Just when I thought it was safe to fly again. This happened at MY AIRPORT, the one my wife and I use, the one my children use whenever they come home for a visit:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/01/28/tsa.bombtest/index.html
Monday, January 28, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
In memory of Bobby Fischer
It's hard to remember nowadays how much attention the world paid to a chess tournament in 1972, when a kid from Brooklyn went up against the chess champion of the USSR and won. The cold war was still "hot" and the US was still in Viet Nam. Americans, who mostly don't play chess, got caught up in a 21-game tournament that ran for two months, with Fischer making demands for more money and the removal of a TV camera, and engaging in what Spassky complained was "psychological" warfare. That's Fischer on the right in this photo. Spassky, on the left, was the product of a Soviet system that groomed championship chess players and rewarded them well.
Sadly, Fischer went 'round the bend as he got older, dying of kidney failure on January 17. I'd rather not remember him as the anti-Semitic, anti-American recluse that he became. I'd rather remember him as the kid who took on the USSR and beat them at the chessboard.
Obama wins -- in South Carolina!
A new day is dawning in American politics.
You'll see that worn-out cliche more and more between now and November, but this is one cliche that happens to be true.
Barack Obama pulled in 55 percent of the vote, routing Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. This is big news, but not because he is from Illinois, and not because South Carolina people still tell stories about Sherman's infamous march to the sea as if it happened last year.
This is huge because he is the first black candidate for President to be taken seriously. Yes, we aren't supposed to vote for or against a candidate because of the candidate's race, or gender, or religion. But many voters do. You would have expected many South Carolinians to have voted for John Edwards because he is a photogenic white guy who was born in South Carolina . . . but Edwards placed a poor third with 18 percent, winning only his home county.
Obama inspires a lot of people but don't take my word for it. Believe Caroline Kennedy, who wrote in a New York Times op-ed piece: "I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them . . . But for the first time, I believe I have found a man who could be that president - and not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans."
You'll see that worn-out cliche more and more between now and November, but this is one cliche that happens to be true.
Barack Obama pulled in 55 percent of the vote, routing Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. This is big news, but not because he is from Illinois, and not because South Carolina people still tell stories about Sherman's infamous march to the sea as if it happened last year.
This is huge because he is the first black candidate for President to be taken seriously. Yes, we aren't supposed to vote for or against a candidate because of the candidate's race, or gender, or religion. But many voters do. You would have expected many South Carolinians to have voted for John Edwards because he is a photogenic white guy who was born in South Carolina . . . but Edwards placed a poor third with 18 percent, winning only his home county.
Obama inspires a lot of people but don't take my word for it. Believe Caroline Kennedy, who wrote in a New York Times op-ed piece: "I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them . . . But for the first time, I believe I have found a man who could be that president - and not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans."
Thursday, January 24, 2008
farewell to the "A-Train"
Mike Alstott, a six-time Pro Bowl player and a big favorite with Bucs fans for eleven seasons, announced his retirement from the game this week. Those of us who thought he was underutilized by Jon Gruden even before his neck injury are sad to see him go.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
one year, and counting down, for George W. Bush
As of tonight, January 20, 2008, the term of George W. Bush as President of the United States has exactly one year remaining . . . that's 365 days, if my little count-down computer has factored Leap Day into the equation correctly.
That's 366 days too many. I want him out of office yesterday.
It isn't just Dubya who bothers me as much as his circle of cronies and friends - the "Neocons" - who have been the puppet masters since he was elected.
Americans and the world have had to tolerate the Bush Administration for seven long years. Having to tolerate another year with the Bushies in office makes me envy the UK's Parliamentary system, where they can vote the rascal out with a "vote of no confidence." Would that work here? It might, but it assumes a certain level of competence in Congress and a desire to do the right thing for the nation regardless of political party dogma, all of which has been conspicuously lacking.
One more year.
That's 366 days too many. I want him out of office yesterday.
It isn't just Dubya who bothers me as much as his circle of cronies and friends - the "Neocons" - who have been the puppet masters since he was elected.
Americans and the world have had to tolerate the Bush Administration for seven long years. Having to tolerate another year with the Bushies in office makes me envy the UK's Parliamentary system, where they can vote the rascal out with a "vote of no confidence." Would that work here? It might, but it assumes a certain level of competence in Congress and a desire to do the right thing for the nation regardless of political party dogma, all of which has been conspicuously lacking.
One more year.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
hey, let's go to a movie
Time was, movies were a great escape. Comedies, musicals, the cowboy who always got the girl at the end, car chases in which only the bad guys crashed and burned, or the occasional James Bond spy thriller were just what you needed to disappear for a few hours and re-emerge with a lighter step.
In the last two days we've seen "Atonement," which left me depressed after the surprise ending caught me totally off guard, and "Sweeney Todd," which left my skin crawling.
"Sweeney Todd" is a dark 19th-century edition of "Devil in the White City" meets "Soylent Green" in London, with the main character played by Jack the Ripper, and with all the brightness and cheer of "Phantom of the Opera."
There is no disputing that Johnny Depp is a fine actor, and he should win an award for this one. In his next movie he should portray Vlad the Impaler, or maybe the Vampire LeStat.
I can't believe they released "Sweeney Todd" four days before Christmas. It would have been a good Halloween movie, but I agree with Garrison Keillor's comment that it was a long two hours and you get tired of the color gray after awhile. For him, the high point was after the movie when a tall woman (he could tell, by the size of her feet) wearing a long black coat emerged from a stall in the men's room and walked purposefully out. His column became a plug for correcting the inequities in men's and women's public bathrooms (the latter always being too small) and a plea for architects to forget their love of symmetry, go back to the drawing boards, and do the right thing for women. Otherwise, he predicts, the line between men's and women's bathrooms will be erased and men will have lost the last male preserve. Speaking as a guy who has stood lookout while my favorite lady avoided the ridiculously long line to the women's bathroom, I agree wholeheartedly.
But, back to the movies. I need a good escape, something along the lines of "Run Silent, Run Deep," in which Clark Gable teaches the crew how to take out an enemy tanker, then take out the approaching destroyer with a bow shot followed by a rapid descent ("DIVE, DIVE"). Now, that's my idea of great escape. Literally.
In the last two days we've seen "Atonement," which left me depressed after the surprise ending caught me totally off guard, and "Sweeney Todd," which left my skin crawling.
"Sweeney Todd" is a dark 19th-century edition of "Devil in the White City" meets "Soylent Green" in London, with the main character played by Jack the Ripper, and with all the brightness and cheer of "Phantom of the Opera."
There is no disputing that Johnny Depp is a fine actor, and he should win an award for this one. In his next movie he should portray Vlad the Impaler, or maybe the Vampire LeStat.
I can't believe they released "Sweeney Todd" four days before Christmas. It would have been a good Halloween movie, but I agree with Garrison Keillor's comment that it was a long two hours and you get tired of the color gray after awhile. For him, the high point was after the movie when a tall woman (he could tell, by the size of her feet) wearing a long black coat emerged from a stall in the men's room and walked purposefully out. His column became a plug for correcting the inequities in men's and women's public bathrooms (the latter always being too small) and a plea for architects to forget their love of symmetry, go back to the drawing boards, and do the right thing for women. Otherwise, he predicts, the line between men's and women's bathrooms will be erased and men will have lost the last male preserve. Speaking as a guy who has stood lookout while my favorite lady avoided the ridiculously long line to the women's bathroom, I agree wholeheartedly.
But, back to the movies. I need a good escape, something along the lines of "Run Silent, Run Deep," in which Clark Gable teaches the crew how to take out an enemy tanker, then take out the approaching destroyer with a bow shot followed by a rapid descent ("DIVE, DIVE"). Now, that's my idea of great escape. Literally.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
music from the 80's
In collecting music for my iPod I've discovered, to my surprise, that the music I like best is not the music from the 60's but the music from the 80's. Don't ask me why. There's no accounting for personal taste, whim or caprice. "It has a good beat and you can dance to it."
Here's a great video compilation of snippets from the music videos of the 80's featuring the top hits for each year of that decade. Ten minutes for ten years and worth almost every second of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TddFnTB_7IM&feature=related
Here's a great video compilation of snippets from the music videos of the 80's featuring the top hits for each year of that decade. Ten minutes for ten years and worth almost every second of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TddFnTB_7IM&feature=related
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