This is a time of the year when the phrase “luck of the Irish” is often heard. What “luck”? Except for the golden age before 1171 AD, and the “Celtic Tiger” years from 1990 to 2007, I would not wish […]
Culture
Prudes at Dinner, Gluttons in Bed
Apropos of my post more than a month ago on New Year’s Resolutions (attached to refresh your memory) I just found a column by George Will on a similar theme. It seems to me that the words “sin” and “sinful” […]
Padding? Or Something Reality?
There was a recent discussion in the Wall Street Journal about why a flight from Los Angeles to New York, which takes six hours under ideal conditions, should be scheduled at seven hours. Some wonder whether this practice is ethical. […]
BlueKennel Declares It’s First Official Consumer Boycott!
I had heard about all this before, but this explanation [link to Rohrlich] by Justin Rohrlich on the evils of corn (maize, for non-North Americans) based ethanol as opposed to sugar based ethanol explains not only the situation, but the […]
A Water Conservation Tip
While we’re on water conservation, unofficial San Diego laureate Jason Mraz has some advice for us. Maybe Levi’s saw this, because Details magazine has a Levi”s ad with a guy peeing in a field. I will spare you that picture. […]
How sweet is life when you live next to a celebrity in Malibu?
How sweet is life when you live next to a celebrity in Malibu? Outside Bob Dylan’s house, the answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind. That’s what some of the singer-songwriter’s neighbors are claiming in an increasingly onerous dispute… […]
Sons of Italy “Assimilate” to Country and Western
If the Sons of Italy is doing a country western dance, not tarantellas, why are we so worried about immigration? When I’m in Europe I like to tell them, in hell, the Americans are in charge of health care and […]
I Do Not Have to, and I Will Not, Choose Between Being “Morally Superior” and Being A “Robber”
I enjoyed Jonathan Chait’s review of two books about Ayn Rand’s world in a recent New Republic. I have not actually read the books reviewed, but I, and members of my family, have been at various times exposed to and […]
The Surprising Fruit of 9/11
Today is the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York City. In the U.S., the event seemed to me to have an effect on the results of the 2004 election, but by the time of the 2008 election […]