SIMPLE PLEASURES

If you didn't work out some time ago that my views, tastes, opinions, etc., are all somewhat non-standard, you haven't been paying attention.  Now let me confirm your misgivings by recording my gratitude to that great Chicago institution, WGN.  In the horrifying wasteland that is television, I find only two channels worth watching: Turner Classic Movies and WGN.  Only on WGN can you see "Becker": I really relate to John Becker.  And WGN also gives us re-runs of "ALF" and "Newhart".  Why do they no longer make shows like these?  And please don't direct me to BBC America: the only thing worth watching there is "Top Gear".  March 30, 2009.

WHO NEEDS 'EM?

One of the items on the agenda for the G20 meeting this week is the need for regulation of rating agencies.  Seeing as how neither Standard & Poor's nor Moody's has managed to even come close to doing its job in the past year or so, and given that there is no legal requirement for anyone to use their services, why don't we all just opt out and let them sink?  Do your own due diligence, I say: you obviously cannot trust these incompetent outfits.  March 16, 2009.

NOW HERE'S AN IDEA

The former Chairman of the Battery Park City Authority, Charles Urstadt, has an excellent piece in the NYT today about urban development.  Read it here.  Now think about how these concepts could be applied in your neighborhood.  March 14, 2009.

ENOUGH WITH THE SOB STORIES

I've really heard enough about all these poor people who lost millions with Madoff.  Give us a break, please.  How stupid can you possibly be (a) to have believed his pitch and (b) to have put so many of your eggs in his basket?  March 14, 2009.

WHO NEEDS TWITTER?

What possible value does Twitter add to our lives?  Good grief, Facebook and its clones are bad enough, but at least they provide an activity for desperately lonely people who cannot otherwise amuse themselves.  This Twitter monster is not only completely redundant but adds a new layer of bad manners to daily life.   I was beginning to think that I was the only person left in the universe who considers it to be bad manners for someone to break off a conversation to answer a cell phone, but now we have people "twittering" while other people are talking to them.  Grrr.  Why can't the so-called high-tech people put their talents to work on something productive, such as (a) giving each of us a single phone number that works worldwide; (b) developing a cell phone that both works and gets service worldwide; and (c) developing filters for spam, viruses and other computer intruders that actually work?  We know they can do it, because they occasionally come up with things that are brilliant, such as the Kindle and the I-phone.  March 5, 2009.

IGNORE HIM

I don't know why Democrats and rational Republicans keep rising to Rush Limbaugh's bait.  Surely, the best tactic is to ignore him.  Come on, Robert Gibbs, try saying "Rush who?"  See, that wasn't too hard, was it?  March 4, 2009.