Day 21: Escapes From Alcatraz

originally published January 21, 2012 John Paul Scott. The man with three first names. His other claim to fame is his successful escape from Alcatraz Island. You didn’t see that, but when I typed ‘successful’, I used finger-quotes. Perhaps actual quotes would have been a better way to convey this. John made it to San […]

Day 16: Occupy Las Vegas – Lousy Odds (But Even Lousy Odds Pay Off In Vegas)

originally published January 16, 2012 Once again, I have been granted the privilege to be topical. Yesterday, in the midst of the NFL’s Divisional playoff weekend I wrote about football. Today I’m flipping to those dark sub-sections of the newspaper that are still willing to report on the on-going Occupy movement. To make it a […]

Day 13: The Five Points – Not The Ideal 19th Century Tourist Destination

originally published January 13, 2012 For anyone who has not watched Martin Scorcese’s epic 2002 film, The Gangs of New York, the gist is essentially that there were gangs. In New York. The focus is on a neighborhood known as the Five Points in central Manhattan, a slum filled with poverty-stricken immigrants, which came to […]

Day 5: Leckhampstead, Berkshire: Home Of The Gun-Clock & SuperSheep

originally published January 5, 2012 Today we journey across the ‘pond’, eat some ‘crisps’ then take a ‘lorry’ to a small ‘towne’ in southern England called Leckhampstead. Knowing those crazy Brits as I do (and I know three or four of them), they’ll pronounce it “Leckumsted”. It’s a beautiful language – I encourage everyone to […]