Random Kvetching

I feel like kvetching.  How about you? Is National Public Radio going corporate?  Ever since NPR started airing commercials (although they call them “sponsor notices”), their talk shows have become noticably Fair & Balanced™.  I’m thinking specifically about the Diane Rehm Show, where, whenever she discusses politics or national policy, her guest list now invariably includes […]

Not to Get All Lowbrow on You or Anything

. . . but have you seen this commercial yet? Jesus.  I remember how shocked Donna and I were when we saw our first Ultra Brite commercial . . . remember the toothpaste that gave your mouth “sex appeal”?  That was in the late 60s or early 70s, back when you couldn’t say the word […]

Queuing Up

Here’s an interesting article about supermarkets adopting “single line” policies.  The idea is that customers, rather than lining up at individual cash registers, get in one long line instead; when customers reach the head of the line they go straight to whichever cash register is empty. Been there, done that.  In the early 1980s the wife of General […]

Hot Saturday Blogging

Our Saturday morning bicycle ride gets earlier and earlier.  In the winter we started at 9:00 AM.  Today we started at 7:00 AM, but it was already 95 degrees by the time we finished, so next week we’re starting at 6:30 AM.  I suppose by the time daily highs reach 110-115 degrees, we’ll be meeting […]

Saturday Dog Blogging

I use a portable satellite radio receiver to listen to the blues when I’m grilling on the patio.  Last weekend the radio wouldn’t work – the antenna lead had been cut in half.  I figured our yard guy must have accidentally severed it with a hoe.  Since the lead’s coaxial, splicing and wrapping it with electrical tape wouldn’t work, so, for twenty […]

The Dumbing Down of Virtually Everything (Part VI)

One tries to ignore pop culture, but it seeps through.  Now Maine lobster and Chad have joined forces with the Ma Na Ma Na song to take over my brain. A seafood chain (Red Lobster, or is it Joe’s Crab Shack?) is advertising Maine lobster tail.  Say what?  What happened to the claws, antennae, head, body, and […]