Pigeon: Impossible

Pigeon Impossible, the silent animated film by Lucas Martell released on 9 November that took 4 years to make, passed the 1 million views mark on YouTube after less than 2 weeks online. The film is set in the neighborhood of the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., where two of my nieces and I […]

President Obama pardons Turkey

Kennedy was the first president who wouldn’t kill the “official turkey”. Then years later Bush started the tradition of granting the turkey an official “Thanksgiving pardon”; and Obama pardoned Courage, this year’s Official White House Turkey, just in time for tomorrow’s celebrations.

Stephen Fry ogles college football

Last night, Helmut and I enjoyed a great evening of Oscar Wilde with Alan Stanford. One of the highlights for me was a look back at Wilde’s grand tour of America. Well, his sublimely gifted modern reincarnation, Stephen Fry, filmed his own tour of America for the BBC, and his perspective strikes quite a few […]

Down with Jammern. Drunk on D.C.

Washington, D.C. is where I was born. My hometown. A most beautiful city. Warm from April through October. Hot and sticky in the summer. Lush, aromatic gardens, permeated by the song of the cicadas all night. People have this special walk in DC, an elegant, gliding thing. It’s funny to hear my brother Larry say […]

Net neutrality

It’s not always easy to follow the bureaucrats, but Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski outlined actions he says the FCC must take to preserve the free and open Internet. The FCC’s existing case-by-case enforcement of communications law is already guided by four open Internet principles that say that consumers must be able to […]

US public holidays

I got the date for Labor Day wrong: It’s next weekend. I should have gotten that right, because Labor Day is one of the few holidays in the States that are universally celebrated. On the other hand, it’s lost the meaning it once had, marking the end of vacation and the beginning of the school […]

Fundraising

We went to the annual fundraiser for the island clinic last week. The old familiar players were there: Dedicated volunteers, in this case the Lutheran women’s group, who run the show; then the local businesses who donate products or services; then a mix of people close to the clinic, employed there or doing volunteer work, […]