The world moves on a woman’s hips, says David Byrne, or maybe it was the Weymouths but we know what they are talking about. That taper, swell and taper is hypnotic, notoriously it is used in advertising and product design to subliminally trip primordial triggers. Is it no more than vestigal reproductive instincts? Science seems to demonstrate this geometric construct to be nearly a bedrock of reality; not quite as solid as the speed of light but close enough to earn the name Normal or Standard Deviation.

And it isn’t just solar intensity or SAT scores that follow this template. Like so many other aspects of finance and economics, a Standard Deviation is historically demonstrated in the relationship between tax rates and tax revenues. [Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Ken Watson
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Becoming a mother was a life-changing experience for me. And not in the super fake, “parenthood is magical, it is a gift, a miracle and yes, I am over the moon and my child is the most beautiful, sweet, magical baby in the world” kind of way. (Yes, I’m talking to you, Bethenny Frankel, even though I love you and the housewives.) Rather, motherhood changed my life in that it completely shifted the way I perceived other women.

[Read more →]

Tags: advice, family & parenting by Nancy DeGregorio
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I like the idea behind Inception more than I like the film itself. Considering its box office success and positive word of mouth, perhaps I am in the minority. Inception maintained a high level of excitement throughout and the action sequences and effects are first rate. I enjoyed the film while I watched it, but found it eminently forgettable. Why all the fuss? [Read more →]

Tags: Gail sees a movie, movies by Gail D. Rosen
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In the July 14 issue of the Times Literary Supplement, David Wheatley begins his review of Letters of Louis MacNeice by noting that “the Greeks thought of the past as stretching out before them while the future waited behind their backs.”

I am not sure if I ever knew this, and had long since forgotten it, but I do know that I have often thought this way. It has long seemed to me that when we are born we get in line behind all those who are already here, and those who come after get in line behind those of us who have already arrived.

This is but one of a number of odd ways I have of looking at time. [Read more →]

Tags: getting older, that's what he said, by Frank Wilson by Frank Wilson
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Professional baseball players are generally great athletes. Sure, there have been a few major league players that look less than athletic. Fernando Valenzuela, from way back in the Eighties, comes to mind, although he was actually a much better athlete than his appearance suggested. Most of them, though, look the part. They play a difficult game at the highest level, and are generally pretty fit. Sure, injuries are part of the game, as these guys are exerting themselves, running, diving, sliding, throwing, and swinging with great abandon. We expect these players to be supermen. This week, several players proved to be  much less than extraordinary, injuring themselves in a variety of unusual and somewhat comical ways. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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10. Your locker mate in the Minors was Ty Cobb.

9. Your seeing-eye dog won’t stop barking at the catcher.

8. Instead of using pine tar on your bat, you’re using Super Poligrip.

7. You ask the hot dog vendor if he’s got any prunes.

6. You’re older than the hot dogs he’s selling.

5. Instead of a stretch, you opt for the Seventh Inning Nap.

4. After you slide into third, you can’t get up again.

3. When you get to first, you ask the first baseman, “Which way’s second?”

2. You get winded standing up for The National Anthem.

1. After several practice swings in the on-deck circle, you realize what you’re actually swinging is your cane.
 

Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, sports by Bob Sullivan
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The recent financial reform bill that passed the House and Senate was so important that even the people who created it don’t know exactly what it will do. And we can debate all day what’s the most important part of the bill, but I’d like to suggest that it’s the ban on the despicable practice known as “Movie Futures Trading” (MFT) that will have the most positive affect on the country.

MFT is the process by which people bet on how much money a work of art — a film — will “earn” at the box office. Much as the stock market speculators nearly caused the collapse of our entire financial system, so to does this crass gambling enterprise threaten the very foundation of an industry that is vital to our economy and to our standing in the world. Interim MPAA president Bob Pisano put it best when he said:

“After proposals for these speculative gaming platforms came to light, our industry came together to oppose these plans with an unprecedented coalition that included entertainment industry workers, creators, independent producers and distributors, studios and theater owners. We are pleased with final passage of this important legislation. Congress has acted decisively to ban proposed trading in box office futures and to make important reforms in the country’s financial regulatory system. We applaud the work the bill’s authors have done, and of course, the many Senators and Members who supported the provisions to prevent movie futures trading.”

Essentially, it encourages people to “root against” certain films — films produced by studios that already have a hard time ensuring their products make money.

[Read more →]

Tags: movies, politics & government by Ricky Sprague
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I understand the nature of a changing economy enough to appreciate that some people are thrown out of work and have a difficult time getting back on their feet. The government doesn’t make it any easier no matter what they say because Washington only encourages continued unemployment by effectively paying people not to work. Therefore, I thought about an alternative system, one that would provide a cushion and yet not be a drag on the taxpayer. In fact, my idea provides greater flexibility and much greater potential for those who behave responsibly. No, it’s not perfect but it’s better than what we have. [Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Daniel Putkowski
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According to Nancy Pelosi and plenty of other Democrats who get their paychecks signed by Tim Geithner, the source of all this consternation, or at least that which pulsates within their own party, is due to the glacial slowness the Progressive Reform Agenda has taken. Why, we have gone nearly a week without an unread thirty-pound piece of legislation being passed without debate so they do have a point. But when you consult the tea leaves, meaning the polls, there is scant interest in what the Dems are actually proposing. Their hoped for hot buttons have cooled, even among their own electoral base. The time is ripe then to toss a hand grenade, an incendiary, into their tent. I propose here a program based on stated Republican principles addressing the thorny topic of cash reparations to our african-american citizens for slavery. [Read more →]

Tags: money, on the law by Ken Watson
4 Comments »

This Grey Goose Mango Lemonade is my favorite summer cocktail. It is so refreshing and goes down nice and smooth. But be careful, it will sneak up on you!  [Read more →]

Tags: drugs & alcohol, recipes & food by Jessica Alfreds
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I’ve been a student of crime since I was an aspiring writer growing up in South Philadelphia in the early 1960s.

My interest in crime, and my particular interest in organized crime, stems partly from my being half-Italian and my coming of age in South Philly, the hub of the Philadelphia-South Jersey Cosa Nostra organized crime family. Angelo Bruno, the long-time local mob boss, lived around the corner from my home.

[Read more →]

Tags: on thrillers and crime by Paul Davis
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November 24, 2009
I dream I am finishing up a meal at a movie theater. I purchase supplementary cucumber slices, but Gail feels that they are starting to get slimy. We then notice that we are the last people there, so we get up to leave. The employees are happy to see us go, but then I realize that we didn’t pay for the cucumbers. I go back in to find that a large group of young people are gathered for a presentation. I ask what the presentation is about and I find that the subject is euthanizing the elderly. The process involves relaxing them in warm oil before killing them.

[Read more →]

Tags: Fred's dreams by Fred Siegel
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By Carter Era standards it is not really that bad. Of course by Carter Era standards Carter wasn’t that bad either. Those who remember “double-digit” unemployment remember poorly. The nation has never clocked a year with unemployment over ten percent and those two years that were close to that were ’82 and ’83, the shank of the Reagan Revolution. Inflation did hit murderous levels under Carter but of course we are not experiencing anything like that today. Four percent inflation has been the norm for decades and we have had some recent deflation though that was brief. Now we are about two percent, a quite good number giving us a misery index in the elevens which historically is not miserable at all. [Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Ken Watson
1 Comment »

In the Twilight universe, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is better than New Moon, although not quite as much “fun” as the first Twilight. The change in director was a good one, and the focus of the film is back on the more interesting characters. The cast still has a certain charm, and although I am beginning to tire of author Stephenie Meyer’s heavy handed and simplistic abstinence agenda, I cannot blame the filmmakers. They did what they could with the sometimes cringe-worthy story. [Read more →]

Tags: Gail sees a movie, movies by Gail D. Rosen
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Sometimes, a book is not at all what you expected it to be. You pick up a novel for the mystery but get sucked into the romance along the way, or a piece of historical fiction turns out to be more educational than any college textbook. Of course, this can also be disappointing, as in the case of Refuge on Crescent Hill by Melanie Dobson. The blurb didn’t mention that this was Christian fiction, which is usually a red flag for me. I am sure there are some great writers in the genre, but in everything I have run into so far, the plot is far less important than the moral the writer wants to convey. In this case, we have the seed of a good story that never really blossoms into a great book. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, Lisa Reads by Lisa Hura
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After an overlong absence, I’m back to ruin your day with the most heinous act of police brutality that you’ve seen since the days of Rodney King.

And (gasp!) it’s from Canada …

[Read more →]

Tags: on the law by Neil Verma
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A page from Malcolm Gladwell’s moleskine:

I haven’t slept for days. No idea when I last ate. My mind is on fire. Synthesizing all that data has turned my head into a furnace. Seriously, my ears feel hot. Correction: my hair is on fire. I must have nodded off on the stove again. It looks like my snap decision to work in the kitchen today was one of those snap decisions with adverse effects. Which only confirms my thesis: Sometimes the decisions made in the blink of an eye have positive outcomes, though, in certain cases, the outcome is negative. That’s the “50/50 Effect.”

Or consider it this way:

[Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, race & culture by Peter Mann
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I am a contrarian. I have no problem admitting that. I have often found myself disliking something simply because most people like it. This trait has shown itself most often in my dislike of many major sports stars. If you think back to many of the huge athletes of the past 40 years or so, you will find many on my list of athletes I just don’t like. I am not talking about the trouble-making, law-breaker types. I am talking about the international superstars. From Michael Jordan to Cal Ripken to Mario Lemieux, if most people love the guy, I feel the opposite. Despite that, until very recently, I had nothing against Lebron James. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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I’ve always liked a good adventure, so it seems fitting that when choosing a honeymoon destination, a 2,000-mile drive through the desert would win over a week of sitting by a pool sipping neon-bright, over-garnished cocktails.

Of course, my husband and I didn’t have to take it the extreme, but naturally we did.

When we got the news that his friend was to be married in Scottsdale, AZ, my terrible sense of direction made me blurt, “Isn’t Arizona near Nevada?” Always willing to hear my schemes, my husband Joe answered, “Yes,” with intrigue and curiosity.

[Read more →]

Tags: photography, travel & foreign lands by Nicole Ball
4 Comments »

10. You’re also supposed to wait half an hour after making love.

9. We could be just like that scene out there: buoy meets gull!

8. Okay if I rub this suntan lotion places the sun doesn’t reach?

7. That white stuff on my nose isn’t sunscreen.

6. How would you like to be Hasselhoffed?

5. I’ll show you a pool toy you can play with.

4. Wow! Your body can be used as a flotation device!

3. Help! I’m drowning!…In your eyes!

2. My high chair or yours?

1. Okay if I practice my mouth-to-mouth?
 

Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, ends & odd, environment & nature, travel & foreign lands by Bob Sullivan
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