Driving into the city today, doing 65 to 70 mph on the Sprain Brook - a full 10 to 15 miles an hour over the speed limit - and being passed repeatedly as if I was crawling along a good 10 to 15 mph below the speed limit. I mean women in ’burb boxes were passing me, why don’t they just change it?

Blog Sensei made reference to Senator Barbara Boxer today, which was interesting in only that I had heard an interview with the senator last week on Fresh Air with Terry Gross on NPR and came away significantly impressed. Click on the link below and listen for yourself:

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) recently made headlines with her tough questioning of Condoleezza Rice during her confirmation hearings for Secretary of State. Boxer was also the only senator to object to the certification of Ohio's electoral votes, bringing about a two-hour debate on the matter.

Really great article posted online at New York magazine’s website about getting fired at 50.

My new boss was gracious but perfunctory. “You work here, you belong here. There’s all kinds of stuff for you to do, but you’re the one who has to make it work.” He called out to his secretary. He was awaiting a report and wanted to know if it had arrived. “Stop worrying,” he said and rose from his chair to see me out.

Three months later, I got a call from his secretary asking if I could come in to see him the following week: Thursday at three o’clock.

Why had he summoned me? It was a call I’d been waiting for without quite knowing it. But when his secretary called, my stomach knotted up. My mind became strangely blank.

Welcome to Beirut!



Rafik Hariri, a billionaire who helped rebuild his country after decades of war but resigned as prime minister last fall after a sharp dispute with Syria, was killed Monday in a massive bomb explosion that tore through his motorcade.

At least nine other people were killed and 100 wounded in the blast. It raised immediate fears that Lebanon — largely peaceful since the 1990 end of its civil war — was headed toward a new and bloody chapter in its differences with Syria, which maintains about 15,000 troops in the country.

My friend’s wife arrived on Beirut on Thursday. She’s on a business trip for her job and this is the first time she’s traveled to the Middle East.

Before she left, her husband (my friend) and I were discussing the trip, I was asking him what precautions she was taking, thinking how dangerous Beirut could be. My understanding being Lebanon is still very much run by the Syrians through proxy. He said his wife had been told Beirut had really ‘come back’ and since September 11th it had become quite the tourist destination for those in the Arab world not wanting to suffer the ignomy of increased security and profiling in Western nations.

She’s all right thankfully, although apparently she was staying only blocks from where the blast took place. As if the stress of a long business trip in and of itself wasn’t enough - now this.

Makes you wonder how the Israelis can deal with this kind of stuff on a regular basis and stay sane. Is there a question anymore, the rules as we know them in this country are not the rules by which a lot of the rest of the world operates? You have to ask yourself, does it really make sense to approach the world in a naivé fashion thinking the rest of the world will just ‘be nice’ at the asking?

Ooops! Bad Juju - if you clicked on the link for the Coop image and story, it’s fixed now... sorry.

To keep the blog hits rising, another somewhat suggestive sexual image



According to information received by the artist, police officers in Clovis, New Mexico charged 31-year-old Dean Young with distribution of sexually oriented material to minors for the display of two stickers on his yellow Ford Focus. A Clovis police officer, Kirk Roberts, noticed the stickers when they drew the attention of his son, who saw them on Young's car while the officer’s family was gathering at the restaurant where Young works as a waiter.

Speaking of the X-Files...

Also in the good news department, as far as decent things on TV go, SciFi channel is going to run the entire six episode mini series of the 4400 starting on the 22nd.

I imagine it’s in advance of the regular series debuting on USA Network which picked it up after the mini had a strong showing. It’s worth catching if you haven’t seen it. The two leads have got the Scully/Mulder kind of chemistry thing going. Michael Moriarity turns up in one episode where he’s a lead character. Although, I was a bit disturbed by how much he’s aged - I keep picturing him from Bang The Drum Slowly and Law and Order but I guess that just shows me how many years have gone by.

The skewed scale of measuring a show’s success...



There are only a couple of things I find worth watching each week. The aforementioned Enterprise is one show and in a similar vein Battlestar Galactica is another. Reworking the original concept of the 70’s series, BG is turning into a fun show to watch: better cast, better effects, great cinematography and good character driven stories. It is one of the more entertaining things on TV at the moment.

So with Enterprise’s announced cancellation, it was a bad news/good news kind of week.

Battlestar Galactica has been a ratings winner for SCI FI since its Jan. 14 premiere. The latest episode, Feb. 4's “You Can’t Go Home Again,” scored the show’s best ratings yet, with 3.2 million viewers.

SCI FI Channel has ordered a second season of its hit series Battlestar Galactica, which has aired five episodes of its first season of 13 episodes. Details of the renewal—including which cast members will return, how many episodes will be produced and when the second season will commence—were still being worked out at press time.


Battlestar Galactica is considered a success on the SciFi channel with 3.2 million viewers but, UPN announces the cancellation of Enterprise and it’s interesting to note the numbers:

Berman said of the precipitous fan drop-off in an interview conducted after UPN announced Enterprise’s fate. “We’ve always seemed to have a big drop from before Christmas to after Christmas, which I’ve never quite understood.”

Enterprise attracted more than 13 million viewers in its debut, but by the fourth season, that audience had fallen to just 2.9 million.

Battlestar Galactica has a former Victoria’s Secret model running around as the ultimate Cylon bad girl, certainly something which increases the geek appeal of the show.

They tried to push the heat up on Enterprise the same way, it was a big departure from any of the previous entries of the Star Trek franchise - although Jeri Ryan was bought in to help boost ratings on the insipid Voyager. “Shower” scenes aside (see image below), Enterprise is a show that is really getting into a groove. I think it’s a shame what’s happening. There are other shows through the years which wound up being favorites (notably Deep Space Nine and The X-Files) and I seem to remember right around the fourth season was when the shows got really, really good.

Usually I’m not so disgustingly blatent about it, but WNYC is running it’s pledge drive this week and if you live in New York and listen - please show your support.

You can also listen to a feed of the station over the web, which is actually a godsend during the course of a long workday.

I got forwarded an article in the Washington Post by a friend...

An Atlanta blogger who goes by Karsh says he was fired from a sales position in January after he blogged on company time. He was not so contrite. The writer of BGB, or Black Gay Blogger, said his boss wanted him to apologize for the things he had said about his fellow employees.

Since the other workers were not named, he did not think it was necessary, he said. “I feel like it's been said and done.”

The blogger renamed his supervisor “Skeletor” and “Wednesday Addams” in an entry about the confrontation. When the was told he would be demoted and had to dismantle his site, he quit, he said.

I always am a little concerned about how open I want to be when writing but, then I think it’s one of those things that people have to seek out. In the cases cited in the article, one instance shows a lapse of judgment on the part of the blogger in terms of confidentiality agreements - you know, those things you sometimes sign when starting a new gig, the documents you skim over and for the most part ignore.

Most of the others though are just people griping or offering up their opinions about the workplace, their working conditions, their co-workers and their jobs. When you get right down to it, it’s people blowing off some steam. I would imagine someone blogging about their job and getting whatever pent up angst they have about their gig is infinitely preferable to someone coming in and going postal. How oppressive is our society becoming?

None of the instances one will notice involve people speaking glowingly about their job though. Ah, there’s the rub I guess, positive publicity is okay but negative observations have no place in the corporate environment of today - seems to me that that’s one of the things wrong with ‘Corporate America.’

Corporations and business in our country can do no wrong it seems - it‘s the American way. It’s stretched to every aspect of our lives - from a personal level to the biggest organizational levels including our government. Our society is comprised of godlike, perfect beings and organizations which can do no wrong, or rather if they do, they surely cannot own up to it.

So, getting back to the article, I got the link from a friend and at the end of the day I figure if your going to get fired for what you write on a blog, they pretty much were going to find something to fire you over anyway. Just the act of firing someone over negative comments in a blog is validation on some level of what the person wrote.

Going where no Star Trek series has gone before.



Bad news this week as it was announced Star Trek Enterprise is not being picked up after this season:

After four years, the mission is over for “Star Trek: Enterprise.” The prequel to the original “Star Trek” science fiction series will air its final episode in the United States on May 13, UPN and Paramount Network Television announced Wednesday.

I’m a big Enterprise fan, the series had some trouble out of the gate but, it really seemed to hit its stride beginning last season. I’m linking to a couple of articles regarding the cancellation:

Rick Berman, executive producer of UPN's now-cancelled “Star Trek: Enterprise,” recently said that Paramount is not shopping the series to another network to keep it on the air past its May 13 series finale.

and...

Scott Bakula, who plays Capt. Jonathan Archer in the series, was interviewed by Zap2it on the “Enterprise” set just hours before the cancellation was announced to the executive producers Tuesday night. But even before the announcement, Bakula said he wasn't confident the show had a future.

and...

Berman added: “I think the whole network had a big drop from before Christmas until after Christmas. I am not only very proud of the shows that we’ve done so far for the fourth season, but the shows that we’ve done that haven't aired yet are undoubtedly some of the best shows that we've produced. I don’t think it has to do with the quality of the show.”

and...

Should the affiliates be worried?

“As we look to the future, the UPN brand is stronger than ever,” Ostroff said. “We have a clear vision and direction for this network. In just the past year, we’ve seen ‘America’s Next Top Model’ emerge as a bonafide, homegrown hit for UPN, and our two new dramas, ‘Kevin Hill’ and ‘Veronica Mars’ have received more critical acclaim than any shows in UPN’s history. As a result of this success, the creative community has responded by making UPN a key destination for their top projects, producers and talent.”

Yeah, I’ve got UPN’s slogan for the fall ’05 season - UPN, The Network Where Good Shows Go To Die. I was thinking about whether or not I watched any of the other shows on UPN and I couldn’t think of a one outside of Enterprise. The last show UPN had which I’ve since discovered in late night reruns on Comedy Central is Dilbert. It’s another series that suffered from being on a sixth rate network. Funny as all get out but, something that never got the right time slot or exposure.

So, even though it may be a futile attempt, I’m putting these links and information out there — tell your friends and spread the word. It’d be a shame for another series as good as the original Star Trek to be cancelled:

IMPORTANT CAMPAIGN INFO! Do you want The Sci-Fi Channel to pick up Star Trek Enterprise? Write them NOW! Flood them with letters!

Sci-Fi Channel
1230 Avenue Of The Americas, NY, NY 10020

Write Sci-Fi Channel now - the more fans write in, the better!

We need to flood CBS, Viacom, Paramount and UPN with letters, phone calls, emails, and faxes.

FAX: YOU HAVE TO SEND IT THIS WAY OR IT WILL NOT GO THROUGH! PLEASE INCLUDE ENTERPRISE IN THE SUBJECT LINE!

Send your fax to: saveenterprise@interpage.net

You HAVE to have "Enterprise" in the subject line and nothing else or this will not go through. (minus quotation marks of course) You will get confirmation that it was received.

Mr. Leslie Moonves
Chairman and CEO - CBS Television
7800 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036
1-323-575-2600

CBS Main Phone line: 212-975-4321

Sumner M. Redstone
Chairman and CEO - Viacom, Inc.
1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036
1-212-258-6000

60 Minutes
55 West 57th Street,New York, NY 10019-2985
1-212-975-2006

Paramount Studios
5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90038
1-323-956-5000

Call UPN: 1-310-575-7000

Call and write them all NOW! Flood them! Fax numbers and emails will be online soon!

I saw these recently and found them interesting - while the sampling group of each survey was relatively small in relation to the total number of employees the corresponding industry (100 in finance, 250 in government and 100 in hospitality) the gist of course is supposed to be superimposing these numbers over the industries as a whole. Now, I don’t know if that would really be an accurate assessment with such a small sampling group but, they are interesting figures nonetheless.

Forty percent of finance workers are counting on a new job in 2005. Dissatisfied with pay, workload and management, one-in-ten finance workers say they are looking for a new job on a weekly basis. The survey, “2005 Outlook: Finance Workers,” was conducted from November 22, 2004 to December 2, 2004 of 100 workers in finance.

and...

Thirty-five percent of government workers say they are ready to move on to a new job in 2005. While the majority of government workers say they are satisfied with their current jobs, one fourth say they are dissatisfied and looking for positions with higher pay and higher titles. The survey, “2005 Outlook: Government Workers,” was conducted from November 22, 2004 to December 2, 2004 of more than 250 workers.

and...

In search of better pay and career advancement opportunities and employers who are... well, more hospitable, 59% of hospitality workers expect to leave their current jobs this year. One third feel their employment prospects have improved in the last six months and 15 percent report they are looking for a new job on a daily basis. The survey, “2005 Outlook: Hospitality Workers,” was conducted from November 22 to December 2, 2004 and included 100 hospitality workers.

I almost think I should be listing a multiple choice question ala the SAT’s after these three links but, instead I just wonder what the implications are for Americans in the workplace. In all three surveys, there is mention of unhappiness with wages and I’m sure many of us recognize that it doesn’t seem as if wages are keeping up with expenses in our society. Still, there is the downward pressure placed on wages by companies outsourcing jobs overseas to places where labor costs are much, much cheaper.

Is the pendulum swinging back towards the American worker?

I don’t know, I kind of don’t think so.

I do think however we may be on the precipice of a time when there will be sweeping reforms in this country. There will come a point when things get worse and when they do, I think people will begin to make it their business to change the nature of work in this country.

Just a quick observation, scrolling down to the entry on the Yogasm. Just what is it Yogi’s doing in that picture? Copping the quick feel?

I got a new cell phone (and cell number) awhile back. This was only my third cell phone, me not being a big creature of change and all that. It would only be my second phone if I hadn’t inadvertantly lost the first. When I got the first phone it was something that was, well... a phone. Probably the best thing on the damn thing was Reversi which was my cell providers’ equivalent of GO.

The new phone is this really tiny thing, which looks more like a women’s compact. I still have some trouble with it. It takes pictures, I can program alarms into it so at least I’ll know in advance if I’m going to be late for something (useful for me).

Now comes a website, for all those people that actually surf the web with their phones. You can really get directions when you get lost in New York.

Being a guy, I know I’ll never wind up using it men never ask for directions.

Oh, if you have a big pipe (broadband) you can just watch Joe Klein on The Daily Show for yourself.

I caught Joe Klein on The Daily Show the other night and at one point, John Stewart observed he just couldn’t get Klein to break a smile but, given what Klein was discussing and the implications for the remainder of the second Bush term, I can understand as there really wasn’t anything to smile about.

Then after a little bit of searching, here are two interesting articles worth reading from the New Yorker’s website:

Seymour Hersch:

The Administration has been conducting secret reconnaissance missions inside Iran at least since last summer. Much of the focus is on the accumulation of intelligence and targeting information on Iranian nuclear, chemical, and missile sites, both declared and suspected. The goal is to identify and isolate three dozen, and perhaps more, such targets that could be destroyed by precision strikes and short-term commando raids.

and another interesting overview of the country by Joe Klein himself

Khatami, Khamenei, Khomeini, Rafsanjani: the names are easily confused by inattentive Westerners, who tend to have only two indelible images of post-revolutionary Iran—the furious visage of Ayatollah Khomeini and, in 1979, the blindfolded, stumbling Americans held hostage in the Tehran Embassy compound by radical students.

I’m hearing a new protest song in my head,

Khatami, Khamenei, Khomeini, Rafsanjani... let’s call the whole thing off!

Moon Rock? Well, sort of.



A 20-year-old man presented to the emergency room complaining of rectal pain. A well-nourished, well-developed man without signs of intoxication was admitted in no apparent distress. Digital examination of the rectum revealed a stony hard mass.

Just when you think you’ve heard everything, someone does something that surprises you. Courtesy of Warren Ellis.com

When bad retouchers strike!



I had a conversation last weekend with a bunch of people the gist being basically that anyone could take a few computer classes and work in my field. Which is true but, it doesn’t mean they’ll be any good. Then, I come across the gem above which is on the NYC.gov splash page - I don’t know what’s worse the fact that it’s such an obviously bad collage job or just the incredibly bad choice of source photos. Bloomberg looks like the Stepford mayor.

Good news of the week...

I went to my GP and found my blood pressure was near perfect and that I had lost fifteen pounds! I now weigh the lowest I have on seven years! When my doctor asked me what I attributed to this recent spate of health I was at a loss to discern the cause.

Then, it occured to me I hadn’t been working (haven’t encountered a bit of a slow period) for the last few weeks. So, the implication is that unemployment is a healthy state. Now if only I could get my wallet to buy into that I’d be set.

Possible definitions: (a) a type of yo-yo trick, (b) sex with Yogi Berra and (c) what Samantha has with a guy from yoga class.



Hall of Famer Yogi Berra has filed a $10 million lawsuit against TBS, claiming the cable television network sullied his name by using it in a racy advertisement for its Sex and the City reruns.

...but wasn’t Yogi a catcher? Sorry, just couldn’t resist.