Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Europe on privacy: Yes for terrorists, no for citizens

So let’s see if I get this straight. Europeans shut down the U.S. SWIFT program to sift through European bank data to try to stop terror financing because it broke EU privacy rules. But when researchers at Northwestern University sought … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellaneous, World | Tagged | 3 Comments

June 6th? June 6th? Do I have something on June 6th?

It’s been driving me crazy all week. What is June 6th? What am I supposed to be doing on June 6th? Do I have an appointment? What the hell is happening on June sixth? What? Oh. This. Sixty-four years ago … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellaneous, World | 9 Comments

DC mass transit: Screw you if you want to go home late

I’ve been trying to figure out how not to drive to the Kennedy Center tonight. I was planning on, say, driving to Fredericksburg, leaving my car in the Park & Ride, and taking the train into DC and the Metro … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellaneous | 4 Comments

Thinking of the troops

In his column today, William Kristol writes in Remember to Remember: One retired general I know urges civilians to go out of their way to say thank you to servicemen and women they happen to encounter. At first I thought … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Distractions

I think it’s time for some different news items. You’ll never get me to talk, Copper: A lost parrot wouldn’t talk to the cops, but he talked to a vet. Police rescued the African grey parrot two weeks ago from … Continue reading

Posted in Humor, Miscellaneous, World | 1 Comment

Nice NASA photos

In recent days, there have been some really awesome, NASA pictures of the day. A Place in the Universe This montage of planetary images was taken by spacecraft managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Included are (from top to bottom) … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Nice NASA photos

Slow news day at Bloomberg

Yes, this is a real headline: Poop Predicament Has Los Angeles Horse Owners Raising a Stink And it goes with an exclusive article on Bloomberg News: April 25 (Bloomberg) — The poop hit the fan when the last manure mulcher … Continue reading

Posted in Cats, Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Slow news day at Bloomberg

Worse than ants in the kitchen

A brief note: I hate, hate, hate alligators and crocodiles. It is probably because when I was a child, my father thought it was funny to pretend to knock me into the alligator pit at the Staten Island Zoo while … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellaneous | 4 Comments

Say, fellow tinnitus sufferers….

(How many spam comments you figure that headline is going to bring?) Apparently, new therapies are helping those of us who suffer from those annoying noises. I’m pretty sure my tinnitus is partly genetic, partly from TMJ caused by gum-chewing … Continue reading

Posted in Life, Miscellaneous | 2 Comments

Smallest, lightest cell phone

An Israeli company has developed a cellphone that’s made it to Guinness book of World records as the smallest and lightest cellphone.Phone magazine describes it like this: The idea of having a single cellular handset that can serve multiple duties … Continue reading

Posted in Israel, Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Smallest, lightest cell phone

Oldest synagogues in the Western Hemisphere

Oldest – Mikve Israel in Curacao In the Caribbean, Curacao is home to the oldest synagogue – Mikve Israel – in continuous use in the Western Hemisphere; it was founded in 1651. Second oldest (?) (Though not in continuous use) … Continue reading

Posted in Jews, Meanderings, Miscellaneous, World | Comments Off on Oldest synagogues in the Western Hemisphere

A boy named Marion

John Tierney writes about Bad Baby Names and the effect they might have on a well adjusted individual by citing that famous psychologist, Johnny Cash. During his 1969 concert at San Quentin prison, Johnny Cash proposed a paradigm shift in … Continue reading

Posted in Life, Miscellaneous | 5 Comments

The view from STS-123

The ViewThis view out the aft windows on Endeavour’s flight deck was one of a series of images recorded by the STS-123 crew during the first full day in space. The end of the Canadian-built remote manipulator system’s robot arm … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellaneous, World | 1 Comment

A must-read

This is an amazing essay from the pilot of an SR-71 (the Blackbird familiar even to X-Men comics fans). In April 1986, following an attack on American soldiers in a Berlin disco, President Reagan ordered the bombing of Muammar Qaddafi’s … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellaneous | 3 Comments

The ride ain’t free

The New York Times reports, U.S. Universities Join Saudis in Partnerships: Three prominent American universities — the University of Texas at Austin, the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University — are starting five-year partnerships, worth $25 million or more, … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellaneous, Religion, World | 1 Comment