It’s never a good time for a post about horrors. Especially not springtime. However, I had wanted to do an inversion of this past popular post, The 7 Wonders of…, for some time but had never gotten around to it. Halloween would have been maybe too facetious a date for it — any responses might [...]

Oops, they did it again. Five GOP state senators have introduced a bill calling for a statewide referendum on separating. Some Democrats are outraged, pointing out (rightly) how cynically Republicans have grandstanded in the past with such fantasy talk, often dragging out the false old “NYC Welfare Queens” canard. However, downstate and national Democrats including [...]

A quick note on the AIG/New York State pension fund affair… in case you hadn’t heard: A two-year investigation by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Albany County District Attorney David Soares and the federal Securities and Exchange Commission has concluded that Hevesi’s top political adviser and the pension fund’s chief investment officer raked in tens [...]

An article from last summer which I only recently read: The Disadvantages of an Elite Education, by a retired Yale prof. He speaks eloquently about the process I have always merely referred to as “higher edumacation.” (Toward the end of the article, he also touches on some of the social media-related issues we have recently [...]

I’ve been using Twitter since last summer. I mainly use it as a pleasant time-waster (as if I don’t waste enough time!), but over the last couple months – weeks even – it has ramped up into a national mania. You might have noticed that I’ve already incorporated two different Twitter streams into this blog, [...]

The City of Syracuse has put up a large photo log of the renovations to Westcott Reservoir. If you’ve ever wondered about its mysterious interior, check out these pictures. Hard to believe this desolate landscape is located in the middle of a dense suburb.

A year ago today, David Paterson was sworn in as New York’s so-called “unelected” governor (though last time I checked, he was elected lieutenant governor). After a wearing year and a shocking week, it was a happy day. His sense of humor was a relief, his success through his handicaps was inspiring and amazing, and [...]

Slumdog Millionaire, the Oscar-winning little-film-that-could, might have been well received here in the U.S., but in India it produced a huge uproar. It has reignited the debate in India over whether that country is doing enough for its desperately poor, or is ashamed enough, or should be ashamed. The New York Times presents this very [...]

Just about the only thing that’s not tapped out in New York State is its maple syrup potential. Despite the state being filled with saps, we import four times as much maple product as we produce. Our own peripatetic Chuck Schumer wants to change all that with the Maple Tapping Access Program (Maple TAP, get [...]