Rants and Raves

Points of view put out there to be agreed with or shot at. Your move, babe.

“Is Good Car, Yes?”

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The younger son, Jack, is in the market for a good used car (his first) and found one on the internet from a Private Seller. I called to get directions. The voice on the other end was some flavor of middle eastern delivered in heavy accent. “Is very good car,” he said confidently, “very good car, yes. Very good.” I asked him if he would accept a personal check. “No check, no… cash only…. no check… cash!” he verbally hammered back. I think I caught his drift. He wanted the legal tender. Fair enough.

Chasing The Snakes on St. Paddy’s Day

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At St. Pat’s, St. Patrick’s Day was a big deal. Although the student population was probably 80% non-Irish kids, everyone wanted to be Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. I was Irish on St. Paddy’s Day, and darn near every day, and I resented these freeloaders hijacking ‘our’ holiday. All the Italian and Slavic kids sported lots of green on St. Patrick’s Day. In protest, I never wore green on the sainted day.

Edison Was An Infernal Boob

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      I recently came across this startling photograph of Mr. Thomas Alva Edison, the man credited with inventing the electric lightbulb. Staring at the photo it struck me like some sort of object striking another really hard that Edison was an energy-wasting pig!     Just take a gander at his lightbulb! It’s a big … Read more

Lesser-Known Blues Legends

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     Any blues aficionado knows the legendary names of “Blind Boy” Fuller and “Blind” Willie Johnson.  But even hard-core blues fans know little, if anything, about bluesmen like “Terribly Nearsighted” Lewis… or “Can’t Read Much Small Print At All” McCoy… or “Having Awful Problems Seeing At Night” Mason… or “Trouble Judging Distances” Jenkins.      Unfortunately, … Read more

Farewell to The King of Cool

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       It’s a crappy day. The earth no longer has Paul Newman. Damn shame, that.       Newman had the looks, talent, humor, compassion, empathy, faithfulness, fearlessness and boundless energy we all crave. He was also generous and caring, helping unfortunate kids by donating millions in profits from the sales of his various … Read more

Their Dirty Little Secret (Pt. 2)

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       Doing a little investigative journalistic work, I think I’ve blown the lid off this whole Wall Street meltdown… and it ain’t pretty.      Think about it: Wall Street lobbyists grease the palms of politicians who pass laws deregulating the banking industry so they can sell sub-prime loans to any jamoke with … Read more