Category Archives: Uncategorized

For an AKC judge acquiring new breeds involves quite a bit of effort done at one’s own expense, including going to shows for ringside observations, sitting in on breed seminars and judging matches and sweepstakes. On applying for new breeds … Continue reading →

When this poor little blog was transferred from Blogger to WordPress, to say the least it was not transparent.  For example, every uploaded photo was lost.  All the formatting mistakes caused by Blogger’s clunky interface were thrown into stark relief. … Continue reading →

New Yorkers famously have a reputation for being short on tact and civil servants famously have a reputation for the slack quality of service.  Put them together and it seems you get the Port Authority and MTA toll collectors.  Among … Continue reading →

A Portland police officer on his rounds pops into a coffee shop to get himself some java and associate with the community he’s serving.  Not uncommendable, right?  Wrong! In mid-May, Portland police Officer James Crooker  went to Southeast Portland on … Continue reading →

As almost everyone this side of Alpha Centauri now knows, last night Tigers pitcher Armando Gallaraga’s quest for a perfect game ended with a blown call by first-base umpire Jim Joyce on a bang-bang play.  Unquestionably, Joyce missed it.  I … Continue reading →

Time has a list of its choices for the 50 worst inventions.  Some I can agree with (Crocs), others I don’t (DDT, CFCs).  Let me add a few of my own: Capris Frisbees The electric guitar The 12-tone system Quadraphonic … Continue reading →

A weepie in the New York Times describes the plight of Cortney Munna trying to dig herself out of almost $100,000 of (non-dischargable) student-loan debt after four years at NYU, a very expensive school.  The article puts the blame on Citibank … Continue reading →

Sex and the City 2 seems to be more provocative than the usual chick-flick fluff: The rather scathing portrayal of Muslim society no doubt will stir controversy, especially in a frothy summer entertainment, but there’s something bracing about the film’s … Continue reading →

We let Silver and Fred go today.  They were both quite elderly and their problems reached a terminal stage at the same time.  Hard as it is to know they’re dead, it was harder to know they were fading and … Continue reading →

The Philadelphia Flyers, left for dead when they fell 3 games to none to the Bruins, came back to force Game 7.  There, again, they were left for dead when they fell behind 3-0 late in the first period.  Down, … Continue reading →

Philadelphia plays Boston tonight in the Eastern Conference semi-finals, having been the only team since the 1975 Islanders to come back from a 3-0 deficit.  An Eastern Conference fan has a request for the Supreme Being: Dear God, I know … Continue reading →

SCOTUS 2011:  Six Catholics and three Jews.

Is there a better hockey announcer today than Doc Emrick?  Guy would make a chess match sound thrilling. Update.  I’m pulling for Pittsburgh, but you won’t see a more beautiful goal than Max Lapierre’s.

On Youtube, the CBS news coverage of the Kennedy assassination:  CBS was the only network with national programming that afternoon:  local NBC and ABC affiliates had their own programming.  Part 1 is the the broadcast of As The World Turns just before … Continue reading →

An insight from Ilkka at The Fourth Checkraise: If Wal-Mart were otherwise exactly the same as now, except that it was fully owned and run by the government as a public service and a anti-gouging and price control program to … Continue reading →