Ben Bernanke is the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank and as such has great influence over what you pay in interest in any financed transaction since he is basically the steward of the currency. He was a Bush appointment, a leading figure in the bank bailout scheme known as TARP and has been enthusiastically embraced by the Obama Administration and they want him re-appointed to another term. Why? Well haven’t you heard? Ben Bernanke saved the universe last fall. [Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Ken Watson
2 Comments »

I was about to write the words, “Nothing shocks me on television anymore” when I realized that if that was true I wouldn’t be writing this. I get annoyed, mostly, by network television, but it’s been a long time since my breath was taken away. I’ve accepted without protest the most recent public spectacle of NBC’s regard for the reputations of Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien, two richly rewarded good guys in a sea of counterfeit crap peddlers, who were forced to cannibalize each other publicly in the aftermath of a panicky decision following a corporate blunder. This doesn’t shock me. But I try to imagine Johnny Carson in a similar position.

This is what network television in the year 2010 does to its mega-mega-million dollar stars. But that’s the business of television. The programming is worse. [Read more →]

Tags: television by Clark DeLeon
No Comments »

What? That’s not normal? Apparently, to Lynn Middlebrooks Geter, it is. She forced her son to kill his hamster as punishment for receiving poor grades in school. What happened to time outs? Or no Play Station for a week? Kill your hamster? Really? I wonder at what point Lynn’s head imploded and she thought to herself, “I know. I’ll make the little bastard kill his hamster with a hammer. That’ll teach him to fail social studies!” [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, going parental by Jaclyn Roth
9 Comments »

No, I didn’t title this post with the intention of drawing in thousands of innocent readers who typed “lick the pole” into their favorite search engine, but who meant “pole” metaphorically. My apologies. I’m talking about an actual pole. A tall, thin, metal, cylindrical pole planted in the ground. In this case, with a stop sign at the top.

Some kids must have recently seen A Christmas Story, because at my son’s bus stop this morning a boy called out to him, “Lick the pole!” [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, movies by Scott Stein
2 Comments »

Five quotes stood out for me this week. Five public statements to which the only reasonable response could be, “Yeah, right.”

5. “I wish I’d been a better friend,” Casey Anthony. I guess being a “better human” is just a little too much to ask.

4. ”You already give to Haitian relief — it’s called the income tax,” Rush Limbaugh. See number 5. [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government, trusted media & news by Ari McKee
3 Comments »

There is nothing sadder than a teenager succumbing to external pressures to conform. I mean that literally, and taking into account everything that has ever happened in the history of recorded time. Teens who give in to pressure are the saddest things in the world.

[Read more →]

Tags: art & entertainment, his & hers by Ricky Sprague
2 Comments »

I’m about as far from an electronic gadget junkie as you can get. I own a barely-used cell phone and a laptop that never works fast enough. I bought a Kindle, but that was only after Oprah told me that it was her most favorite thing in the world. (And Oprah would never lead me astray.) It was only recently that I learned what “apps” are. I don’t text, and I definitely don’t sext. And what is Wi-Fi anyway? I don’t know. I employ a husband to figure out these technical details. So it’s pretty surprising, then, that I watched the dog and pony show for the new iPad, Apple’s latest must-have item. [Read more →]

Tags: technology by Nancy DeGregorio
2 Comments »

I’m a member of the Mac-Cult. I went with a MacBook Pro over a Dell last year to avoid Vista and have never looked back. When my phone plan was up I switched to the iPhone. I’ve considered getting an Apple tattooed on my person in a private but alluring area. Today is a great day, for the High Priest has shown us a sign, a sign so magical I want to lick it. Behold the iPad! [Read more →]

Tags: technology by Steve Mazzeo
2 Comments »

February 9, 2009
I dream I am with my father in a magic shop that is about the size of a Home Depot. In the middle of the room there is a performance area in which my Uncle Phil is doing the linking ring trick. As much as I like my Uncle Phil, I am distracted by an aisle filled with salt shakers and gimmicks. I search for the right shaker and gimmick, but I can’t find exactly what I am looking for. Later on, I am in another aisle of little magic boxes with brass fittings. Richard Kaufman, editor of Genii Magazine, is there to go over some obscure issues.

[Read more →]

Tags: Fred's dreams by Fred Siegel
No Comments »

I don’t read newspapers. It’s not personal. I started reading on a computer when I was really young and never looked back. Consequently certain features never make it through my front door, specifically comic strips. So, when John McPherson’s Close to Home made its big debut in my hometown paper, which I assume it did at some point in the late 1990s, I was completely unaware. But January 2010, when I was sifting through the calendars in the 50% off bin at Barnes and Noble, I found a Close to Home calendar and bought it. My other option was a girl’s college survival guide. And I don’t need any beauty tips. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, just fantastic by Steve Mazzeo
No Comments »