An end-of-summer farewell to the pool
A Labor Day ritual: saying goodbye to the pool until next year.
All posts tagged: Random DJB Thoughts
Jon Stewart Is the Dean of Convention Anchors
As the Democratic convention comes to a close, I found this article from the online version of the San Francisco Chronicle to be right on target. It is a telling media milepost as political convention TV coverage unfolds over the next two weeks: Jon Stewart is now the dean of commercial network political convention anchors. The old guard is either retired, deceased or disgraced. For the past two nights, Stewart’s show – The Daily Show – has brilliantly skewered the cable news from the left (MSNBC) and right (Fox News). Thanks to my colleague and friend Melita Juresa for sharing this article. More to come… DJB
Three Cups of Tea
Those who receive emails from my father know that I could fill up a blog by just passing along the great material he sends my way. As I watched the political convention tonight, I thought that a recent book recommendation from my father was worth passing along. So, this posting is from Tom Brown: Last week I read Three Cups of Tea, One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace One School at a Time, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penquin). I had the good fortune to hear the author, Greg Mortenson, this past Saturday night at the local Friends of the Linebaugh Libray meeting. In addition, Brian Lamb interviewed him recently on C-Span. What Greg has done is build schools, primarily for girls, in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The hard cover edition had in the title “. . . one man’s mission to fight terrorism and build nations one school at a time.” He objected to the “fighting terrorism” but the published thought it needed that to sell. It didn’t. So he got his way in …
Pandora Radio and Ben’s Chili Bowl
A couple of random topics about unique institutions that you may find of interest… Pandora Radio – My friend and colleague Scott Gerloff introduced me to Pandora Radio, the Internet radio station that allows you to program your own music. If you’ve never tried Pandora, I recommend you pay it a visit. No matter your musical taste, you’ll enjoy it…because you get to program it! In a posting today on the Bluegrass Blog, there’s a story about the difficulties Pandora is facing due to royalty issues with the music industry. Check out the blog, learn more about Pandora, and become a listener. Let’s hope we can all enjoy it for a long time to come. Ben’s Chili Bowl – There’s a Washington institution celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and the blog at PreservationNation captured the celebration at Ben’s Chili Bowl on historic U Street in a posting today. The Washington Post also had a terrific article earlier this week that covers the history – and future – of Ben’s. After coming back from two weeks …
Boswell on China
Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post is one of the smartest sportswriters on the planet. (For evidence see Why Is Baseball So Much Better Than Football.) So I found his column today on the Beijing Olympics (They Made the Buses Run on Time) to be smart, funny, and – I suspect – pretty accurate. My father often told me, “Don’t believe everything you see on TV.” Many of you who don’t normally read the sports pages of the Post will find Boswell’s comments of interest. More to come… DJB
Practicing
Four restful days on the Patuxent River in Southern Maryland brought our summer holiday to a close. We used this time for unwinding from our western travels, reading, talking as a family – but mostly for being. The sunset on the river was illustrative of the four wonderful days of weather we experienced…nary a day when the AC was required…but it also struck us as appropriate for an end-of-summer-holiday post. We’ve been fortunate enough to have access to this retreat for nine years, and there are some traditional activities we’ve taken on during that time. While our visit was shortened this year, we were still able to visit Cone Island at Solomon’s to buy the traditional “Monster” ice cream cones that Andrew and Claire showcase below. It just wouldn’t be a summer without a Monster! Candice and I were also able to finish some reading over the weekend. Candice completed an out-of-print book she bought on Amazon entitled Nourishing the Soul: Discovering the Sacred in Everyday Life and said it was transformative in its insights. …
MORE TO COME... 