Day 661: The Long Island Snake

originally published October 22, 2013 There comes a point in most people’s lives when they realize they will most likely never make a living as a professional athlete. That’s okay, we can still become owners, right? Well, for those of us awash in a life of government drone-dom, owning the team of our dreams is […]

Day 660: Generational Labels – A Primer For The Young’uns

originally published October 21, 2013 Good morning children. I know what you’re thinking – you’d rather be outside, frolicking in the gumdrop sunshine, knocking a hoop down the street with a stick or catching a picture show at the local nickelodeon, but this will only take a minute. You see, you don’t yet realize that […]

Day 659: Rules Of Technological Thumb

originally published October 20, 2013 It’s a good rule of thumb to double-check your facts before accepting any rule of thumb. Even the term itself shelters its own little deceit. Like a resilient pimple that puffs out its bulbous little pus-nipple every so often, my email box inevitably oozes little “Didja Know” trivia messages from […]

Day 658: The Sumptuous Buttery World Of Popcorn

originally published October 19, 2013 The esteemed American poet James Joseph Brown Jr. once wrote, “But when I get funky, I do the sap. And when I want lovin’, mother, she got to have. Say, you got to have a mother for me. Yeah, popcorn.” And so it was. Popcorn is one of the most […]

Day 657: The Man With No Name

originally published October 18, 2013 Is there anything scarier than the thought of losing your memory? Forgetting your identity? Your loved ones? Your years of acquired wisdom? Well sure, there’s axe-wielding sharks spewing up from a sudden chasm in the middle of Fifth Avenue – I suppose that’s a little scarier (back off, Sci-Fi Channel! […]

Day 656: Hollywood’s Original A-List

originally published October 17, 2013 If you swim deep enough into the swampy murk of Hollywood’s trench-laden ego, you might come across a tiny pulse of insecurity. To have one’s performance captured on celluloid (or digital film, but that doesn’t sound nearly as romantic as ‘celluloid’) is to have a date with immortality. Humphrey Bogart’s […]

Day 655: The Trademark Battles Of The Ages (TM)

originally published October 16, 2013 Yesterday’s voyage into the beechwood-aged fluids of Budweiser’s actual history vs. its American corporate identity merely tickled my fingers with its potential. Trademark law is a quivering glob of gelatinous weirdness, where the good guys and bad guys are seldom as opaque and forthright as they might have you believe. […]

Day 654: Craving A Bud? Better Watch What You Pour

originally published October 15, 2013 In the bustling city of České Budêjovice in the southern part of the Czech Republic, there exists a strange reminder of the mammoth reach of the American justice system. This little city of about 96,000 people is known in German and English as ‘Budweis’. Sure, they have an Academy of […]

Day 653: Panic In The Adjustment Center

originally published October 14, 2013 Yesterday I delved into a tale of racial tension that went kablooie all over the Marin County Courthouse back in 1970. It centered around a trio of inmates from Soledad Prison who had been transferred to San Quentin on charges of killing John V. Mills, a guard who was – […]

Day 652: Shots Fired – The Marin County Courthouse Incident

originally published October 13, 2013 It wasn’t so long ago we lived in a world in which people fought with one another based on the color of their skin, rather than the political actions of their preferred party. What follows is an ugly story of racism turned to desperation. It’s a blunt reminder of some […]