Self-Absorbed Boomer

"[A] delightfully named blog", (Sewell Chan, New York Times). "[R]elentlessly eclectic", (Gary, Iowa City). Taxing your attention span since 2005.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Nick Reynolds, 1933-2008

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Once again, as with another former Kingston Trio member, John Stewart , sad news has come to me late. The death of Nick Reynolds at 75 le...
3 comments:
Thursday, December 11, 2008

Mets' bullpen woes over?

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A couple of days ago the Mets acquired off free agency arguably the best closer in the Majors, Francisco Rodriguez (I resist calling him ...
1 comment:
Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Fresh Air Fund needs your help this holiday season.

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This time of year is when we all get lots of appeals for money. This year is a particularly bad year for many. We have to decide who or wh...
Monday, December 08, 2008

Chanukah on the Chisholm Trail.

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Captain Smartypants and the boys do a little country 'n' eastern, working in a tradition begun by the great Kinkster (caution--...
Sunday, December 07, 2008

College football: Gator-Sooner showdown.

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I was tempted to predict that the Tide would roll over Florida in the SEC championship game this weekend, but with fresh memory of my last p...
Friday, December 05, 2008

Another sign of a long, cold winter?

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Perhaps it's just my imagination, but the local squirrels seem to be putting on weight above and beyond the norm this year. I spotted t...
Monday, December 01, 2008

Take a look at the sky this evening.

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Shortly after sunset this evening, those of you afforded with clear skies (the forecast for the New York area is favorable) can see a conjun...
3 comments:
Thursday, November 27, 2008

A fearless prediction: FSU 33, Florida 28

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Why? The Gators are 10-1, second in the BCS ranking, and expected both to win the SEC and play Texas for the national championship. The ...

Tuck in!

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Whether you're having traditional turkey, vegetarian or vegan alternative, or spaghetti carbonara, Calvin Trillin's favorite Thanks...
1 comment:
Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Planxty: "Sally Brown" and "The Frost is All Over".

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Planxty was, along with the Bothy Band (see also here ), one of my favorite traditional Irish groups. I never saw any version of the whole...

QE2 arrives at her final berth.

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Forty years to the day from the beginning of her maiden voyage, Cunard's magnificent Queen Elizabeth 2 (photo above from her penultimat...
Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Blog links: I'll take 'em where I can get 'em.

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I'm thrilled to have gotten a blogroll link from Fucked in Park Slope , even though it's Heights, not Slope, strollers I have to dod...
3 comments:
Monday, November 24, 2008

I love Cajun music: D.L. Menard, Marc Savoy and L'Angelus

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A couple of months ago I posted with a link to a YouTube clip of the venerable Cajun vocalist and guitarist D.L. Menard doing his signatu...
Saturday, November 22, 2008

Brooklyn gets a visitor from the Great Frozen North.

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There's a dock at the Brooklyn Navy Yard that receives crushed rock salt from self-unloading bulk carrier ships. Most of these that ca...
Friday, November 21, 2008

Memories of the fall.

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Autumn doesn't end officially until December 21, but chilly winds have stripped most leaves from trees here in Brooklyn Heights, so it...
1 comment:
Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Your correspondent on the campaign trail.

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How I got involved. This story begins several months ago, when some friends and neighbors invited me to a cocktail party to introduce Daniel...
1 comment:
Tuesday, November 11, 2008

A self-verifying web page.

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It's here . (Got it from a link to a commenter on Twiffer's blog .) Consider also the column of items under "narrow your searc...
Monday, November 10, 2008

Just for fun.

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County Burnt Cork, maybe?
Friday, November 07, 2008

Sam Cooke, you were right.

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I'm sorry you didn't live to see it. She did, though. Update: Sam Cooke's great-nephew, Erik Greene, author of Our Uncle ...
2 comments:
Thursday, October 30, 2008

For fellow lovers of wordplay.

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Friend, neighbor, and fellow blogger E.J. Cory offers this tidbit: "Wasilla's all I saw" is a PALINdrome.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008

End of the line for the Rays? Unfortunately, yes.

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I've just started watching this bobtail game in the bottom of the eighth, with two out and one on via a walk. Price, my favorite go-to...
1 comment:
Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Say it ain't so!

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From Ted Robinson's "At Bat" column on MSNBC, concerning likely free agent signings: MANNY RAMIREZ AND THE METS: Who else can...
1 comment:

Has Nirvana changed our language?

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This from MSNBC's First Read today: Stevens' guilty verdict not only all but ended the career of the Senate's longest-serving R...
Sunday, October 26, 2008

Pulse normal; respiration normal.

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No, I haven't gone walkabout or joined a contemplative monastic order. I've been busy with other stuff. I'll be back soon.
1 comment:
Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Autumn bounty.

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Brooklyn Heights Greenmarket, October 2, 2008.
4 comments:
Sunday, October 19, 2008

The Rays win the pennant! The Rays win the pennant! The Rays win the pennant!

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Price, the kid from Vandy, comes through with the crucial outs. One of the best league championship series for a while. Sorry, Twiffer, and...
1 comment:
Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Death Rays? Dead Sox?

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Don't bet on it. Four times a team has been down 3-1 in a seven game post-season series and come back to win. Three times, that team w...
4 comments:
Saturday, October 11, 2008

The Amygdaloids: neuroscience and rock 'n' roll.

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Back in my idyllic childhood days, I liked to imagine odd combinations of people and things. One of my daydreams about my own future had me...
Friday, October 10, 2008

Atonement

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Yom Kippur ended at sundown yesterday. I'm not Jewish, but I like the idea of a "day of atonement" in which, among other thi...
1 comment:
Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Last night's debate.

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I was going to post something about it, my friends, but I just can't top what's on my favorite sports blog. Yes, that one . Addendu...
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About Me

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I was born in a city renowned in Vaudeville humor, Altoona Pennsylvania. My dad was in the military, so we moved many times in my childhood. We lived in rural England from the time I was five until I was eight, and I began my formal education in a county council school, where my being American is likely all that saved me from having my bottom caned. When I was eleven my father retired from the Air Force, and we settled in Tampa.I graduated from the University of South Florida and Harvard Law School. Since then, apart from two years' active Army duty, I have lived in New York City; and have lived in the Borough of Brooklyn for many years. I'm married to Martha Foley, an historian and archivist. We are proud of our daughter, Elizabeth, and our granddaughters, Ada and Sigrid.
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