Privacy–What’s That? I was doing what people do the other evening, scanning Facebook, when I was presented with a post of a scantily clad woman turning toward me as she lay abed with what could be described as a “quasi-come-hither” gaze. Hmm. Clever ad? “Sponsored content”? Nope. A “friend” at least of the facebook genre, […]

Sony “Un” Done Leave it to Hollywood to assume that they can make a film depicting the assassination of the world’s most vicious dictator and that he would happily go along with it, perhaps in the spirit of Christmas. Not. North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un, gastric-banded dictator and cheese fanatic, is reportedly behind the hacking of Sony’s IT […]

Steamer Tremont The Tremont was a 260-foot long, side-wheel paddle-steamer plying the waters between Providence, RI and New York. She originally made the Boston to New York run but the burgeoning railroads had put a stop to that. Railroads were willing to cut their freight and passenger prices to match or undercut the steamer lines […]

A Lunchtime Encounter I was on my way to meet a friend for lunch at the Gordon Biersch just around the corner from Ford’s Theater while riding my slightly wacky and very comfortable short wheelbase recumbent bicycle. Sitting at the traffic light at 12th and G streets, NW, I noticed two dudes in a car […]

Socialize That My work life used to be meetings, meetings and more meetings. Now, not so much, thankfully. Still, one does not escape entirely from the round table. I was sitting in one the other day being dutifully attentive. The subject had turned to scheduling the next meeting, (of course.) The person in charge, when […]

“Hold On–I’ll Google it.” When I retired to the world of part-time work I made a conscious decision to give up the “smart-phone” in favor of simple talk/text. I didn’t want to be a zombie-like compulsive email checker strolling through life reacting to an incoming message chime like a middle-aged Pavlov’s dog. In truth, it […]

The Inner Struggle The news that Moner Mohammad Abu-Salah, a 22-year-old from Florida, was the driver of a huge truck bomb in a Syrian suicide attack has caused consternation here in the U.S. as officials express deep concern over his “radicalization.” Abu-Salah has company. He was a young American, almost always  in his twenties. He […]

When “Quiet Please” Just Isn’t Working. We’ve all been there before: that patient who is making the proper provision of care all but impossible because of their yammering on. Loud, obstructive and verbose, they refuse to cooperate. Apparently faced with just such a patient, UK West Midlands Paramedic Richard Playford employed the crucially important but […]

“I Couldn’t Take It Anymore.” One rooster and 12 hens. Busy, busy rooster. You’d be crowing too. NYDN reports that Carlisle firefighter Frank Sargent confessed to whacking his neighbor’s noisy chickens using a variety of poisons. I’m With Frank On This One A guy’s gotta get a good night’s sleep. Still, whatever happened to a […]

  Heard near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery with a British Accent: “Well, he has to pee doesn’t he?”   Headline of the week From the Daily Mail: Silvio Berlusconi DENIES calling Angela Merkel a lard-ass – but admits he DID jump out at her and go ‘cuckoo’ (and says […]