Cabin Fever is closing in...

Artist: Sting
Album: If On a Winter's Night...
Composer: Henry Purcell
The Cold Genius aria "What Power Art Thou" from opera King Arthur
Label: © Deutsche Grammophon © 2009

(Stolen from Ermonia, Georgia, Tbilisi)

8 Ways You Can See Einstein's Theory of Relativity in Real Life

All you have to do is commit one of these beauties to memory, then wait for the opportunity to use it in conversation. Wild! I think the best one is 'Why gold is yellow.'

8 Ways You Can See Einstein's Theory of Relativity in Real Life

Kee-rist it's COLD!

This is Niagara Falls last week.
Snow, as I've stumbled down my septuagenarian stairs, has still held a certain charm; I do enjoy driving in it, and I admit to revelling in my skill at same. (Look! that old fart's making it up the hill, why can't YOU?)
But cold is another thing. I'm okay with temps in the 20s, but teens and single digits kill me!  It's depressing, enervating, and damned uncomfortable. My bones ache and creak, a shower turns arduous, and my tank of jokes and laughs is running on empty.
The Mets home opener is April 13; that seems a long way away, right now.

Shopping for car insurance? Here's a tip

Visit a couple of local body shops and ask them which company they prefer.
Who's easy to work with, who hassles them, who nickels and dimes the job. It's a real eye-opener.
(Hint: that cute little gecko doesn't fare so well.)

Top of the Food Chain

As befitting Madison's elite suburban status, the local car wash caters to some pretty exotic automotive customers. Jaguars, Beemers and Cadillacs are ho-hum fare, as are Maseratis and even Bentleys. But the beauty pictured below can still turn heads. Getting squeaky clean today -- one of at least seven local Teslas. It's electric!! 

On the hunt for page views

There really can be no argument here. When this NYC fitness fanatic surfaced on the blogosphere early in 2014, the quest was over, the perfect female posterior had been found and duly cataloged. If you've just emerged from a year-long sabbatical in the Himalayas, here's your chance to get up to speed.
Forthwith, Miss Jen Selter. (You're welcome!)

Sean Penn a racist? C'MON!!!

When announcing the winner of the best director Oscar, Sean Penn peeked at the opened envelope,  did a classic, comic double take, then said, "Who gave this S.O.B. a green card?" And the Twitter crowd went crazy. The Huffington Post ran with the madness, saying that Penn had 'ruined' the entire telecast. Racist insensitivity, pure and simple.

The flap over Penn's remark only emphasizes the collective stupidity of the internet comment crowd.
First, and only and most importantly, it was a light-hearted joke between obvious friends. (Penn and Iñárritu are very close; Iñárritu directed Penn in '21 Grams'.)

In what universe could that comment have been anything other than a joke? In the devastating aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, Penn was there physically and financially, and not just for a photo op -- he was there for months! Racist? Jesus!

Watch the video; the two men embrace warmly at the end.
We've got to stop thinking that a Twitter feed is something other than a million-odd assholes looking for their Warhol moment.

Attention: 'Comments' are now easy to do

... Just click on the comments section and you're good to go. May the Force be with you. (This message will self-destruct when I think everybody's has a chance to read it.)

Mets pitchers get some work in

Thor and the Dark Knight throw hard in Port St. Lucie. (Noah Syndergaard and Matt Harvey, to non-Mets fans) At 6'6" and 240 lbs, Syndergaard is aptly nicknamed.

Is it me?

Or has the news reporting on the Yahoo front page taken a distinct right turn? It's not quite Fox News caliber, but there seems to be more material gleaned from the pages of the NY Post and the Wall Street Journal than the NY Times... plus the occasional clip from those way-out-there blogs like CNS.
I hate to say this, but are blonde women, you know, trending REPUBLICAN?

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer

The Sunday New York Times magazine section is all new, starting TODAY!

Extra, extra, read all about it, the Times magazine is bigger, bolder and brasher! That's the crummy old logo on top, with the new, 'more graciously spaced' logo below.
Read the entire article here.
Whether or not your a Times magazine fan, you owe it to your family to buy this one, wrap it in plastic and squirrel it away someplace where your great grandchildren will discover it... might be worth a buck, if we're still using money!
(If you're old as dirt, you'll remember how the cited  'Extra, extra'  radio show intro ended... Read about here, if you're interested.)

 Christie: We hardly knew ye

BY GEORGE STAFFORD

   The writer, a resident of Wharton, a former Democratic state Assembly candidate, is the Outreach Director of the Highlands Coalition. He can be reached at thestafford@optonline.net. His column appears in The Bernardsville News the first and third weeks of the month, alternating with columnist Leanna Brown, a Republican.
(Jaxon: We actually know George - helluva guy. He has called himself a sometime bureaucrat, which immeasurably raises the esteem of that profession. A true Jersey guy.)

Our future former Governor, like Elvis,
has left the building.

Oh sure, he’ll stop by occasionally to veto
some anti-corruption bill or to divide up
 some Port Authority spoils with his pal
 from across the Hudson, Andy “The Kid” Cuomo, but in reality Chris Christie is
 gone from New Jersey for good.

He has gone to that great luxury owner’s
 box in the sky. He’s hunting billionaire’s
money and red-neck votes. You see,
 Christie always has his eye on his
political future and he has no such future
 in New Jersey.

Yes, Chris Christie is gone for good. The problem is he’s isn’t taking any of the problems he’s caused with him. He has left us with what some might call a legacy.
(Read this article in its entirety by clicking here.)

What's Going On Here?

The Affordable Care Act is providing millions of Americans with access to reliable, high quality medical care, while advancing programs to hold costs in check.  Benefits of the law include: insurance subsidies for consumers; transparent Exchanges to shop for insurance; new rules protecting consumers from insurance abuses; increased Medicare payments for physicians; and more.

• Children and Young Adults Win with the Affordable Care Act
• Seniors Win with the Affordable Care Act
• Women Win with the Affordable Care Act
• Small Business Wins with the Affordable Care Act

The successes of the ACA are routinely ignored in the media, but every glitch, every misstep gets major coverage in the press, on TV and in the blogosphere. Why is the 'liberal' media acting like wing nuts?
The ACA is a far-reaching, all encompassing program of enormous complexity. Like Social Security and Medicare, it will take years to get it running smoothly. During that time, could our vaunted fourth estate dig around for some good news? We certainly deserve it!

Understanding the Affordable Care Act

... a great place, even before you find out that Ron Darling eats here!

Not much bad to say about Paul's Da Burger Joint. Stroll down St. Mark's, buy stuff, cut a right on 2nd Ave and you're there. All kinds of illegal, immoral and fattening food, in out-of-control portions, cheap as a Tompkins Square doobie. You'll get a grease spot on your t-shirt, guaranteed!

The Sandwich Revealed

The article cited below attempts to steer the consumer toward 'healthy' cold cuts. The writer extols the virtues of turkey -- which can be rigged to taste like anything, including your sofa cushion -- and throws mortadella (Sophia Loren's cold cut of choice) under the bus.
C'mon! Cold cuts are never gonna be health food, and a good sub or sloppy Joe is never gonna make a Weight Watchers menu.
You have to hand it to the writer,  Esther Crain, a self-employed free lancer who found a hot button and made herself a few bucks.
Look at her! Trust me, she knows her way around a capicola loaf!

Cold cuts ranked, best to worst

Pitchers and Catchers!!! YES!!!

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Mets camp is officially open for business.

Pitchers and catchers are required to report to Port St. Lucie by the end of today, though many of them have already been in town working out for weeks. Those who haven't must confirm their presence by the end of the day, in advance of physical examinations Friday and the first workout Saturday.

For the Mets, it's merely a formality; most pitchers expected to make the Opening Day roster have already reported, including starters Matt Harvey and Jon Niese, and relievers Jenrry Mejia, Jeurys Familia, Bobby Parnell and Josh Edgin. Starting catcher Travis d'Arnaud is also already in camp.

deGrom on goals for the spring

Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom looks back on winning the 2014 NL Rookie of the Year Award and looks ahead to his goals for Spring Training

The remainder of the roster is not required to report until Tuesday, though many prominent position players -- David Wright and Lucas Duda chief among them -- arrived at the complex weeks ago. Full-squad workouts will begin on Feb. 26, with the Mets' first Grapefruit League game scheduled for March 4 in Orlando and Opening Day set for April 6 in Washington.

Along the way, the Mets will play 31 spring games, plus another two exhibitions in Arlington, Texas.

Though their roster is relatively static heading into Spring Training, several jobs do remain up for grabs. Most prominently, the Mets have six starting pitchers vying for five spots, with Dillon Gee the leading candidate to head to the bullpen. That competition should have an effect on the bullpen, which appears to have two open spots.

Anthony DiComo is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter@AnthonyDicomo. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

The 800-lb Hawk in the Room

America's defense budget is greater than the combined defense budgets of the next 15 countries; it is 10 ten times the Chinese budget, and almost 20 times the Russian budget. More than half of our budget is dedicated to aiding and abetting a war-making machine unparalleled in world history. We make Sparta, Genghis Khan and Hitler look like Tibetan monks.

The budget for the Peace Corps, by contrast, is pocket change. If we mothballed ONE nuclear aircraft carrier (we have 11) and gave that money to the Peace Corps it would almost quadruple their funds; if we converted three carriers into hospital ships we could provide state-of-the-art assistance for world disasters - each ship could treat and house upwards of 10,000 victims - and we'd still have an aircraft carrier for each of the seven seas.

(Originally published May 27, 2011, updated today)

Sympathy for the Devil

After 133,000 miles my jury rigged satellite antenna short circuited, leaving me without my daily fix of  Classic Vinyl and Stephanie Miller. I limped along for 2 months on a diet of NPR and the FAN, but yesterday I bit the bullet -- $50 for a new, installed antenna.

   Down to the sea in ships... and Range Rovers and Minis and oh, my!

 January 6, 2015 at 2:44 pm by Mike Duff

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Let’s start with the good news. Despite feverish speculation from Britain’s tabloid newspapers, one of which ran a story suggesting that 10 percent of Bentley’s annual production was affected, we’ve been assured that there are none of the company’s products aboard the car carrier that has partially capsized and run aground in the English Channel.

But Europeans waiting to take delivery of a Jaguar, Land Rover, or Mini might well find they’re facing a substantial delay, with 1200 JLR products and 65 Minis aboard the stricken Höegh Osaka, which is now sitting at a 50-degree angle on the Bramble Bank sandbank near Southampton.

According to the ship’s owners, Höegh Autoliners, the 51,000-ton vessel “developed a severe list shortly after she left port, and the pilot and the master took the decision to save the vessel and its crew by grounding her on the bank.”

It’s certainly going to be an impressive insurance claim. We’re told that a total of 1400 cars are on the ship—135 more than the combined JLR and Mini totals—but we don’t know what makes up the remainder. A source within Bentley has assured us that it doesn’t have any cars aboard, after one British newspaper website excitedly reported that the entire cargo was made up of Bentleys and Rolls-Royces. Plant manufacturer JCB has confirmed it has 105 pieces of heavy construction equipment on the ship that, to judge from the photographs, are almost certainly in a big, expensive pile on the starboard side. All 25 crew and the pilot who presumably said “just park it there” were rescued from the wreck.

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• Midnight in the Garden of Eldorados and E-types
• 4703 Mazdas Lost at Sea [Video]
• Cougar Ace: The Great, $103 Million Snafu at Sea

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Car carriers don’t seem to have much luck in northern European waters. The MV Tricolor sank in 2002 while traveling from Belgium to the U.K. with a cargo of 3000 Volvos and BMWs; it was salvaged by being sliced into 3000-ton sections with a carbide cutting wire. And in 2012 the 23,000-ton Baltic Ace was lost after a collision with another ship 25 miles from the Dutch coast, taking 1200 Mitsubishis to the bottom of the North Sea.

Taking my lead from my first born, giving up Facebook for Lent. If I find anything interesting to post. it'll be on my blog. See you all on Easter!