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Came in from the cold, muffled up, bracing the winter winds, to meet Melody, a friend visiting from Colorado. She was warm and charming and we enjoyed a well made fire. Later we talked about Social Security, her business being financial planning. She explained that from the 7.5% we pay […]
Last night’s PBS viewing brought an evocative show about a pair of canoeists. One was a white guy, American, and in the front of the boat was a black South African. They wend their way down the Lethoso River, and all of the while the black man is talking about […]
In Egypt if you are a rich young woman who gets pregnant out of wedlock, there is a simple solution: you have an abortion, you get your hymen “refurbished” and your parents marry you off to the first unwitting suitor they can find. An article in the NY Times described […]
Who doesn’t have a fond memory of old Johnny? While nobody really knew him, we all felt like we were his pal. Yesterday’s New York Times had a piece on Carson’s relationship with The Big Apple, where for ten years he played host to Truman Capote, Tony Randall, Mayor John […]
A get together with beers and a weak assortment of cheesy hors d’oeuvres brought out the men and women of hidden tech, a group of stay-at-homes who gather to commiserate and network every few months.There was a web designer, a handsome twentysomething from Brazil, who works with his partner in […]
Lawrence Lessig, of MIT once again makes a whole lot of sense writing about the band Wilco in the February issue of Wired. He posits that the band, led by its “quiet, haunted leader” Jeff Tweedy, has turned the paradym of music downloading on its head…and come out on top. […]
Went up to Wendell to watch the Patriots trounce the Steelers. Good fun. A room heated by wood, toasty like a sauna…and a scientist who had just gotten her PhD. Her name was Heather and she wanted, actually, to go back to school some more. She is an ecologist, studing […]
Tina Brown’s January 20 column about Barbara Walter’s interview with Laura and George Bush was once again full of quotable ‘graphs. Here she talks about how GWB relies on his wife. What was striking in the Walters interview was how often the president looked over at Laura for validation. Even […]
What could be cozier than to be snowed in on Green Lane with plenty of coffee, beer, food and a broadband connection? Watching CNN, while airports are closed down and weather forecasters pose with mufflers, gloves and shiny blue parkas. We are setting some kind of record here, I guess….well […]
NPR had an excellent commentary on Friday about a man who just came back from the Tsunami zone. He was detailing some of the good that can ultimately come from the misery there. New technologies can be put in place to purify water, provide electricity, and provide work for the […]
Diving back into the Charles Higham biography of billionaire wacko Howard Hughes, I found this nugget. In 1953, when Hughes was planning one of his dreadful ’50s movies, “The Conqueror,” about the life of Genghis Khan, he decided to do the filming in the Nevada desert. At this same time, […]
Men’s and women’s brains are different. Found this on boingboing.net, a directory of wonderful things. Indeed! Here is more from the scientists explaining this fascinating photo: Gray matter represents information processing centers in the brain, and white matter represents the networking of – or connections between – these processing centers. […]