Friday, March 30, 2007


Yesterday, I received news from my dear friend P. that her mother had passed away. I knew that the last few weeks had been rough on my friend. When I spoke to P. last, she was dividing her time between her family in London and her elderly mother who had suddenly become quite sick in Germany and was in the hospital. She was wondering if she was making the right decisions for her loved one, how many medical interventions were too many and hoping that she would know when it was time to let go. I am not an expert, though having lost my mother myself to a long, drawn out illness four years ago may have endowed me with the necessary credentials to give advice.
I tried to encourage my friend, assured her that the decision she reaches is the right one. There are no wrong ones. Love will let you know what is best.
And when illness wins, no matter how old the daughter, she will feel like Little Orphan Annie. I did. I was 42 when my mother died. Instantly, I felt as I did when I was a child, realizing that I had lost my mother in a crowd. Utterly helpless, alone and panicked. Of course my mother always found me again, but this time she never came back for me. Never put her hand in mine again to say: " Don't stray from me"
One never gets over a mother's death, even as an adult. One merely grows up, our own mortality becomes reality rather than theory. I remember thinking that if death came to my invincible mother, it will happen to me. Not that I believed that I would live forever, but death seemed unreal, something that happens to others, until it took my mother.
I shared every significant moment, good or bad, with my mother. We spent hours on the phone, discussing every angle of a situation. During her illness and the months after her death, I sometimes instinctively reached for the phone to tell her : "You won't believe what is happening in my life right now. Do you have a minute? I need your advice" until I realized that she could not share this particular drama with me.
My thoughts are with my friend P. I know what she has just gone through. And what her loss represents.
Here is to our mothers. The world sure isn't the same without them... And here is to all of those Little Orphan Annies of all ages.


"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts."
-Washington Irving


Now this is what I call recycling. Take a used Wimbledon tennis ball, drill a small hole into it and presto, you have a one family home for harvest Mice.
Wouldn't it be cool to come up with something like this for New Yorkers who will never be able to afford a 1.5 million dollar studio condo in Gotham? To all you architects out there: put on your thinking caps!

"New Balls,Please" For Mice Homes
from the BBC :http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1406612.stm
Animal conservationists are getting help from Wimbledon to stop it becoming "game, set and match" for Britain's smallest mammal.
Some of the 36,000 tennis balls used at the world-famous tournament are to be recycled as homes for harvest mice.
It is hoped they will help protect the endangered species from their many predators.
The All England Lawn Tennis Club is donating the balls to help the scheme being run by The Wildlife Trust in Avon, Glamorgan and Northumberland.
Harvest mice weigh only six grams when adult - around the same as a 20p piece. The mice normally weave their homes out of shredded grass and reeds part way up tall stalks.
The holes in the balls are too small for predators
But their habitat has come under increasing threat from intensive farming methods.
The tennis balls will now be used to encourage breeding in existing mouse strongholds. A small hole will be bored into the top of the used balls.
The balls are attached to poles between 75 centimetres and 1.5 metres off the ground. The mice can then make their nests in relative safety from birds of prey and weasels, which are too big to get through the hole.
The population numbers for the mice, which live mainly in the south of England and Welsh coastal belt, are unknown, and it is hoped the scheme will also provide this information.
The nesting sites will be well away from areas where they might be disturbed by humans, although volunteers will check the tennis balls regularly for evidence of habitation.

Dr Simon Lyster, Director General of the Wildlife Trusts, said: "The harvest mouse is an excellent indicator of the health of our fields and hedgerows.

"In recent years it has been under increasing pressure and we hope that by specific harvest mouse projects such as artificial nests we will provide them with the help they need to survive."

Thursday, March 29, 2007



Nobody dreams as big as New Yorkers. I guess its because we live in a BIG town. So I was kind of interested when I found a post on my favorite Brooklyn blog called "Brownstoner" It has a forum on which people can ask general renovation advice, contractor recommendations and other questions of interest to brownstone dwellers.
This particular poster wondered about the feasability of putting a lap pool into his brownstone basement. The answers from others to his question are just funny and just soooo New York. Read on...

From Brownstoner March 27, 2007
Cellar Pool

I was daydreaming about what I would do in my house if I had unlimited money, and one of the things I always wanted in my home was a lap pool in the cellar - one of those small exercise pools, like the Endless Pool. Just as a matter of curiousity, as my bathtub is the only endless pool I'll be able to afford for the foressable future, are those legal in Bklyn row houses? Obviously it would have to be hand dug (mucho bucks there). How far below do the subway lines run? I don't think there is one under my house, but what about infrastructure pipes, electric cable, telephone lines, etc? Again, I'm not planning to do this, just curious.
Posted by anon at March 27, 2007 11:46 PM

Comments

-Dude, I already have a lap pool in my brownstone, and I don't care whether it's legal--it's hot! Dig it yourself--they make kits for this, available online. Hefner lives!

-When you see those puddles between the subway tracks, that's what it is, brownstoners' lap pools dripping into the subways. We even heard of someone doing the backstroke and due to incompetant construction workers, they found themselves, dripping wet, goggles and all on the uptown A train.

-The building I used to rent in had a disused pool in the basement which the landlord wanted to market as a "spa".
It was, in acutality, a mikvah. Ew.


-Great daydream. I would say the main problems would be:
• digging deep enough without undermining your existing party wall foundations, or other foundations (that is, underpinning, and insurance for the cracks in your neighbor's walls)
• controlling the humidty from all that water
• figuring out how the showering sequence would work
• figuring out where the sauna goes (I'm growing the project!)
• figuring out how to get some natural light in, (who wants to swim in a cave?)
• figuring out how to segregate your existing mechanicals and reroute pipes, vents and what not
I think for this day dream some of the rear cellar wall should be removed so that part of the lap pool goes into a glass-covered atrium in the rear yard. Could be patio glass blocks if the rear yard needs to be accessible.
Call me when you win the lottery so that we can figure the rest out.

-Let me know your closest subway stop.

-Dude, just dig a hole in the dirt floor and open a tap. Animals on the veldt swim in mud holes. Why don't we?

Link=http://brownstoner.com/forum/archives/2007/03/cellar_pool.php#comments

Westminster Dog Show Finalists Form Elite Iditarod Team!

Goofy but funny! From my favorite spoof newspaper "The Onion"


Respect!
You remember those one-man-band acts sitting in the subway, those musicians who played guitar, operated a drumset with their feet and blew into a harmonica? Yes, those guys. A few days ago, I posted a video of a guitarist who added a musical element with a spoon. Todays clip is of Alex Depue, who makes his violin sound like a whole band. Really cool.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007



Like every one here in New York City, I hate Wal-Mart and what it represents. But like every New Yorker, I visit one when I am in the suburbs. Its kind of a love-hate relationship, or rather a hate-love relationship in this case.
In general, I am against chains. America's main streets are starting to look eerily similar, what with the Starbucks, Gap, Banana Republics, Barnes & Nobles and Pottery Barn stores. It does not really matter if you are in Cleveland or in Charleston anymore. It all looks the same. Gone are the little individually owned stores which made exploring a new city so exciting. So yes, I hate that Corporate America look in our cities.
The idea that Wal-Mart was looking to get into the New York City market made most New Yorkers uneasy, very uneasy. Because you see, as long as there is no Wal-Mart here, we can justify staying in this town. We galdly take on the filth, noise and inconvenience of the city, just so that we can say that we would never move to the suburbs with its Wal-Marts.
If one were to open here, the suburbs would have come to us. Taken us over, swallowed us up, taken our identity. Shock and dismay would ensue. So this little article in the New York Times made us all happy this morning. Wal-Mart may never open here. Have we New Yorkers accomplished what no other town in America was able to achieve? Did we really chase out the giant before it could even open? Ah, its a glorious day for all New Yorkers! Rejoice!


New York Times March 28, 2007
Wal-Mart Chief Writes Off New York

By MICHAEL BARBARO and STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Wal-Mart to New York: fuhgeddaboudit.
Frustrated by a bruising, and so far unsuccessful battle to open its first discount store in the nation’s largest city, Wal-Mart’s chief executive said yesterday, “I don’t care if we are ever here.”
H. Lee Scott Jr., the chief executive of the nation’s largest retailer, said that trying to conduct business in New York was so expensive — and exasperating — that “I don’t think it’s worth the effort.”
Mr. Scott’s remarks, delivered at a meeting with editors and reporters of The New York Times, amounted to a surprising admission of defeat, given the company’s vigorous efforts to crack into urban markets and expand beyond its suburban base in much of the country. In recent years, Wal-Mart has encountered stout resistance to its plans to enter America’s bigger cities, which stand as its last domestic frontier.
Much of the opposition to Wal-Mart in cities like New York is led by unions. Organized labor, fearing that the retailer’s low prices and modest wages will undercut unionized stores, have built anti-Wal-Mart alliances with Democratic members of city councils.
Yesterday, labor leaders, upon learning of Wal-Mart’s apparent retreat from New York — or at the very least Manhattan — returned Mr. Scott’s sentiment.
“We don’t care if they’re never here,” said Ed Ott, executive director of the New York City Central Labor Council. “We don’t miss them. We have great supermarkets and great retail outlets in New York. We don’t need Wal-Mart.”
For Wal-Mart, New York City has long loomed as a tantalizing prize — the home of more than eight million consumers and attention-grabbing stores for just about every major retailer in the country.
But Wal-Mart, a cost-minded retailer known for its dowdy merchandise, and New York, a city of excesses known for cutting-edge style, have long had an uneasy relationship.
Wal-Mart executives have argued that low prices would be the universal language that bridged the gap. So far, they have not.
During the questioning, Mr. Scott repeatedly referred to New York, but after the meeting a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, Mona Williams, called to say that Mr. Scott was referring to only Manhattan, not the entire city.
Wal-Mart, which has nearly 4,000 stores in the United States, has sought to open stores in Rego Park, Queens, and in Staten Island, but both plans fell through in the face of intense union, community and political opposition.
Mr. Scott said yesterday that the opposition to Wal-Mart in New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles and other cities had a common thread: “The glue is the unions.”
Despite setbacks in each of these cities, Wal-Mart has had success in urban areas. In Chicago, for example, Wal-Mart opened a store last year that attracted thousands of job applicants and has, Mr. Scott said, performed better than expected.
He said that Wal-Mart executives have lobbied for a store in New York, but he said he remains unconvinced. “It’s too hard to make money here,” he said.
Late yesterday, Ms. Williams sought to amend Mr. Scott’s remarks.
“Entering New York has been difficult, but not something we rule out,” she said in an interview. “Lee said he personally didn’t care if we built stores there or not. It might be more trouble than it’s worth, but that he would leave that up to the real estate group that makes these decisions.”
As he does in many public appearances, Mr. Scott was quick yesterday to talk up the chief potential benefit of a Wal-Mart in New York City, particularly for its many struggling residents with modest incomes: lower prices because of the chain’s vast purchasing power and highly efficient distribution system.
Surveys have repeatedly shown that Wal-Mart’s grocery prices are typically 10 to 30 percent lower than those of its competitors.
But labor leaders assert that while Wal-Mart’s prices are low, its wages and health benefits are often so skimpy that they leave many workers below the poverty line and pressure competitors to reduce pay and benefits.
“We don’t like how they do business,” Mr. Ott, the New York union official, said.
But as Mr. Scott sees it, there is another reason Wal-Mart has such a hard time making inroads into some of the nation’s biggest enclaves. Speaking about what he sees as snobbish elites in New York and across the country, Mr. Scott added, “You have people who are just better than us and don’t want a Wal-Mart in their community.”

Tuesday, March 27, 2007



This guy is amazing. Another great find on the internet. Before you say that I have too much time on my hands, let me tell you that I have a killer cold. On this, the first really warm, incredibly beautiful spring day here in New York, I woke up feeling like sh-t. Hardly seems fair. I am hoping to feel better tomorrow so that I can start working in my front yard. I am itching to get out there and get my hands dirty and to play with the earthworms. ( Yes, even here in Brooklyn we have wildlife)

Monday, March 26, 2007


Sorry you guys, but I have to dedicate an entry to this little cutie. I am so proud of her. Her name is Lea Rocholl. She goes to school in Soest, Germany and just won First Prize in her First grade class for reading. Lea happens to be the daughter of my little cousin Jens in Germany, Hi, Lea " Wir sind Alle Stolz Auf Dich!" Küsschen von uns Allen aus Brooklyn!

Every day, I bring you news from Brooklyn and the rest of the world. That is the lot of the blogger, slaving away alone on the computer to bring you news and entertainment. And if I need to replace a lightbulb, I take care of that too. (Come to think of it, I need a new one over my kitchen counter. I'll have to take care of that today.) Thank God I am not working for the B.B.C., because I would be sitting in the dark until a specialist comes to take care of the job. Just read the article below and you will understand what I mean. Suffice it to say that bloggers just seem like a more versatile breed. We write and do maintanance, and cooking and gardening and pay the bills and do the laundry and remember your birthdays and clean the house and........


Daily Mail, England
Barmy BBC ban on staff changing lightbulbs
By DAN NEWLING -
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=444549&in_page_id=1770

Stop! BBC staff are not trusted to change lightbulbs

How many BBC staff does it take to change a lightbulb?
Just the one, it seems - but it must be a safetyaccredited workman called out at £10 a visit.
The corporation's stringent health and safety regulations apparently ban the average employee from performing the simple task themselves.
The ludicrous process was brought to light by a staff member in the BBC's in-house magazine, Ariel.
"I called up to ask for a new lightbulb for my desk lamp and was told this would cost £10," said Louise Wordsworth, a learning project manager.
"On telling them I'd buy and replace the bulb myself (bought for the bargain price of £1 for two bulbs) I was told that it was against health and safety regulations."
The corporation has faced criticism for its complicated internal-market system, first introduced in the 1990s by then-director general John Birt.
Under the system, internal jobs such as changing a lightbulb or fixing a computer are outsourced to separate departments-which then issue invoices accordingly.
The result is a Kaftaesque bureaucracy in which the simple can become very complicated - and very expensive.
In 2005 it was revealed that the outsourced property management firm Land Securities Trillium charged the BBC an astonishing £2,500 to erect nine shelves.
According to furious BBC staff members, the same firm charged £1,000 to erect a sign and £5,500 to install an air conditioning unit worth just £2,000.
Last year, when the second 'i' in the BBC Television Centre sign in West London broke, it took more than a month to fix.
The corporation's own facilities management company, plus two outside contractors, spent thousands of pounds of licence-fee payers' money on the task.
It is thought to have cost £1,100 every time one of the contractors conducted an assessment of the problem.
The profligate spending comes despite the BBC receiving a lowerthanexpected licence-fee settlement this year. In February it was announced that the licence fee will go up by £4, which is less than the rate of inflation.
The corporation is already in the process of making some 4,000 redundancies.
It is expected that the effective cut in its income will mean that it has to make more.
A spokesman for the BBC claimed that Mrs Wordsworth had been given the £10 cost of changing a lightbulb in error.
She added: "BBC staff are permitted to change lightbulbs if they want, however they should follow the appropriate safety precautions, such as ensuring that the light is switched off at the time."

Sunday, March 25, 2007


I don't know about you, but I find it scary that Prince Charles looks better as a woman than his own wife, Camilla, does.
But what is even more perturbing is that Charles has a resemblance to Sarah Jessica Parker.
Forgive me guys, its Sunday night and I need some trivia in my life before Monday morning rolls around again.

Saturday, March 24, 2007



I love Brooklyn and I love our Brownstone neighborhoods. They are worth protecting for future generations. My husband is very engaged at the moment to try to downzone our entire neighborhood in order to protect its unique character. Consisting of mostly two or three story buildings made of either brick or brownstone, it it hard to keep developers from coming in and squeezing a 6 or eight story monster in between a row of old townhouses. Downzoning is a first step to reign in such abuses.. Landmarking the entire district will hopefully follow, but that takes so much longer and involves so much work that it is easier to use the downzoning option to get protection quickly.
So imagine my profound satisfaction to hear that our Community Board's Land Use Committee is on the same page. Just this week, they rejected a townhouse design which would have clashed with "old Brooklyn." It is nice to know that it is still important to design within a context. Modern is not always bad, but builders need to know that they cannot impose their individual design without any regard for what has been standing there for a hundred years. Maybe there is hope for my little nabe after all. Yeah!



03/23/2007 Carroll Gardens Cobble Hill Courrier
Raspberry for tony townhouses - Land Use Committee doesn’t welcome Columbia St. plan
By Gary Buiso
Will modern townhouses be coming to Columbia Street?
Maybe Brooklyn just isn’t ready for the “Guggenheim” just yet.
Community Board 6 last week turned away a variance request seeking approval to construct three modern townhouses on a vacant lot, a proposal the applicant compared to the iconic Manhattan museum.
The type of buildings proposed at the location, 300, 302, and 304 Columbia Street, would forever alter the “essential character of the neighborhood,” according to Jerry Armer, the chairman of the board’s Land Use Committee, which also rejected the proposal.
“It is totally out of context,” he said.
A particularly galling element of the proposed two-unit townhouses, Armer noted, was the use of a metal roof, which would contrast significantly with its more staid brick neighbors.
At its monthly meeting, the community board voted 34-1 with two abstentions to reject the application.
The board’s vote is strictly advisory. Official say on the matter comes by way of the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals.
Developer Marshall Sohne said he was baffled by the community board’s opinion.
“I was sort of taken back by the comments,” he said.
“When you come with a two-story structure and there is still opposition, you feel pretty much like, ‘Why bother?’” he said.
Sohne, who has developed properties in Costa Rica, Manhattan and Brooklyn, said he is used to different types of opposition, but he certainly wasn’t expecting it here. “I’m not putting up an apartment building,” he said.
“We will take this under consideration. If necessary, we will make modifications,” he continued.
For now, he said, the project will move on to the BSA, as is.
The nature of the proposed use, which is contrary to the lots’ current manufacturing zoning, was not an issue for committee members, Armer said. There are plenty of neighboring residential uses, he noted.
In this case, looks do matter, Armer said.
“It’s just the design,” he said.
“It’s not that the committee is against modern, it’s that the committee wants some elements of the existing Columbia Street stock,” incorporated in the design,” he continued.
“The things we look at are materials: brick, limestone, brownstone.”
“The idea of having metal around, back and down the side is foreign to that district,” he added.
Sohne wasn’t convinced. “To compare what is there now…there are pretty much some crumbling buildings, barbed wire, and used car lots,” he said.
Board member Pauline Blake said the attorney for Sohne was “incensed” with the committee’s reaction to the design, which is felt could one day be looked at as “the Guggenheim of Brooklyn


Maybe there are no ugly dogs, just ugly owners who make their pooch walk around looking like this. The poor creature above seems absolutely ambarassed. He looks as though he is wearing booties around his legs. And a pompadour on his head. Poor creature. What do you think?
To see the other entries of my zany Ugly Dog Contest, click on the archive file on the right hand side. Or simply mail me your entry.

Friday, March 23, 2007


I may be crazy, but Coke out of the original thick glass bottle still tastes better to me than the one out of cans or, blaaah, the huge one-litre plastic bottles. The stuff in the glass bottles tastes less sweet to me and sure has more fizz. I know that Coca-Cola uses different ingredients and formulas for their brews even from country to country. Below is confirmation of the fact that Coke is not always Coke. Not being much of a soda drinker, I never really wasted my time thinking about this, but could Passover Kosher Coke be better than the stuff I find in my local deli? Does Coke reserve cheaper ingredients for us Goyem and serve up the good stuff for Passover? I am going to try to find out for my trusted readers as soon as I lay my hands on one of those Kosher bottles. I will keep you posted. Till then,zay gezunt!



KOSHER COKE A BIG HIT
By RITA DELFINER
March 19, 2007 -From The New York Post
Why is this Coke different from all other Cokes? It's kosher for Passover.
And even non-Jews are thirsty for the limited batch of Coca-Cola because of a very special ingredient - it's made with pure sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup.
"I had somebody with an Indian accent call me one year to ask when Passover was so he would know when to look for the Coca-Cola made with sugar," said Arlene Mathes-Scharf, who runs the kosher food information Web site Kashrut.com
Jason Perlow, 37, founder of offthebroiler.com, a New York metro-area food blog, said he got thousands of hits when he posted an alert on March 12 that the kosher Coke had started appearing in local stores.
"These are people who love Coca-Cola as it used to be," he said. "Sugar lends a different flavor. It's not as sweet and it's much fizzier and foamier."
Coca-Cola used sugar as a sweetener before it switched to high-fructose corn syrup in the 1980s.
Harriet Tolve, spokeswoman for the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of New York, said that for "at least 20 years," it has been making the kosher-for-Passover beverages "in addition to our regularly produced product."
Passover, the eight-day holiday that commemorates the exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, begins at sundown April 2 with the first seder.
During Passover, Jews cannot consume "chametz," defined as five grains -wheat, oats, barley, rye and spelt - that have come in contact with moisture for more than 18 minutes. Many Jews observe an additional Passover prohibition that includes rice, lentils, beans - and corn.
Locally, Coca-Cola's Passover products, which are certified by the Orthodox Union, have a distinctive yellow cap on the 2-liter bottles marked with an O circling a U next to a P and the words "kosher for Passover" in Hebrew. Cans are embossed to show they are kosher for Passover.
Pepsi produces a kosher for-Passover soda, and many other companies modify their NOproducts to meet the requirements of Jewish dietary law, said Menachem Lubinsky, editor-in-chief of KosherToday.com, a food-industry newsletter.
"They can notice a significant bump in sales because of their kosher-for-Passover status," he said. "If they were not kosher for Passover, they would experience a drop in sales for an eight-day period."
That's because "almost 70 percent of American Jews participate in at least one seder" and many non-Jews attend them, he said.

Hey, what's happening to my neighborhood? First, all the little mom-and-pop stores where forced out by high rents and replaced by chain stores and banks and now, we have bank robberies almost every week. Oh, how I hate the "New and Improved" Brooklyn. It is starting to be too much like Manhattan. There was a reason why we moved here intead of across the East River ( yeah, I know, we could not have afforded Manhattan anyway 20 years ago, but that is not the point.) I just want my little quiet neighborhood back. And where are the neighborhood wise guys anyway? Have they all left for New Jersey or Florida?

New York Times March 23, 2007
In 4th Case in 2 Weeks, a Bank Robber Says He Has Explosives

By JENNIFER 8. LEE
Police helicopters whirred overhead yesterday in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, and the police were out in force searching for a man who had made threats with an explosive device.
But still, basketball scrimmages continued unabated and mothers with strollers, pet owners and amateur musicians chatted amicably on the street corner. Throughout the neighborhood’s leafless tree-line streets, there was a palpable lack of fear mixed with gratitude for a warm spring day.
Down the block, police officers in Hazmat suits were searching a trash can near a Citibank branch at 375 Court Street. Earlier, at about 3:20 p.m., a man with a box he said was filled with explosives had demanded money from a teller at the bank and then fled, the police said.
One witness said he saw the robber fleeing in a black and yellow jacket. “I was standing in front of my house, and he ran right by me,” said the man, a technical writer who declined to give his name last night because the robber was still at large. “I saw him running down the street, and then he stopped in front of the trash can and he took the jacket off over his head,” he said. “After he switched jackets, he stopped running and walked away at a brisk pace.”
The witness added: “I kind of regretted not doing something. You see a guy running down the street taking his jacket off, and you know something is up.“
The box was found and the police later determined that it was harmless — there were no explosives inside.
The same method was used in three robberies in Brooklyn Heights over the last two weeks. In each case, a man walked into a bank, claimed to have a box filled with explosives, demanded money and fled. In each case, the boxes were found to be harmless.
The police have recovered some videotape and released still images of the suspect in seeking the public’s help in capturing the man, who is described as a clean-shaven white man in his late 30s or early 40s with a slim 6-foot build.
The first robbery occurred on March 9 at 1:40 p.m. at the Chase bank at 177 Montague Street, the police said. The second was on March 12 at 5:50 p.m. at the Chase bank at 101 Court Street, and the third on March 17 at 3:40 p.m. at the Commerce bank branch at 211 Montague Street.
Anthony Troiano, who works at the nearby Carroll Court Cards & Gifts, shrugged yesterday’s robbery off as one of a number in the neighborhood over the last few months.
He has come to regard bank robberies as generally nonviolent crimes, Mr. Troiano said. “When someone robs a bank, you know they’re just going to get the money,” he said. “They’re not going to do anything off the wall.”
Al Baker and David K. Randall contributed reporting.

As promised, I am continuing with my Vote 2008 updates. So far, I have posted info on Giuliani, Barack and Edwards and on a petition to convince Al Gore to run. I have not however covered Hillary yet. Don't know why. I am cautious of Hillary. She is super smart of course, has real life experience in the White House and we would get her husband Bill in the bargain if she wins. But there is something that bothers me about her. Can't quite put my finger on it yet. So I will continue to follow her campaign closely. Below is a look at what votes she is trying to get to stay one step ahead of Obama Barack.


Hillary Strategy: Get Black Female Voters
New plan to court once-dependable demo.
By Geoffrey Gray
http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/29452/
(Photo: Dennis Van Tine/LFI)
Hillary Clinton’s campaign apparatus is now in full swing to court a part of the electorate she thought she had locked down in pre-Obama days: black women. According to one campaign source, Minyon Moore, a Hillary operative and former political director in Bill Clinton’s White House, held a strategy session last week with influential black women, like Marva Smalls (a top exec at Nickelodeon) and NYPD chaplain Suzan Johnson Cook, at Hillary’s Manhattan headquarters. “We’ve always said we need to earn every vote,” Moore says, and hopes the women will act as cheerleaders for Hillary. An ABC–Washington Post poll released last month shows that Hillary’s support among blacks has dropped dramatically (from 60 percent to 33 percent), and her support among women overall has dipped as well (from 49 percent to 40 percent)—owing almost exclusively to the fact that black women are now supporting Obama. “Black women will be key,” says Donna Brazile, a Dem strategist (still unaffiliated) and Al Gore’s former campaign manager. “What drives politics in the black community is the early support of black women. They drive the discourse. They pick a candidate, and stick with it.”

Thursday, March 22, 2007


It's never easy to go from a dictatorship to a democracy, especially if you add religion into the equation. It has been four years since the United States invaded Iraq. Did we really think that Iraq was going to get on its feet in that period of time? Yes, the country is moving forward, but sometimes, it seems as though every baby step is followed by three steps backwards. Below is an interesting take on the inefficiency of Iraqi's Government.

Friday, Mar. 16, 2007
Why The Iraqis Can't Get Their Act Together
By Brian Bennett Time Magazine
The halls of Iraq's Parliament today provide a stark contrast to the bloody realities outside the blast walls and barbed wire. Politicians munch Kit Kats and Twix from a free candy table in the members' lounge area. Leaders of rival factions greet each other as if they were old friends, with air kisses on both cheeks, with a long hand shake and a pat on the shoulder. Meanwhile in much of Iraq death squads take turns torching homes and lopping off heads. Holidays are observed, days off are taken, it's easy to think that while the country goes up in flames, its leaders are doing little more than sipping tea.
Washington pundits and officials in the Bush Administration who want to goose the government into action are fond of saying the Iraqi leaders just aren't taking a firm hold of the reins. Meanwhile, Iraqi politicians chafe when American officials complain about their incompetence or selfishness or laziness. They bridle over one of major flaws of the U.S. occupation: American condescension. No one wants to be told they can't run their own country. The fact is, no one has run their country well in the last four years; there is plenty of blame to go around.
Since L. Paul Bremer handed over authority, the Iraqi government has done a terrible job of, well, governing. The thin bench of Iraqi politicians is made up mostly of rich exiles like the Pentagon-backed Ahmed Chalabi, Iran-funded Islamists and, well, just straight up crooks. There has yet to emerge an Iraqi prime minister who stayed in Iraq while Saddam was in power. First there was the U.S.-backed Ayad Allawi, who was widely perceived among Iraqis as a CIA patsy and whose defense minister oversaw the disappearance of more than $1 billion during his eight-month tenure. Then the earnest but lackluster Ibrahim al Jaafari who managed to bring Sunnis into the constitutional debate but stood by as sectarian militias infiltrated the police force. Now Nouri al-Malaki faces pressure to defang his most significant political backer, Moqtada al Sadr.
But its not like the U.S.-led coalition has done any better. (It was Bremer, after all, who did irreparable damage by disbanding the Iraqi Army and bungling the post-war reconstruction.) Operation Together Forward, which was announced with great fanfare in June 2006, was totally ineffective at quelling the sectarian killings. The Iraqi police training has been a case study in inefficiency, poor planning and the U.S. government's consistent reluctance to invest the money and resources needed into any task in Iraq.
Is there a bright side? The Iraqi government is weak by design. The portfolios of the government were handed out like so many pieces of cake. Yet, beyond all expectations, the parliament, however ineffectual, has actually maintained a coalition government in place. And while the government's structure makes it impossible for one person or party to ride roughshod over everyone else, that means decisions are made by a painfully slow process of consensus — which may give them a better chance of sticking. For his part, Maliki has tried to project strength: rushing Saddam Hussein to execution and directing mildly harsh words in the general direction of Moqtada al Sadr.
While showing up at Parliament everyday and sharing a Twix with your enemy might appear to be a waste of time, it may provide a release valve to keep the tensions in the rest of the country from totally boiling over. But, unless the politicians get down and do some work, the pressures will become overpowering. There will come a time when good attendance will not be enough. And that time may come very soon.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1600274,00.html

Wednesday, March 21, 2007


Astute observation by Chris Rock. I missed his opener for Saturday Night Live. But thanks to You Tube, here is a replay.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007


I am always envious when I see the people in first class, as I schlepp through the cabin of an airplane. Some of the seats in the luxury part of the aircraft are just amazing. The legroom is enough to make one turn green with envy. So imagine my interest in the story below. Turns out that simply dying on a plane may get you the coveted upgrade we have all been longing for. Who knew?

From The Sunday Times
March 18, 2007
BA sat corpse in first class
Steven Swinford
A BRITISH Airways passenger travelling first class has described how he woke up on a long-haul flight to find that cabin crew had placed a corpse in his row.
The body of a woman in her seventies, who died after the plane left Delhi for Heathrow, was carried by cabin staff from economy to first class, where there was more space. Her body was propped up in a seat, using pillows.
The woman’s daughter accompanied the corpse, and spent the rest of the journey wailing in grief.
Paul Trinder, who awoke to see the body at the end of his row, last week described the journey as “deeply disturbing”, and complained that the airline dismissed his concerns by telling him to “get over it”.
“It was a complete mess — they seemed to have no proper plans in place to deal with the situation,” said Trinder, 54, a businessman from Brackley, Northamptonshire.
The woman died during a nine-hour flight on a Boeing 747. Trinder was catching up on sleep when he was woken by a commotion and opened his eyes to see staff manoeuvring the body into a seat.
“I didn’t have a clue what was going on. The stewards just plonked the body down without saying a thing. I remember looking at this frail, sparrow-like woman and thinking she was very ill,” said Trinder.
“She kept slipping under the seatbelt and moving about with the motion of the plane. When I asked what was going on I was shocked to hear she was dead.”
The woman’s daughter and son-in-law arrived soon after and began grieving. Trinder said: “It was terrifying. I put my earplugs in but couldn’t get away from the fact that there was a woman wailing at the top of her voice just yards away. It was a really intense, primal sound.
“I felt helpless. Grief is a very personal thing; it’s not as if there was anything I could do or say.”
Trinder, chief executive of Capital Safety, which makes products for the building industry, holds a BA gold card and travels more than 200,000 miles a year with the airline.
He became particularly concerned about the state of the body. “When you have a decaying body on a plane at room temperature for more than five hours there are significant health and safety risks,” he said.
After the plane landed, those in first class remained on board for an hour before police and a coroner gave the all-clear.
“The police even started interviewing me as a potential witness, although I had no idea what had happened to the woman. I just kept thinking to myself: ‘I’ve paid more than £3,000 for this’,” Trinder said.
When contacted by BA about the complaint, Trinder says he was told he would not be compensated and should “get over” the incident.
BA said the dead woman was taken into first class because the rest of the plane was full.
A spokesman said: “When a customer passes away on board it is always difficult and we apologise for any distress caused.”
He said there were about 10 deaths each year out of 36m passengers.
Other carriers use different procedures. Singapore Airlines has introduced “corpse cupboards” on its Airbus 340-500 aircraft. Cabin crews use the locker if there is no empty row of seats to place a corpse.

My French friend Violaine just sent me this picture of Presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozi's campaign headquarter. Pretty intimidating,no? Ironically, the banner displayed reads: " Lets image the France of the future "( obviously after voting for Sarkosy's party) Pardon me for asking, but what kind of trouble are they expecting? Of course I had to investigate this and the candidate further. So here is some background information. Any comments from our French friends? Who do you think will win?

From the BBC:
Nicolas Sarkozy casts himself as a moderniser, championing a clean break with France's traditional ruling elite.
On 14 January he won the ruling centre-right UMP nomination to succeed President Jacques Chirac, setting up an intriguing contest against Socialist candidate Segolene Royal.
As interior minister and UMP leader he has sharply divided opinion in France - not least by adopting a tough stance on immigration.
He famously described young delinquents in the Paris suburbs as racaille , or "rabble".
That blunt comment - made before the 2005 riots - encouraged some critics to put him in the same category as far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Mr Sarkozy, 51, pushed through measures to curb illegal immigration - including deportations - and to integrate skilled migrants into French society.
But he has also advocated positive discrimination to help reduce youth unemployment - a challenge to those wedded to the French idea of equality. His call for state help for Muslims to build mosques was also controversial.
Unlike most of the French ruling class, Mr Sarkozy did not go to the Ecole Nationale d'Administration, but trained as a lawyer.
The son of a Hungarian immigrant and a French mother of Greek Jewish origin, he was baptised a Roman Catholic and grew up in Paris.
One of his main political influences is not French but British, according to his other biographer, Nicolas Domenach.
"He admires Tony Blair hugely - for many reasons," he says.
"Tony Blair was able to seduce the media, in the way Sarkozy does. And Sarkozy looks at how Tony Blair was able to sell his political ideology."
Mr Sarkozy has called for "a rupture with a certain style of politics", saying he wants to encourage social mobility, better schools and cuts in public sector staff.
He served as mayor of the affluent Paris suburb of Neuilly from 1983 to 2002, then became interior minister. He also had a brief spell as finance minister in 2004.
"He's hyperactive, he's ambitious, he's a heavy worker, a workaholic, he never rests," says Anita Hausser, who wrote a biography of Mr Sarkozy and is political editor at the French broadcaster LCI.
She says his appeal is simple.
"He was a lawyer, so he seems close to the people, and he wants to show them that he understands their problems and that he will solve their problems."
It seems that rather than a new ideology, he is a pragmatist who will use any solution as long as it works, the BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Paris says.
Initially a protege of President Chirac, the two fell out dramatically when Mr Sarkozy backed a Chirac rival for the presidency in 1995 - a slight that has never been forgotten.
Even those on the left in France admit Mr Sarkozy is a formidable political force.
He has shown strong protectionist instincts - pouring state funds into saving the ailing French company Alstom. Yet he also promises to make the French less scared of economic success.
He is often described as an Atlanticist, but he too was against the war in Iraq. He is not too keen on the old Franco-German alliance - but upset new EU members by saying those with lower taxes than old Europe should not receive EU subsidies.
He has voiced opposition to Turkey's bid to join the EU.
Twice married, Mr Sarkozy has three children - the third by his current wife Cecilia.

Sunday, March 18, 2007


It's not bad being a senior citizen in Germany. After reading the Spiegel Magazine story below, I imagined the A.A.R.P. Association here in the U.S. running an ad about 50% off brothel services. I guess this won't happen here any time soon. U.S. senior citizens are way too busy running across the Canadian border getting their meds at a reasonable price. Better pick up some Viagra too if planning a visit to Germany.

German Brothel Offers 50-Percent Discount to Senior Citizens
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,druck-471907,00.html

"Life begins at 66," reads an advertisement aimed at old people in Germany. But it's not promoting orthopedic shoes -- it's for a brothel which is offering a 50-percent discount to senior citizens.
If you have to get old, Germany isn't a bad place to do so. As well as generous state pensions, German senior citizens enjoy a host of benefits during their twilight years. Now, in addition to discounted rail travel, cut-price cinema tickets and cheap museum entry, Germany's old folk have a new perk to take advantage of: a 50- percent discount at Germany's largest brothel.
The brothel "Pascha" in Cologne is now offering senior citizens a 50 percent discount on sex services -- but only between the hours of 12 and 5 p.m., and only upon proof of age. The offer, which many would argue beats free coffee at McDonalds, is valid for clients aged 66 and over.
"A normal session costs €50 with us -- and we're now paying 50 percent of that for these older guests," a spokesman for the brothel told the news agency Reuters. "We don't earn as much money, but we're establishing ourselves across a broader range of age groups." Prostitution is legal in Germany.
An advertisement for the new special offer on the brothel's Web site reads "Life begins at 66" and features a picture of a leather-clad active senior citizen on a motorcycle. Senior citizens also get a discount for the brothel's nightclub -- although opening as it does at 9 p.m., that might be a bit late for some.
The brothel tested the subsidized sex scheme by offering reductions once a week. The offer was so successful it has now been extended to every day. "There's been plenty of demand and people have certainly been taking advantage of the offer," the spokesman said, adding, with a certain understatement: "Older folks are more active than you think."
Cologne is something of a center for sexual innovation in Germany. The city introduced a so-called "sex tax" on the sex industry in 2004 in an attempt to balance its budget. However the discount is not the first of its kind to be offered in Germany. A brothel in Dresden in economically hard-hit eastern Germany made headlines in 2005 when it introduced a 20-percent discount for the long-term unemployed.


Yet another ugly dog for our contest. They just keep on getting better! This entry was sent to me by his owner Dane Andrews in California.
The dog's name is Rascal. He is a hairless little beast. He is not shaven as Dane points out. Thanks for the picture.

Saturday, March 17, 2007


The cuteness factor comes into play big time on this video! Someone, quickly, get her a recording contract




Today is Saint Patrick's Day. Here in New York City, its a huge deal. After all, this town has a huge Irish population. Or rather Irish/American population. Today, everyone in the city is Irish, a lame excuse to go out drinking in an Irish pub.
I am Irish too. After all I have a very Irish last name. People confuse my German accent with an Irish one. Especially if I tell them my name. An old lady once squealed: ' Oh, you sound as though you just got off the boat, deary."
That's right. A Kelly living in Brooklyn speaking with an accent has to have come from Dublin. I don't bother to correct. Everyone loves the Irish, so its easy to let the misunderstanding go.
I met my Irish-American husband on Saint Patrick's day. He was dressed from head to toe in green. If his sense of style did not wow me, a fashion designer by trade, it was his wicked humor that first caught my attention. And his way with words. He loves talking almost as much as I do and I don't think I imagine it, he has a twinkle in his eye.
Now, 23 years later, his green shamrock adorned clothing items are gone from his closet, replaced with a beautiful hand-knit wool Irish cable sweater which he puts on every St. Patty's day. It makes him look truly Irish. I have also gotten used to the green food coloring he insists on putting in his eggs to celebrate the holiday, the cabbage and corn beef and the potatoes. After all, the Irish and the Germans have lots in common. As my brother-in law used to say, its the common love for the potato that unites the two. Could be. But whatever it is, it works!
Happy St. Patrick's Day to You!

Some Fun Irish sayings Just for the Fun Of It!

-You'll never plough a field by turning it over in your mind.
-Marriages are all happy. It's having breakfast together that causes all the trouble.
-May you die in bed at 95, shot by a jealous wife!
-An old broom knows the dirty corners best
-Need teaches a plan


Yes, maybe a bit slow, but Kate Havnevik's voice is way too unusual to make this song kitschy. Listen to it and leave a comment!

Thursday, March 15, 2007


Americans love their country. As they should, of course. What still surprises me after decades of living here is with which conviction they will tell you that it the "greatest country in the world." Pretty darn great, but THE greatest? I bet other countries beg to differ.
Generally, I myself am very careful about making such declarations about any country. My native country, Germany, used such self-agrandizing expressions way back, and look how that worked out for the Germans. Almost instinctively, being German makes me cringe every time someone praises their country a wee bit too much and with too much fervor.
Therefore, when I hear Americans talk about the 'best country" in the world, I want to respond that other countries aren't so bad either. Take France for instance. They have human rights, freedom of the press, high literacy rates, great healthcare, the best food AND four weeks of vacation time during the summer.
Then there is the "God bless America" statement used ad nauseam by politicians and by events organizers everywhere. Does this mean that God blesses only America, or countries such as Iraq or Afghanistan, too? How about Iran? Doesn't God bless other countries equally to America? Or is America special in God's eyes too?
One has to be careful as a foreigner in the U.S. Many attempt to engage in a discussion about what makes other countries equal to the United States end up with the inevitable: " So why don't you just go back to your country?"
But that is not really the point here, is it?
Its really wonderful and touching how patriotic Americans are. And I don't mean to be a rude legal alien. I am merely pointing out that the wording of their praise may be too superlative. Surely other countries are blessed as well. And if there is a God, surely, he loves all his little countries equally, no?

Tuesday, March 13, 2007


Have you ever googled yourself? But wait! Who am I kidding. Of course you have. Doesn't everyone?
Anyway, whenever I googled Katia Kelly in the past, a site about a young Brazilian with the same name would pop up. That was disturbing enough. Then there was a second one that always made me cringe : " Euro Sex Parties Brings You Katia". I imagined old friends clicking on that page and saying to themselves; ' Damn, she was not that hot looking in High School, but look at her now." Or, even more dreadful: " I knew she would not amount to much."
So imagine my surprise when my father called me one morning last week. He phones me once if not twice most mornings, either on his way to the golf course or right after his girlfriend leaves for work. On this particular day, he sounded pretty excited.
"Do you know what you get when you google your name?" he blurted out.
" Which name, yours or mine," I asked
" No, I mean when you google Katia Kelly'
I was a bit startled at first. Why was my father googling my name. But I answered: "Yes, some porn star on the first page and on the second page a few articles about rats invading our Brooklyn Park for which I was interviewed by the German press," I answered him.
-"No, no." Excitement mounted in his voice. " I just googled your name and the first thing that pops up is: Pardon Me For Asking, the musings of an expatriate," he read in his thick German accent.
Well, I was dumbfounded. I put the phone down and grabbed my laptop. With trembling fingers, I typed in K-A-T-I-A K-E-L-L-Y. And hot damn, here it was. In all its splendor. The link to my blog. Overnight, I had made the transformation from sex star to blogger on Google. I am not denying that it felt good. Damn good.
What can I say. We bloggers are all about getting attention. Why else would we put ourselves out there?
So go ahead. Google my name. You'll see. And while you are at it, why not google your own name and see what comes up.

Here is a brilliant little sketch by Palestinian- American comic Aron Kader. It was part of the "Axis of Evil Comedy Tour" on Comedy Central, the first TV stand-up show with all Middle Eastern--American comics What can I say? Its razor sharp! Watch it!



For those of you who read this blog on a regular basis or even know me personally, you know that I have had some gum issues. Yup! Gum, that pinkish stuff that holds your teeth in their socket. The proceedure from hell started innocently enough with my dentist mentioning that my gums had receded a bit too much and that I should see a specialist. Well, it has been quite an ordeal. I won't bore you with the gory details. Suffice it to say that gum grafts are NOT fun. If it works, it looks great as it did on one side of my mouth. If it does not, well, there are those redo operations, I am on the third redo on the right side. Yes, as I said, it is not fun.
All this made me finally understand the correct meaning of the English expression "a bit long in the tooth." For all my years here in America, I thought that this meant that a person was fierce or had predatory tendencies. Sort of like a wolf or a vampire, you know. Large fangs which could easily tear one's victim apart. Not so! Long in the tooth simply means that you are getting older. How mundane!
I prefer to fuse the two. I admit to getting longer teeth because of age, but I am also getting more vicious and implacable in my opinions (especially about our worthless politicians. So if this latest round of gum graft surgery works, I will be like a wolf in sheep's clothing. Nice pink smile, but the unflinching determination that comes with age. Almost makes all these surgeries worthwhile.

Friday, March 9, 2007


DONALD TRUMP IS A DOG!


Well, maybe this one is not ugly but..the comb-over is too much.

I must be getting older! That realization comes to me everytime I come across the offspring of musicians and actors who were famous when I was young. That next generation is ready to leave its mark on my children. Has so much time really elapsed?
Below is a video by Charlotte Gainsbourg, grown-up daughter of French chanteur Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. Not bad! She has a better voice than her father and mother ever had.


The Songs That We Sing

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Thursday, March 8, 2007



All righty, what's better: winning half of the $390 Mega Million Jackpot as Ed Neighbors, the Georgia trucker did this week or finding out that you may be the last king of France (and the first Indian one to boot.) For all you history buffs out there, this article is for you. And for my french friends, let me know if you are even aware of the fact that the next french Bourbon king lives in Bhopal.


Found in India: The Last King of France
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
Saturday March 3, 2007
The Guardian

Balthazar Napoleon de Bourbon, a jovial Indian lawyer and part-time farmer, has always been fascinated by France. Framed pictures of the Eiffel Tower and the palace of Versailles implausibly decorate his house in a dusty, bustling suburb of the central Indian city of Bhopal. He gave his children French names even though he has never set foot in France.
But he may soon make his first trip to Paris, after he was visited by a relative of Prince Philip, who told him that he is the first in line to the lost French throne.
This Indian father-of-three is being feted as the long-lost descendent of the Bourbon kings who ruled France from the 16th century to the French revolution. A distant cousin of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, he is alleged to be not only related to the current Bourbon king of Spain and the Bourbon descendants still in France, but to have more claim than any of them to the French crown.
The story of a potential Asian dauphin to one of the most important royal houses of Europe appears to be a poke in the eye for colonial history, and has sparked a rush of interest among royals in Europe.
Prince Michael of Greece, the cousin of Prince Philip, this week published a historical novel called Le Rajah de Bourbon, which traces the swashbuckling story of Mr Bourbon's first royal ancestor in India. Prince Michael believes Jean de Bourbon was a nephew of the first Bourbon French king, Henry IV. In the mid-16th century Jean embarked on an action-packed adventure across the world which saw him survive assassination attempts and kidnap by pirates to be sold at an Egyptian slave market and serve in the Ethiopian army.
In 1560, he turned up at the court of the Mogul emperor Akbar. It was the beginning of a long line of Bourbons in India, who centuries later would serve as the administrators of Bhopal and become the second most important family in the region.
Michael of Greece, who lives in Paris and is of Bourbon descent, believes his detective work on his newfound Indian "cousins" is more than just the latest whimsy in a history of attempts to uncover relatives of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.
"If I am right - and I don't have absolute proof, but I completely believe in my theory - then Balthazar Bourbon would be the eldest in the line," he told the Guardian.
"This is the cherry on the cake. Mr Bourbon is head of a decent, dignified, middle-class Indian family. They look so Indian and yet bear this name. When you look at them, it seems incredible. The more unbelievable it is, the more I believe in it."
He said several of his royal relatives in Spain and France were "quite excited and thrilled to have found a new branch". He was in favour of a DNA test, perhaps from a surviving lock of Bourbon hair, to establish the facts.
From his home in the Bhopal suburbs, Mr Bourbon, 48, said he would be glad to take a DNA test, but remained stoical about the "hypothetical question" of whether he was heir to the throne. Conscious of the bloody outcome for royals in France, he felt royal status could bring "trouble", not to mention questions from skeptical historians.
Still, he has long had a brass plaque above his front door reading "House of Bourbon" with the fleur-de-lis crest of the French monarchy. His wife runs the neighbouring school for local children, called the Bourbon school. The family is Catholic and keeps Bourbon relics, including a sword, in their home. He said he felt "a sense of pride" when contemplating the picture of Versailles on his wall.
But he is aware that his family's fortunes waned in Bhopal long ago. He describes the Indian branch of the family as Bourbons on the rocks.
"From the day I was born, I was made to understand that I belonged to the family of the Bourbons," he said.
"I may be from a royal family but I live my life as a commoner. I didn't have time to learn French as a teenager because my father's death meant I had to work to look after my mother and sisters. Life has been very tough for me."
When his sister went to France on holiday she visited a castle once owned by Bourbon kings. It was closed to the public but she showed her Indian passport with the Bourbon name and was allowed in.
"I don't know if any of this will change my life," Mr Bourbon said. "The fact is, we've been having visitors from England, France and across Europe for years, curious about our family name.
"All these travellers, all this publicity, but nothing has happened yet. So how can I believe that something will change now?"

I am not a hoarder. I know this for a fact because if there were a term for the exact opposite of a pack-rat, that would describe me to a T. I am a compulsive Throw-Awayer. I have been known to discard useless stuff in the house and then accusing my family members of having misplaced that object when they ask for it. It does not happen too often, I assure you. Mostly, they never notice that the object made its way to the Salvation Army years ago. (Or maybe I am just a really evil person?)
Anyway, all this confessing just to say that I have a hard time understanding people who hoard. Below is an article about a new way of squirreling: Computer Downloading. Are you afflicted with this new compulsion? Do you need help?

DOWNLOADING IS A PACKRAT"S DREAM
By Jeff Koyen Wired Magazine
Mar, 07, 2007

The technical name is syllogomania, from sylloge ("to collect"), but most psychiatric professionals call it compulsive hoarding.
Like everyone else, compulsive hoarders have gone digital. Infohoarding may be the first psychiatric dysfunction born of digital age.
"Jim" is an infohoarder like few others. In the last four years, this 37-year-old Brooklyn native has downloaded and burned every piece of broadcast and print media that's been digitized. Or so it seems. His apartment is filled with DVDs and CDs packed with bootleg anime, comic books, books, e-books, television programs, movies and, of course, music. He's a completionist who must have every episode, every issue, every track.
Using Jim's stacks and drives -- which contain 2,500 GB of data -- aliens could recreate a low-res version of human civilization from 1990 to the present day.
Dr. Renae Reinardy is a psychologist who specializes in obsessive-compulsive disorders. Last year, she presented a paper on infohoarding to the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation, or OCF. More and more, she meets people whose "computers are full" not only of digital music and movies, but e-mail, bookmarks and documents.
The web is awash with self-declared "digital packrats" who swap horror stories about hard drives bursting with unneeded MP3s and JPEGs. Like font collectors in the late '90s, these digital junkaholics swap suspiciously boastful confessionals: "You think that's bad? You should see my porn collection." And so on.
Infohoarders are doing more than just amassing files. Like their physical counterparts whose lives eventually become unbearably cluttered -- such as New York's Collyer brothers, who died under piles of collected rubbish in 1947 -- they're sliding down a dangerously slippery slope. Reinardy admitted that most of her hoarders "are very high-functioning people (who) just got caught in this behavior."
"It starts with good intentions. 'I'm going to get all of these movies while I can.' But then what happens? It becomes such a huge selection that if you want a particular movie, you have to look through thousands and thousands of others to find it," Reinardy said.
In practical terms, the collection becomes useless.
But what's the difference between an avid collector and an infohoarder who will eventually suffocate under digital rubbish? How many emails are too many? How many e-books? How many bookmarks?
Author Ron Alford, who coined the term disposophobia -- the fear of throwing anything away -- admitted that there's a fine line between collecting and hoarding. He used Justice Potter Stewart's method of identifying porn: "I know it when I see it."
But there are warning signs. According to Reinardy, infohoarders avoid making decisions because they need to get all the right information before acting. "They oftentimes aren't getting things done at work," she said. "Or it takes them a tremendously long time to get things done because it takes so much time to collect all of the information."
I recently spent a few hours with Jim. After schooling me on sampling rates, files formats and compression standards, he explained that 30 percent of his downloads come from newsgroups. For the other 70 percent, he occasionally uses public torrent sites like Mininova and Pirate Bay. Most of the good stuff comes from members-only sites, which he'd rather not identify.
In terms of file count, music is Jim's No. 1 download, with TV shows second and comics a close third. Considering file size, movies take the lead. None of it is legal. Three-quarters of the downloads are for himself; the other 25 percent are requests from friends and family. But he still burns copies of the requested files for his own library.
"Even if you'll never watch them?" I ask.
"Of course."
Then there are the comic books, downloaded from a favorite torrent site that specializes in printed matter. With comics, Jim collects certain artists first -- anything and everything by Warren Ellis, Brian Michael Bendis or Grant Morrison, for example.
"Do you read them on screen? Or do you print them out?"
"I only print out fan fiction."
"You collect fan fiction, too?"
"My commute is a killer," he explains.
With no small amount of glee, Jim tells me that tonight's episode of 24 will be available within 30 minutes of the closing credits. In 720p format, of course. The super-high-def 1080p files will show up later.
"Why not just watch 24 when it's on?" I ask. With a few exceptions, I point out, he's downloading current programs. Wouldn't it be easier to buy a TiVo?
Jim smiles and shrugs. I've missed the point.
I turn my attention to my laptop, and announce that my own transfer of the Bauhaus discography is complete. I really just wanted the band's "Ziggy Stardust" cover.
"Good stuff," Jim says. "I've got that here -- somewhere."
Dr. Michael Jenike, a psychiatrist and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, has also seen cases of infohoarding, but curiously, one of them was cured by Google.
"Last year we had a retired nurse who did this with all kinds of data," he said. But "once the person realized that she could get any information she wanted by a simple search, her need to hoard diminished dramatically."

Wednesday, March 7, 2007


This is a truly beautiful little short movie by Tim Burton about a little boy named Vincent Malloy who thinks he is Vincent Price! Narrated by Vincent Price! It doesn't get any better than this.

The following is an article written by one of my husband's business acquaintances. I thought that it would be interesting for all of you European readers to see how prudish America still is. While Germany is in the process of realizing that they may have gone too far overexposing their kids to porn on nightly television , the U.S. is still bowing to its prudish side.

MY VIEW: Can you say ‘scrotum’?
By Felice Cohen
In Todya's New York Metro News
Hey kids, can you say vagina? How about scrotum? OK, maybe “Sesame Street” won’t be helping kids pronounce these words anytime soon, but on that same note, does banning these words from kids’ vocabularies really protect them? Some folks think so.
But is it protecting or censoring? We’re not talking about the f-word that instills shock, nor the n-word that fuels hatred; scrotum and vagina are simply the actual names of body parts.
An Atlantic Beach, Fla., theater had “The Vagina Monologues” displayed on its marquee until a woman complained. Why? Because her niece asked her, “What’s a vagina?” Instead of simply answering her niece, a girl old enough to read (thus old enough to know what a vagina is), the woman complained to the theater. And like good little PC-doers, the theater changed it to “The Hoohaa Monologues.” Said a theater spokesperson, “We decided we would just use child slang for it.” Child slang? If children already have a slang name for vagina, why not just use the real word? My 2 1/2-year-old niece knows what a vagina is. As she should. She has one.
When asked what the woman told her niece, the woman replied, “I’m offended I had to answer the question.” Offended? I’m offended. “The Vagina Monologues” author, Eve Ensler, is offended. What’s there to be offended about? Having a vagina? The whole point of the play is empowerment of the female body. Thankfully the cast made them change it back, but the message had already been sent.
On the same note, the new children’s book “The Higher Power of Lucky,” which just won the Newbury Medal, children’s literature’s most prestigious award, is currently being banned from school libraries and bookstores across the country because the book contains the word “scrotum.” That little sack that contains the key to continuing world population has parents hopping mad. Will knowing the word scrotum cause kids to have sex prematurely? Or will not knowing?
In an opening scene in the new Broadway show “Spring Awakening,” a teenage girl asks her mother where babies come from. The mother doesn’t say. Later on the girl becomes pregnant and the mother says she should have known better. But how? The mother never explained it. Had the girl known the scrotum carries sperm to the penis that when inserted into a vagina causes impregnation — well, you know the rest. And if you don’t, ask your parents.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007


pictured: Mary Gordon

Below is an interview by N.P.R's Leonard Lopate with the three finalists of the Story Prize, a prize handed out for best story writing.
Rick Bass, Mary Gordon, and George Saunders talk with Lopate about their work and the craft of short story writing.
Mary Gordon is my daughter's creative writing professor at college. After listening to her speak in this interview, I know why, as a young writer herself, C. is so tremendously inspired by Gordon. Incidentally, Gordon was the winner of the Story Prize.