September of 1970, four planes were hijacked by Palestinian militants and flown to the Jordanian desert. Tonight on PBS, American Experience replayed the drama of hundreds of hostages left out in planes in the desert, and described how the event nearly toppled the reign of King Hussein, destablizing the […]

South London Press had a story last year about a new trend in clubbing–Naked dancing. Hundreds of clubbers are descending on the country’s only nude disco every Saturday night. The craze for letting it all hang out on the dancefloor is pulling in punters to South Central in Kennington Lane. […]

Peter Heller is an old friend who just published an incredible article in National Geographic Adventure, about sailing with the Sea Shepards in the Antarctic, trying to sabotage Japanese whaling ships. “The Nisshin Maru was on our port side, and the two ships approached each other at an acute angle. […]

Today’s NY Times included a story about a new Fox show: ” “Poker Dome” will encase a group of players in a soundproof, glass-walled stage, while viewers and a studio audience watch everything they do. Microphones will capture game chatter, and pulse monitors strapped to the gamblers will track their […]

This morning I drove down into the flats of Holyoke. There I found City Paper, where it felt like I was being transported back in time. Wooden floors, sad and tired party decorations, an older black women behind the counter, no customers in sight. I was there to find plastic […]

I went to Greenfield on Wednesday morning, and was crossing the street when I saw two cops quickly approach in a cruiser. They looked excited, energized, and one gripped his holster as he ran toward the BankNorth on Federal Street. They were looking for somebody, and I didn’t know who. […]