tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57693092012-02-18T18:38:22.955-05:00Things probably are going to hell, and there's probably nothing we can do about it. But there's no reason not to complain anyway. My name is Marc Levy, and you can contact me at <a href="mailto:mlevy@cambridgeday.com">mlevy@cambridgeday.com</a>.Scape7noreply@blogger.comBlogger6411100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-60928625029145610102009-05-28T18:47:00.003-04:002009-05-28T19:07:05.343-04:00

Outpost 186 hosted a three-part microtonal-music night Wednesday, playing up the touring Thomas Helton on upright bass but including locals the Trio Microcosmique and bass clarinetist Todd Brunel. (The trio was formed a week ago just for this gig and comprises Scott Dakota, Lainey Schulbaum and Rachel Jayson.)“Microtonal” brings to mind what to Western ears might seem like a lot of droning, and,

Scape7noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-78450015059399677682009-05-19T18:25:00.009-04:002009-05-19T20:02:02.445-04:00

There was more than one thing in the air Monday at the Cantab Lounge. The first was a fecal stench. The second, fortunately, was the possibility Cambridge has found a successor to the Great and Secret Show — the long-running alternative comedy night that recently ended its run at another Central Square venue, ImprovBoston.The Cantab show, the Greater Boston Alternative Comedy Sleepover, is the

Scape7noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-54366511610419507942009-05-12T21:32:00.003-04:002009-05-12T21:43:49.993-04:00

I think one of the laziest people in the world lives on Walden Street in Cambridge, near Masse's Hardware. As you will see in this picture, a Christmas tree was put out on the curb sometime Monday — four months and 17 days after Christmas. Now, I too can be a bit of a procrastinator, but …

Scape7noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-15949695175772220632009-05-07T16:51:00.003-04:002009-05-07T16:58:58.679-04:00

Another odd overlap on the comics pages, this time from the Feb. 17 edition of the Boston Sunday Globe. In each a blond son walks in grumpily from a day at school, lugging a backpack; and in each a black-haired, red-sweatered mom asks about events.It's the freakiest thing since yesterday's example of comic strip synchronicity, is it not?

Scape7noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-48956328185047617062009-05-06T15:33:00.003-04:002009-05-06T15:49:46.896-04:00

Every once in a while a single page of comic strips will reveal a strange similarity from one artist's creation to the next — a totally out of the blue (or, in the case of newspapers, cyan) occurrence that of course does not legitimately include obvious common themes such as Halloween or the last day of school before summer vacation. I would also be reluctant to include coincidentally overlapping

Scape7noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-79748258478795074852009-05-05T17:32:00.006-04:002009-05-05T18:30:59.120-04:00

Following through on the details to leave Connecticut again — packing up, arranging to shut off gas and electricity and such — also begged some closure on what I tried to accomplish there as editor of the Bristol, Middletown and New Britain dailies. (I really didn’t have too much to do with the day-to-day creation of content for the related weekly newspapers, and most of those are sadly shut down

Scape7noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-84263963832953088712009-05-05T17:21:00.008-04:002009-05-05T18:41:58.023-04:00

All of my business with New Britain is old business; these three items I wanted to clear off the agenda happen to be about business as well. All are offered in the spirit of constructive criticism, not to bash a city and people for whom I have a great deal of affection.First: Hardware City Tavern is a beautiful place with friendly owners and workers. It is a boon to downtown New Britain, and it

Scape7noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-40926122303373814392009-05-05T16:48:00.003-04:002009-05-05T18:53:06.260-04:00

In November 2007, I made a tacit endorsement of Republican Mayor Timothy Stewart for re-election, although even then there were concerns about his “anger and paranoia.” If Stewart looks for a fourth term, I hope New Britain decides for another candidate.It’s not that there’s much to criticize in terms of what we know of Stewart’s efforts to improve or safeguard the city, although the success of

Scape7noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-7469267393306379532009-05-02T15:36:00.001-04:002009-05-02T15:36:42.298-04:00

I am back in Massachusetts. Back in Cambridge. Back with near-constant access to Diesel.Life is scary and failure certain, but location, location, location.

Scape7noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-79885063076751091092009-05-02T15:28:00.000-04:002009-05-02T15:29:53.716-04:00

While I had my job, I worked six or seven days and often 72 or 80 hours a week. I would leave Roger Mexico, my cat, in the morning with water and a bowl of dry food and return to feed him a can of wet food a dozen or so hours later. We would hang out a bit, then sleep, usually with him curled up next to me. Since he never went outside and had little reason to note the change of seasons or flow of

Scape7noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-27296284413172251862009-05-02T14:44:00.001-04:002009-05-02T14:47:25.908-04:00

My submission to Overheard Lines was used. Here’s the direct link, although the entire Web site — which is exactly what it sounds like, complemented by witty headlines that add much to the eavesdropping — is worth a look.My overheard line was from a New Britain Dunkin’ Donuts on Jan. 27. I only wish the man who spoke the words knew that, actually, immortality is his. I’m really just Boswell to

Scape7noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-70380154875934633102009-05-02T14:18:00.002-04:002009-05-16T16:05:55.133-04:00

Being unemployed has allowed me to again watch “Gilmore Girls” on DVD. I have the full seven seasons, all but the last of which I’d seen before starting the collection, and all of which had to wait for my job to end to serve any purpose beyond the pleasures of ownership and completeness.Some people own homes; I have $140 to $350 worth of unwatched media from the WB.My watching of the show once

Scape7noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-87419114338246831232007-05-03T19:15:00.000-04:002007-05-03T19:16:25.261-04:00

Someone seems to think the way to sell penis enlargement techniques via junk e-mail is by letting men imagine the process involves flaying them alive. I assume the idea behind showing a penis of exposed muscle and vein is to appear scientific and serious, but the result is horrifying and repellent — like something out of “Hostel III” or “The Hills Have Eyes XIII” or “Jason Goes to Med School” or

Scape7noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-36563820428077328202007-05-02T00:38:00.000-04:002007-05-03T19:19:47.111-04:00

Some of my most expressive eye-rolling has been in response to the language artists use to define what their work means. I think the first experience with this was in the liner notes to Genesis’ “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway,” in which the story behind the two-disc prog-rock opera gave every sign of being lamely retrofitted to its songs — the product, I would reasonably guess, of a drug-fueled

Scape7noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-79861378891769653502007-03-22T00:29:00.000-04:002007-03-22T00:43:28.144-04:00

Possibly because Vanity Fair and Slate must wonder why they feature Christopher Hitchens so prominently, considering how wrong he’s been on Iraq over so much time and with so many words, Hitchens has used this week’s Slate column to defend himself.It almost seems he’s going to say something worthwhile; the column bears the headline “So, Mr. Hitchens, weren’t you wrong about Iraq?” and the

Scape7noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-67704205837737260162007-03-19T23:48:00.000-04:002007-03-19T23:51:48.719-04:00

I’ve been shopping at Market Basket over the past weeks and have been shocked at the price difference between it and Shaw’s supermarkets — something to which I’d been blind because there’s a Shaw’s literally across the street from me (although the entrance is around the block).The cheapest toothbrush at Shaw’s costs $2.19. There are many at the Somerville Market Basket for 99 cents.A pound of

Scape7noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-22758848433785470542007-03-18T23:58:00.000-04:002007-03-19T01:11:36.364-04:00

The Diet Coke ads in the Porter Square T stop — featuring cans decorated or arranged to suggest when they should be enjoyed — have been bothering me for weeks.Yoga class is one suggestion, illustrated with an upside-down can. Morning is another, with a Starbucks-style sleeve added, implying the drink is like a hot cup of coffee and your hand needs protection while holding it.Drinking Diet Coke in

Scape7noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-52368949373749323342007-03-17T21:57:00.000-04:002007-03-17T22:01:16.417-04:00

In a little while I’m headed off to Central Square’s The Field to be in the presence of people celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. I do this because a friend is visiting, but being at a funeral would otherwise be preferable, if only because funerals tend to be legitimate expressions of emotion relating to a real event, while St. Patrick’s Day in the Boston area is about getting drunk. Few of the

Scape7noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-28380602766928647402007-02-25T04:36:00.000-05:002007-02-25T04:51:29.219-05:00

Yesterday’s Los Angeles Times included a take on the movement toward energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs, the sale of which California would mandate by 2012.The story talked to one average consumer — Marie Riser, 57, a discount-store shopper.“They are telling me which light bulb to use?” Riser said. “Talk about Big Brother. It’s almost here.”There are terrific advantages to the bulbs, including

Scape7noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-42869158724730126742007-02-15T21:35:00.000-05:002007-02-15T21:42:52.885-05:00

To keep gawkers from the one-time home of serial killer Son of Sam, the city of Yonkers, N.Y., changed a building’s address. But if stressing normalcy was the goal, changing the number to 42 Pine St. from 35 Pine St. might not have been the way to go.It sure doesn’t fool tourists, who have no reason to be on Pine Street except to see Shrine to Son of Sam. And innocent visitors must wonder aloud

Scape7noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1155711377449227532006-08-16T02:52:00.000-04:002006-08-16T02:56:17.476-04:00

Has anyone noted the utter absurdity of our officials envying British antiterrorist tactics? For anyone who hasn’t read or heard the nonsense, let me quote at length from Eric Lichtblau’s article in Tuesday’s New York Times:WASHINGTON, Aug. 14 — Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzalez on Monday ordered a side-by-side review of American and British counterterrorism laws as a first step toward

Scape7noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1155626571240333362006-08-15T03:20:00.000-04:002006-08-15T03:22:51.266-04:00

Given the level of directorial interpolation and deletion going on in the Commonwealth Shakespeare Co.’s “Taming of the Shrew,” this year’s free Shakespeare on the Boston Common, it is more than a little odd and offensive that the ending ran as written in the late 16th century — with the explosive Katharina becoming an obedient servant to Petruchio, her new husband, and telling other wives at

Scape7noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1155326466318714832006-08-11T15:42:00.000-04:002006-08-11T16:01:06.346-04:00

A new terrorist plot is coloring an ongoing political season, and that means there are some important things to remember in the upcoming weeks and months. All are important primarily because Republicans, and the increasingly indistinguishable Democratic U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, have politicized and will certainly continue to politicize the threat of terrorism, painting Democrats as weak and

Scape7noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1155193572629420592006-08-10T03:01:00.000-04:002006-08-10T03:06:12.650-04:00

Since being an outsider breeds resentment, you can imagine the pique simmering in me from a dozen-plus years living in, ahem, Red Sox Nation and its overlapping districts of Patriotstown, Celticsville and Bruinsburg. Oh, and Revolutionboro. (A mighty small place, Revolutionboro.)I was nervous the first time crossing the border into the nation; nearly everyone else on the T had prepared by

Scape7noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1155023521168186092006-08-08T03:38:00.000-04:002006-08-08T03:55:53.903-04:00

I’ve referred to New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman roughly a half-dozen times in this blog, each time bashing him as uselessly obtuse and confused. I’ve called him “deranged,” an idiot, theorized he’s “absolutely fucking nuts,” “wrong-headed,” a weirdo, “off the rails,” a babbler, a “bright-eyed rube,” someone struggling to “stay on his meds.”But now I feel like the idiot, because he’s

Scape7noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1154967343044024922006-08-07T12:10:00.000-04:002006-08-07T12:15:43.193-04:00

Stagnant wages, rising costs. For the longest time this formula that cannot be solved meant little to me, because I was earning good money and spending little of it. Now I’m earning much less money for roughly tripled living expenses, and a great deal of my pay goes to just getting back and forth to work: I bought a car and now must pay maintenance, insurance and gas for it. That gas is flirting

Scape7noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1154589226298833532006-08-03T03:06:00.001-04:002010-04-19T17:55:14.271-04:00

Slowly, oh so haltingly, there’s progress on making the Plan B “morning-after” contraceptive available over the counter, but only to women 18 years or older.Conservatives, the small-government people, are still opposed. In its Tuesday coverage of the issue, The New York Times quoted the Concerned Women of America’s Wendy Wright — the perfect name for someone in her position, from the WASPish “

Scape7noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1154506540275495742006-08-02T04:14:00.000-04:002006-08-03T01:24:44.676-04:00

The MBTA comes in for a lot of criticism, and rightfully so. Understanding the agency’s fiscal bind and having some vague hope Daniel A. Grabauskas can fix the system as he did the motor vehicle registries doesn’t mean giving a pass on performance; if anything, the MBTA needs all the criticism it can get to help set goals and priorities.But when it does something right, that should be mentioned,

Scape7noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1153598575446502642006-07-22T15:41:00.000-04:002006-07-22T16:02:55.683-04:00

Here’s another reason to shop local, or at least to stay away from buying online — and another one of those customer-service nightmares that seem to happen only to me (although I know that cannot be true). It’s also, finally, a warning for anyone buying from Sears.com.I made that mistake and, following instructions on the back of my receipt, went to the Sears at CambridgeSide Galleria yesterday

Scape7noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1153377769751867132006-07-20T02:40:00.000-04:002006-07-20T02:42:49.770-04:00

In the words of the Zeitgeist Gallery’s Alan Nidle, “We live to fight another day.”Last week’s hearing over whether the gallery can legally hold performances resulted in what sounds like, as Nidle described it, a very odd and dissatisfying compromise for everyone involved: The city says the Zeitgeist can go on doing what it wants for a year, but it will be monitored. At the end of the year, the

Scape7noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1152641146705174992006-07-11T14:04:00.000-04:002006-07-13T02:35:08.613-04:00

There’s a hearing scheduled for 8:45 p.m. Thursday that could end, or save, performances at the Zeitgeist Gallery, a vital part of Cambridge’s art and music scene for a dozen years. A Cambridge zoning official, identified by a Zeitgeist supporter as Sean O’Grady, insists the gallery should have a $500 entertainment license and is known to be bringing forward at least one neighbor who opposes

Scape7noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1152418320266426022006-07-09T00:03:00.000-04:002006-07-09T00:16:33.840-04:00

“Fashion” and “fascism” are not as unrelated as I thought — and this has nothing to do with the recent release of the film of “The Devil Wears Prada,” which recapitulates the lessons of high school (people can be mean, but less so if you dress like them) through the adventures of a comely naif working at a style magazine.Nothing so photogenic here. I merely went looking for a swimsuit and

Scape7noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1151908988097720082006-07-03T02:41:00.000-04:002006-07-03T02:43:08.106-04:00

True love lives just past the Interstate 93 tolls in New Hampshire, in the rest stop’s men’s toilet in the stall farthest from the door. It is there that some incurable romantic paused late last year to etch into the smoked-plastic toilet paper dispenser:DAVE + CARRIE12-1-05This raises questions. How long did it take? Was Dave traveling with Carrie at the time? Did Carrie wait impatiently, yell

Scape7noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1151700223301275182006-06-30T16:36:00.000-04:002006-07-09T13:26:39.863-04:00

The failure of Senate legislation over “flag desecration” came as a relief and a surprise. When the vote went down Tuesday, I fully expected to experience the ultimate humiliation of living in a country that celebrates its freedoms by taking away the right to burn its flag as a protest or statement of policy — or, for that matter, for fun.The penultimate humiliation, of course, would be that such

Scape7noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1151393823921345632006-06-27T03:30:00.000-04:002006-06-27T03:45:42.626-04:00

Some of the most excruciating hours of my life have been spent watching open mic comedy nights. Years later, I distinctly recall the horrible trapped feeling: sinking in my seat, my gut clenching, eyeing the exit but unable to leave without being seen as abandoning the sad, desperate people taking the stage like concentration camp victims Playing for Time.Largely because of these experiences, I’d

Scape7noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1150183539551793172006-06-13T03:13:00.000-04:002006-06-13T03:25:39.666-04:00

There’s an atypical and extraordinary post over at Go Fug Yourself, which usually restricts itself to pointing and laughing at celebrity fashion faux pas. The domainatrixes at Go Fug Yourself — the name refers, of course, to something being “fugly,” or “fucking ugly” — tend to stick to giddy gasps of horror when the beautiful and famous transgress or clucks of tongue when they wander into a few

Scape7noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1149886537461636852006-06-09T16:51:00.000-04:002006-06-09T16:55:37.560-04:00

In the past few years Disneyland has added hotels and a Toontown, turned its parking lots into a Downtown Disney shopping district, created an entire neighboring park called Disney’s California Adventure and shut down its hoary Pirates of the Caribbean ride for a movie-inspired revamp.The park is still the — self-proclaimed — happiest place on Earth, though, and its trash cans still impart the

Scape7noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1146348392701978562006-04-29T18:02:00.000-04:002006-04-29T18:06:32.716-04:00

My newspaper — the one I quit this blog to do — died long ago, but its remnants are everywhere, from the disconnected fax machine to the box of advertising rate cards I can’t bring myself to throw away. Because I’ve been trying feebly to revive it, Cambridge Day also keeps its presence on the Internet; I wanted to keep the event listings coming in, for one thing.One of the unintended effects of

Scape7noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1146115043299649512006-04-27T01:10:00.000-04:002006-04-27T01:17:23.310-04:00

I just caught a moment of the television show “Fear Factor” in which best friends are obliged to, yawn, eat disgusting things. But these disgusting things were more disgusting than anything I’d seen while flipping past before: a “sausage” of pigs blood and eyeballs and another of live Madagascar hissing cockroaches.One woman brought herself to chomp down on the pigs blood and eyeballs — which

Scape7noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1145941531576485182006-04-25T01:01:00.000-04:002006-04-25T01:07:03.526-04:00

It wasn’t so long ago that Museum of Fine Art employees told us 9/11 means you can’t stand in corners to look at photographs. It was an even shorter time ago we were told thirsty MFA moviegoers must stay thirsty — because revealing there’s a water fountain just around the corner is apparently not policy. And yesterday my backpack (and laptop) had to be checked in, while my friends’ purses didn’

Scape7noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1130747560384822142005-10-31T03:30:00.000-05:002006-01-16T16:20:21.530-05:00

One last thing I think I must do before I get to sleep tonight: Wish you all, whoever’s still reading, my gratitude. This blog is done for a while.I’m moving on to create a newspaper here in Cambridge, and if tonight is any indication — I think it is — I will not have the time to post. Not with anything worthwhile. Not with anything coherent.(I assume anyone who would make the obvious joke after

Scape7noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1130125544234894572005-10-23T23:45:00.000-04:002005-10-23T23:45:44.243-04:00

I’m on hiatus, by the way. I thought it rude not to say anything, or to continue not saying anything. I really must remind myself to be more thoughtful about this — to be more, what do they say? Proactive.

Scape7noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1129778736444790832005-10-19T23:14:00.000-04:002005-10-19T23:25:36.476-04:00

“Harvard Square is in crisis,” one shopkeeper said tonight after a two -hour public brainstorming session on the square at Christ Church, and the sentiment was hardly unique. While the event offered optimism alongside group critiques of the area, the afterparty was distinctly darker.Vast sections of prime real estate are empty, even as the cost of renting has dropped dramatically, in some cases,

Scape7noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1129694593967583092005-10-18T23:01:00.000-04:002005-10-19T00:15:21.180-04:00

The U.S. Postal Service long-ago introduced self-service kiosks that, at least in Porter Square, still require constant attendance by a postal worker. This seems to defeat the purpose, but, nonetheless, one of two workers hovered over the machine this afternoon, instructing the rare customer in its use while the line languished — growing five deep, then six, then seven.“Anybody want to use the

Scape7noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1129612884721977812005-10-17T23:18:00.000-04:002005-10-18T01:21:24.730-04:00

As if more evidence is needed of the effect “The Simpsons” have had on the world, whitepages.com’s reverse address search offers this: The sample house number is 742; the sample street name is Evergreen Terrace. This is the Simpsons’ address. And, just like in the television show, the state or province is without a sample and it is left unclear in what state the family lives.Aliens or

Scape7noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1129305872192795322005-10-14T12:02:00.000-04:002005-10-14T12:04:32.200-04:00

Scanning down one of the yummy snack food racks at Quick Food Mart in Inman Square, one finds: Hostess apple pies; Suzy Qs; Yodels and Devil Dogs; packaged fudge brownies and Frosted Donettes; and, at the bottom, several red onions in an open Tupperware container.These appear to be the healthiest thing in the store, but possibly the least appetizing — at least to my postadolescent American

Scape7noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1129176385928976922005-10-13T00:01:00.000-04:002005-10-13T00:21:33.823-04:00

This will be short. No matter how many people have been burned by Verizon — and the number is roughly equal to how many angels can stand around on the head of a pin complaining — a long rant would be boring and, ultimately, sad. For it would lead to thoughts of how the problem is not Verizon itself, but customer service these days in general and outsourcing and offshoring and the economy and the

Scape7noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1129089955544958722005-10-12T00:02:00.000-04:002005-10-12T00:05:55.550-04:00

The U.S. Postal Service sent me a relocation packet that includes a $25 coupon (off any purchase of $500 or more) from my local Blinds To Go outlet.Surely this is one the stupidest business names ever registered. It was apparently needed to differentiate the chain from those catering to buyers who wanted to keep their window dressings on site rather than take them home for installation.

Scape7noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1129003785802471752005-10-11T00:03:00.000-04:002005-10-11T00:09:45.813-04:00

Blocks away, where Central Square’s nightclubs dominate and black-clad youth throng sidewalks to smoke, the muffled sound of amplified rock has become mere background. The lively, crisp sound leaking onto the street from Sandy’s Music, though, still startles, even after a dozen years of Monday night jam sessions.Passers-by glance into the shop in surprise, drawn by the counterintuitive twang of

Scape7noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1128988112260021162005-10-10T19:43:00.000-04:002005-10-10T19:50:02.333-04:00

With no shame I reveal that over years I have worked at otherwise idle times on deciding what I would wish for from a genie. This requires a lot of thought because, at least in popular culture, the genie is a capricious and contrary wish giver, angry over his servitude and eager to exploit the wisher’s slightest semantic slip to deliver a result that is technically correct and totally wrong.An

Scape7noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1128755032090029152005-10-07T23:56:00.000-04:002005-10-08T03:04:11.960-04:00

How long will the Chinese food take-home container survive? One standard box has a clear plastic top but a metal body that makes it impossible to use in a microwave — a bit odd considering microwave ovens have been around since 1947 and are estimated to be in about 95 percent of U.S. households.Even worse is the classic white cardboard version of the Chinese take-home box, the kind with the tiny

Scape7noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1128666092079769602005-10-06T23:59:00.000-04:002005-10-07T02:21:32.086-04:00

I’ve been collecting New York Times news sections since Tuesday, March 23, 2004, and thought it would be interesting to see what was going on in the papers a year ago today.Iraq, basically.Even in the heat of the battle for the White House — Vice President Cheney and John Edwards had just held their fiery debate at Case Western University — the overriding topic was the war and the wisdom of our

Scape7noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1128570144588406662005-10-05T23:41:00.000-04:002005-10-05T23:42:24.596-04:00

My new bedroom has a ceiling fan.In the morning, murky light filters in through the cheap plastic blinds, and I’m groggy and without glasses. In these circumstances, the five-bladed fan resembles nothing so much as a giant asterisk hovering above me. It takes a moment to remember it’s just a fan.That moment isn’t scary, really. I have no fear that the giant asterisk means me harm or can hurt

Scape7noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1128491886847065912005-10-04T23:55:00.000-04:002005-10-05T01:59:10.723-04:00

MCI, still struggling to recover from the scandal and bankruptcy that sent the Worldcom name from the stock pages to the stocks, called recently with a great deal. It already had my long-distance business for a measly $5 or so a month; it would take over my local service as well and send a combined bill saving about $10 off what I paid Verizon.It seemed too easy, and I was suspicious. But I was

Scape7noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1128395006757396882005-10-03T22:56:00.000-04:002005-10-03T23:03:26.766-04:00

Although summer ended Sept. 23, the days have stayed hot. The nights have done their best to warn Cambridge of the inevitability of winter — by showing what winter nights are like — but this hasn’t really sunk in with people here. Women have stuck to their tube tops, so to speak, and flip-flops, even if it means clutching their arms around themselves as they walk from place to place.But, like the

Scape7noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1128310776609076622005-10-02T23:34:00.000-04:002005-10-02T23:39:36.620-04:00

There are a million Comcast horror stories out there, and now I have one.The installer showed up at least 15 minutes after the 9 to 11 a.m. window set by the company; wasn’t aware he was to hook up to an Apple Extreme Base Station wireless router — despite my specific orders when ordering broadband Internet access — and couldn’t accomplish it; left to go to another appointment; and never —

Scape7noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1128022162847442812005-09-29T15:19:00.000-04:002005-09-29T15:29:22.856-04:00

I know this is shameless, but I’m actually reposting.See, when I originally wrote this, in November 2005, Blogger didn’t offer cheap bastards such as myself, who don’t pay anything for the privilege of blogging, the ability to post pictures with words. Now it does.Once again, then, with color art:At the Dallas/Fort Worth airport, I used a bathroom stall intended for the disabled. Like all such

Scape7noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1127883588212011922005-09-28T00:59:00.000-04:002005-09-28T00:59:48.223-04:00

Dunno when it happened, but the venerable pharmacy on Huron Avenue has closed. That means Cambridge has lost its two best unintentionally funny business names.First the city lost the Long Funeral Service.Now it’s lacking the sign telling people “Huron Drugs.”

Scape7noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1127802380790174242005-09-27T02:20:00.000-04:002005-09-27T02:26:20.796-04:00

Cambridge homeowners can relax. Last night’s unanimous city council vote sends to the state Department of Revenue a plan that freezes or reverses most city property tax rates — a needed salve after last year’s brutal revaluation.Under the city manager’s plan, $10 million of the city’s free cash will be used to pay for various needs, with the bulk of it — $6 million — directly easing the pain of

Scape7noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1127714395474841482005-09-26T01:55:00.000-04:002005-09-26T01:59:55.506-04:00

Go to the Great and Secret Comedy Show as soon as possible. The Walsh brothers, the amiable hosts of the late-night ImprovBoston show, may soon leave for bigger things in Hollywood or New York. No more free shows. No more free beer. Worst of all, no more Walsh brothers — no more of the amazing alchemy that makes a couple of Charlestown underachievers standing around on stage so astonishingly

Scape7noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1127674129192295712005-09-25T14:39:00.000-04:002005-09-25T14:49:49.200-04:00

Local alternative media are united in their disregard for Sidekick, the new Boston Globe section serving as a “Guide to a Better Day” with comics, puzzles, television listings, things to do and assorted junk. The Boston Phoenix calls it “muddled” and “confusing.” The Weekly Dig reached these conclusions first in a piece marked by a tone of revulsion over the Globe “groveling” in establishing the

Scape7noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1127422586420403542005-09-22T16:54:00.000-04:002005-09-22T16:56:26.430-04:00

I figure I should get this out, so to speak, before I lose the opportunity to claim it as original — if, in fact, it is original, which I seriously doubt.Not being a serious artist, I wouldn’t dare undertake this, but it’s a serious art project that pretty much anyone could do. Especially anyone with a Polaroid instant camera.The project:Find a wide open exhibition space, preferably something

Scape7noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1127362408189896832005-09-21T23:59:00.000-04:002005-09-22T00:13:28.196-04:00

All right, that’s it. I’m turning on the Blogger spam zapper, and my apologies to those who wish to comment and must now leap another hurdle to do so — typing in the magic random word that people can see and spam generators can’t. Yet.

Scape7noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1127252906155239652005-09-20T17:41:00.000-04:002005-09-20T17:57:45.056-04:00

Whatever Somerville’s Davis Square T stop is saying about newspapers, it isn’t good. There’s a row of forlorn, neglected news boxes there for The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today, unfilled, unused and informative in an utterly unintended way.One thing being said is actually quite clear. In the window of the abandoned USA Today box sits that paper’s bastard child — the Metro,

Scape7noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1127193777008288992005-09-19T23:59:00.000-04:002005-09-20T01:22:57.016-04:00

Dumbstruck in the checkout lane, mind sent spinning at the sight of the latest Us Weekly.BABY NEWS! it cries, misplaced amid candy and gum, over a picture of a pregnant Britney Spears filched from an Elle photo shoot.HEIDI KLUM names son HenryJENNIFER GARNER 2 months to goIt is a tired bit of pretension to contrast the vapidity of popular culture with dire current events. But it is also almost

Scape7noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1126904494592234672005-09-16T16:57:00.000-04:002005-09-16T17:01:34.603-04:00

Why don’t people buy American? Rent a new Dodge Caravan and find out.It’s the minivan of choice for the Avis rental-car agency, and buying one costs up to $27,000. But for a minivan it’s surprisingly cramped, and for a fairly basic vehicle it’s surprisingly confounding. Why won’t this chair move? What’s wrong with this door? Where the hell is the release for the parking brake?My parents rented a

Scape7noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1126758676609385992005-09-15T00:25:00.000-04:002005-09-15T00:31:16.616-04:00

President Bush finally taking responsibility for something? Incredible. But what’s unbelievable, especially in light of his new, disastrous polling numbers, is that as recently as his Monday press conference, Bush was making this same old tired lie: Now, as far as my own personal popularity goes, I don’t make decisions based upon polls. I hope the American people appreciate that. You can’t make

Scape7noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1126672676520963892005-09-14T00:35:00.000-04:002005-09-14T00:37:56.526-04:00

Book publishers are beginning to steal ideas from the makers of digital videodiscs, even offering readers “deleted scenes” and trailers. Above is an example of this from an ad for Brian Freeman’s “Immoral” in yesterday’s New York Times arts section.Just like on most discs, these deleted scenes promise to be mostly junk that slowed down action, made the story too long or just didn’t fit. Stuff

Scape7noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1126643304953121162005-09-13T16:20:00.000-04:002005-09-13T16:35:28.156-04:00

As many have noted, the Bush administration’s fetish for smaller government made it lethally slow and ineffective in responding to Hurricane Katrina. Economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman suggested yesterday that the weakening of Federal Emergency Management Agency infrastructure that caused this is also going on in (at the least) the Food and Drug Administration, Corporation for

Scape7noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1126553290641071382005-09-12T15:05:00.000-04:002005-09-12T15:28:10.713-04:00

Okay, so perhaps there is reason to worry about President Bush’s nomination of John G. Roberts for the Supreme Court.First came Bush citing Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas as his model for future court appointments, because Scalia and Thomas believe in convenient interpretations of “original intent” to decide issues. Roberts hasn’t admitted to or boasted of being an originalist, though,

Scape7noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1126287859197454822005-09-09T13:35:00.000-04:002005-09-09T13:44:19.206-04:00

The bookstores are creeping back to Harvard Square. The recent losses of Wordsworth and the travel-focused Globe Corner Bookstore left mainly the venerable Harvard Book Store, Grolier Poetry Book Shop, Coop and Schoenhof’s Foreign Books, but Raven Used Books is coming to JFK Street, due to open late next week. Looks like the Raven of Northampton and Amherst alighting in the east.

Scape7noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1126198868290066492005-09-08T12:59:00.000-04:002005-09-08T13:01:08.296-04:00

The usual hypocrisies were on display at yesterday’s service for William H. Rehnquist, chief justice for the Supreme Court, some inspired by grief for the dead, some by a political agenda. The most notable was by Cardinal Theodore W. McCarrick, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Washington, who hailed Rehnquist as “a tireless champion of life.”It really depends, doesn’t it? Consider this from

Scape7noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1126128360131329322005-09-07T17:20:00.000-04:002005-09-07T17:26:00.140-04:00

Somehow the Labor Day blogging break became extended to yesterday. Today, I’m simply not sure what to say.Everything worth saying about the current national disasters is being said already, and it’s hard to counterprogram without coming off as frivolous and out of touch, especially when others are suffering or heading off into danger, sacrifice and hardship.This is why punditry is all the rage —

Scape7noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1125675512488289612005-09-02T11:33:00.000-04:002005-09-08T13:14:38.790-04:00

I’m still bemused every time I see the latest addition to our police cruisers: the Web site address CambridgePolice.com.Dot-com?Shouldn't that be dot-gov?It’s a bit of a stretch, I suppose, but it makes the police sound like a business, which raises the specter of quotas on parking tickets and moving violations ... which means I’m not sure why it’s not WhiteHouse.com instead of WhiteHouse.gov,

Scape7noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1125598574070199982005-09-01T13:41:00.000-04:002005-09-01T14:16:14.146-04:00

Having been in love with Boston during my time at Emerson College, I'd stuck close, eschewing even a semester abroad in Europe. By the end of the four years, during which Charles Stuart's murderous lies revealed a readiness to fear and humiliate black males, Southie kept reeling from busing tensions and reverberations hit when Rodney King's assailants largely escaped punishment in Los Angeles, I

Scape7noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1125522495383652802005-08-31T17:02:00.000-04:002005-09-08T13:08:30.336-04:00

I haven’t been able to find any studies directly addressing what percentage of constitutional originalists are also believers in Biblical inerrancy, but there’s good anecdotal evidence that there’s a lot of overlap. It makes sense that the same people boasting of thinking like the founding fathers are keen on doing the same with the disciples.The main problem with originalism in terms of the U.S.

Scape7noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1125440557630372762005-08-30T18:21:00.000-04:002005-08-30T18:48:58.163-04:00

Wow. I must put off the intended posting for a terrifying Tale of Customer Service, once again featuring the monstrous Apple zombie army.This time the army was marching in support of a rampaging Frankenstein’s monster:My laptop’s automatic Software Update program alerted me a little while ago that there was a security fix and Web browser update available. I began the process immediately, quitting

Scape7noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1125350725938452252005-08-29T17:21:00.000-04:002005-08-29T17:25:25.946-04:00

Spoiled and ill-spirited the Sunnis may be, but no one can deny that the suggested Iraqi constitution did not — for whatever reasons — include enough of their input and does not — again, for whatever reasons — engage them adequately. As a result the constitution’s failure, political chaos and civil war threaten.This looks like the result of strangely conflicting trends: The Sunni minority is

Scape7noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1125090603364842932005-08-26T16:59:00.002-04:002010-04-19T17:46:33.029-04:00

It’s not every day the world watches a constitution come together or the Supreme Court get a new member. We’re seeing both, but with little appreciation of how one informs the other.The nomination of John G. Roberts to the U.S. Supreme Court frankly matters little to Iraq, but the writing of an Iraqi constitution matters for Roberts because it’s unclear where he stands on original intent.This

Scape7noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1125032590888193482005-08-25T23:59:00.000-04:002005-08-26T01:04:04.090-04:00

I’ve discovered a binder from my college days. The clear cover has a flier I designed for our senior-year magazine. The inside pocket has my letter of resignation from the school’s film review (several copies in sealed envelopes, never delivered and I can’t remember why), a bluebook from my propaganda class (my grade on that test: 93) and a treasured but long-lost letter-size copy of the U.S.

Scape7noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1124864489933782202005-08-24T02:13:00.000-04:002005-08-29T14:46:27.220-04:00

Odwalla’s Summertime Lime is sublime and Harvard Square’s Darwin’s Ltd. is Exclnt. The combination leaves something to be desired, though, as a small Summertime Lime at Darwin’s Ltd. will run you $3.29.The experience of holding one for a moment and returning it to the refrigerator is free, though, which is what I did a couple of days ago. I was suddenly far less thirsty and far more curious about

Scape7noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1124826595366887002005-08-23T15:38:00.000-04:002005-08-23T20:13:33.130-04:00

It’s old news that intelligence agencies didn’t cooperate before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. That a military program called “Able Danger” spotted Mohamed Atta as a member of Al Qaeda and danger to the United States long before 9/11, and that no action resulted, no longer surprises. And that the Sept. 11 commission ignored the news or didn’t realize its significance is disappointing,

Scape7noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1124746475272042472005-08-22T17:31:00.000-04:002005-08-22T17:34:35.283-04:00

This probably doesn’t need much editorializing. It was found in the comments section of Ejectejecteject.com while researching a previous Misanthropicity post — the connection being that the guy running Ejectejecteject, Bill Whittle, is another person transformed by 9/11 into a Bush fan and conservative. He seems relatively reasonable otherwise, especially in comparison with some of his

Scape7noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1124489551164377312005-08-19T17:59:00.000-04:002005-08-19T18:56:39.383-04:00

The grieving mother haunting President Bush haunts us as well, raising ghosts other than that of her soldier son slain in Iraq. The scariest ghost is the cause of the Iraq war itself, raised in part by comments attributed to the mother, Cindy Sheehan, saying her son “was killed for lies and for a PNAC neocon agenda to benefit Israel.”Whether she actually said these things or not, professional

Scape7noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1124401048992568742005-08-18T17:33:00.000-04:002005-08-19T18:18:55.903-04:00

Our celebrity culture may distort what’s important in society, but the worst of it is not the drugs-and-sex distortion social conservatives decry. Far worse is that our obsessive interest in celebrities has become something like new parents’ obsessive interest in their children, giving outsize weight to the slightest and silliest bit of activity.Parents can quiz junior for hours on the adventure

Scape7noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1124257758959928342005-08-17T01:48:00.000-04:002005-08-17T01:49:18.960-04:00

The “Simpsons” box scandal threatens to overshadow our troubles in Iraq. For the three people who aren’t aware yet, the packaging for the sixth season’s digital videodisc collection is a giant, molded Homer head with the discs and assorted junk crammed inside. It’s very nice and awfully irritating — it doesn’t stand up on its own, for one thing, unlike the boxes for seasons one through five — and

Scape7noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1124181538993299842005-08-16T04:35:00.000-04:002005-08-16T04:38:59.006-04:00

The constitutional crisis in Iraq has the distinct reek of Bush — which smells slightly different on everybody but cannot be mistaken for anything but the product of its own unique mix of ingredients.It’s not something that effectively masks the stench of desperation pervading recent news of the Iraqi constitution writing. Insisting a constitution might be turned in a day before deadline,

Scape7noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1124079612366348832005-08-15T00:18:00.000-04:002005-08-15T00:20:12.386-04:00

Oh my god. Why me? I didn’t even answer the last “Spanish prisoner/Nigerian” scam letter I got and already I have another to ignore. This one, presented verbatim, came Saturday at 8:08 p.m.Courtyard ChambersSorrena 76, 5-3Madrid 28006Spain CONFIDENTIAL...BETWEEN YOU AND ME Greetings, I wish to notify you that I am privileged to peruse over your profile today and I am greatly impressed on your

Scape7noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1123960889841865052005-08-13T15:20:00.000-04:002005-08-13T15:21:29.850-04:00

Odd that there are threats that sound so helpful: “I’m going to fix your wagon” and “I’m going to clean your clock” are fighting words, but it’s difficult to see why. The Internet is unhelpful, so far, and even books devoted to phrase origins are coming up empty.The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Words and Phrase Origins, by Robert Hendrickson (Checkmark Books, 2004) lacks origins for either

Scape7noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1123873919651553082005-08-12T15:00:00.000-04:002005-08-12T15:11:59.663-04:00

Naral Pro-Choice America has withdrawn its ad criticizing Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. It’s hard to imagine what impact the ad had, as controversy somewhat overwhelmed the message, but at least new focus on the court decision referred to in the ad, Bray vs. Alexandria Women’s Health, makes for a good addition to the list of dubious Supreme Court accomplishments (Plessy vs. Ferguson,

Scape7noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1123787093247764872005-08-11T14:57:00.000-04:002005-08-11T15:04:53.256-04:00

Not that anything is likely to derail the Supreme Court nomination of John G. Roberts Jr., but an endorsement of him by the National Association of Manufacturers comes across as a “you can help by not helping” situation. It’s the first time in its 110 years that the association has made such an endorsement, which makes the action overwhelmingly suggestive: For anyone unclear on what Roberts

Scape7noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1123687551130474722005-08-10T11:20:00.000-04:002006-02-28T17:58:26.096-05:00

I hold some small measure of pride that in 1994 I was ahead of the curve on converging technologies; I predicted the scanner/printer/copier/fax machine. I was part of a group that was so on top of things technologically, in fact, that we were unable to create an online magazine because we needed technologies that didn’t yet exist — at least, not in user-friendly form.The only thing we

Scape7noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1123614557469616002005-08-09T15:04:00.000-04:002005-08-09T15:09:17.480-04:00

I know I’m not supposed to be discussing this with anyone, but I’m so excited I just can’t keep my mouth shut: I’m about to get 30 percent of $25 million that belonged to Saddam Hussein. I just have to help get the money out of Iraq, which, I’m told, “is a warzone.”Anyone who doesn’t know Iraq is a war zone, a secret closely held by almost 6.4 billion people, is fair game for this scam, an

Scape7noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1123307070034768922005-08-06T01:36:00.000-04:002005-08-06T01:53:56.560-04:00

I want to direct “Hamlet” and portray the Danish prince as a drunkard.Hamlet is a paragon of indecisiveness, but few productions — none I’ve seen or heard of, in fact — explain why. It’s deeper to leave it unexamined, which makes it more universal, if not metaphorical, but while watching a performance this can cause a bit of head scratching.Dad’s dead, murdered by his own brother, who marries the

Scape7noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1123295493705961552005-08-05T22:28:00.000-04:002005-08-05T22:31:33.713-04:00

Much is suggested by the video library at our New Hampshire vacation chalet — no kidding, it’s really called a chalet, and it’s in Eidelweiss Village above a Bavarian-style “Eidelweiss” sign. I thought I’d share the list of videos as a peek into another’s life, similar to eyeing the purchases of the person ahead of you at the grocery store checkout.The DVDs are for the kids, mainly, with “

Scape7noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1123090403447020912005-08-03T13:31:00.000-04:002005-08-06T01:59:00.203-04:00

Things do not happen for the best. If they do, it’s luck, and the odds are just as good things happen for the worst. The truth is, things just happen.What really matters is that humans react, and other factors intervene anyway. If you get fired and find a better job, that doesn’t mean the firing was for the best, for instance; you could have stayed at the first job and gotten a huge promotion.(

Scape7noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1123000656753955122005-08-02T12:28:00.000-04:002005-08-02T12:40:48.500-04:00

Free summer Shakespeare brings all sorts of people together, including me and the oaf who sat in front of me Friday. I was delighted not to meet him. It was enough just to watch him in action.He was, at the least, entertaining in a mildly horrifying kind of way, good counterpart to the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s “Hamlet,” which was mildly horrifying in an entertaining way. The production

Scape7noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1122935237245313482005-08-01T18:18:00.000-04:002005-08-01T18:28:42.513-04:00

Somehow the world got it set in its collective head that things are done in the 11th hour. This would seem to refer to the 60 minutes from 10 to 11 a.m. and imply one out of every 24 actions occur then.Of course, this isn’t what anyone means by “11th hour.” It is used to describe something happening as time is running out, and a Google search suggests many things do: There are about 883,000

Scape7noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1122620068981703922005-07-29T02:53:00.000-04:002005-07-29T02:54:28.990-04:00

Sorry about the failure to blog. The folks are in town; there are things to see, errands to run. Rest assured, I have plenty of things to say that will be irrevocably forgotten as soon as I have time to write and post them. So you’ll get the usual half-assed nonsense. Cheers.

Scape7noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769309.post-1122414799971617602005-07-26T17:51:00.000-04:002005-07-26T17:53:19.980-04:00

Oh, I’m sorry. President Bush can evolve. Why, according to The New York Times today, the “war on terrorism” has become “a global struggle against violent extremism.”The Times’ Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker say what’s behind this semantic shift:Administration and Pentagon officials say the revamped campaign has grown out of meetings of President Bush’s senior national security advisers that began

Scape7noreply@blogger.com0