On Pirates

This column is circulating in the uber-liberal blogosphere, my mom's email list, my brother's facebook page and various other subversive centers for Un-American Activities.  In all seriousness though, the fishing stuff is true (except that Asian nations are just as guilty as the Europeans he mentioned).   I couldn't find verification on what I would call an impartial news source (someoone please send it to me if you have one!) on the nuclear waste dumping and the Italian mafia, although it certainly wouldn't surprise me.

None of this suggests we should turn the other cheek to piracy or that Easter Sunday's dramatic rescue was not warranted.   It is just further proof that what happens in God-forsaken countries halfway across the world eventually will have some effect on us (this piracy story is not over, not by a long shot).  Somalia hasn't had a functioning government in about 20 years (maybe longer?) and the piracy is not a result of some intrinsic "evil-doers" or "terrorists"rising on orders from Satan himself to attack America and All-Things-Good - but rather a predictable consequence of the poverty and lawlessness that has racked that nation for this extended period of time.

Something to chew on.

On Tea and Crumpets

Because it snowed today in Boston,

 global warming is not happening

Lobsters with claws growing out of their claws

From Gloucester.  Hey, I had too much coffee tonight so I can't sleep.

Freak Lobster Mutated With Double Claw from Joey on Vimeo.

Calculated Risk: Krugman warns of...

...ZOMBIE BANKS ON THE MARCH!!!

Shank, Culry Haired Boyfriend, whatever you want to call him

Seldom has a sports writer generated the kind of animosity that seems to have developed around long time Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy.

Here' the thing:I like Shaughnessy's columns - and I don't care who knows it.  True, with the financial problems the Globe is dealing with, it's hard to justify them spending big bucks on sports reporting, let alone sports opinion columns.   But from "pass the Jim Jones kool-aid" to " it would be hard not to imagine Carl Everett head-butting customers as he walked down the aisle of Section 25." I find him to be a reasonably good writer who makes me laugh.  I find him to be far more literary and well-informed than a typical newspaper reporter, let alone sports reporter. 

And I like his writing.  So popular opinion be damned, Dan Shaugnessy is one of things I'll miss most if we lose the Globe.

I can't wait to get back

on the bike.

Stop worrying about terrorism

Really - just stop.

Photographs of the Hermit Kingdom

Random web zen I ran across this morning...I want to get better but it's also nice to have some time to surf at home....

Contemplating life without the Globe

I have somewhat mixed feelings about this.  I still read the Globe religiously, even though I almost always read it online without paying (therein lies their problem).  It may not be what it used to be, but it is still by far the best daily in Massachusetts. 

Yet part of me almost wants to see them stop publishing, because I think print newspapers are ea relic of a bygone era (or soon will be).  That said, I would not simply want to see their news staff disband, rather I'd like to see them try to figure out how to make the online "paper" profitable.  I think it will be very tough for a news organization to do any sort of "in-depth" reporting on a consistent basis without charging for content, and I for one would be willing to pay - particularly for local coverage that I can't get for free elsewhere.