Body of Evidence Charlie had always been a big man. In fact, he had been a big youth and a big child. He never completely understood where it all came from since his mother was 5’4” and came from sturdy Eastern European stock that was certainly broad, but not particularly tall. His father was a tall man for his era at 6’0” and narrow of hip and overall physique. Somehow that genetic combination yielded…
Trash Talk I think its fair to suggest that the era of telephone land lines, an important part of our communications network for 100-125 years, is dead. The growth of land-lines pretty much happened in the normal exponential curve that can be seen for any new technological innovation. It began with the Bell patent in 1876, grew to a few million installed lines in 1905, got nationalized as a strategic asset by the government…
Shhhhhh-owa One of the funniest comedy bits ever produced was the 2,000-Year-Old Man by Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner. I can repeat a number o the lines from that riff that always make me laugh. None makes me laugh louder that the one where Reiner (the interviewer) ask Brooks (the 2,000-year-old man) if they had language 2,000 years ago. He says they certainly did, so Reiner follows-up by asking how language came about. Brooks…
Money Matters That old expression, “I hate it when that happens” comes to mind whenever I find myself thinking of money. It’s funny, I made a career out of running and building large money management businesses (Bankers Trust Private Banking, Deutsche Asset Management, Bear Stearns Asset Management) and yet I have little or no respect for money. Wow, that seems like a big disconnect, but I would argue that the experience of running money…
The Gulf Between Us Chuck wanted desperately to make this deal happen in Qatar. There were many good reasons for that, but none was better than the fact that seeing this groundbreaking technology advanced and even accelerated by the funding only a wealth pool like the Qataris could resource was the best of them. Everyone thought Chuck was all about making money and a casual observer would be justified in that thought, but someone…
Lip-Synch Dave was partially of Italian descent and thus had more or less olive skin. He wasn’t swarthy looking, but he generally took sun well. That meant that he tanned easily and wasn’t prone to sunburns. He had had a sunburn or two during his life, but not often and not easily. He used protective lotion, but only if we going out to sunbath or it was particularly hot. He was not a lather-up-rain-or-shine kind…
The House Janice sat at the kitchen table sipping her coffee and watching the morning news on the secret drop-down flat-screen TV she had installed in the kitchen cabinet when she renovated the kitchen last year. It was her dream kitchen repeat with six-burner cooktop, twin dishwashers for party clean-up and a full beverage center with wine cooler and beer/soda cooler drawers. It was accented in her favorite color, fire-engine red, and had a mosaic…
The Emerald Iguana I manage to find some interesting places to stay when we travel. On a recent trip to Santa Fe I found this place called The Inn of the Five Graces. When we arrived it was a challenge to feel impressed since it was on a small side street and the rooms were spread across the street such that the bellman had to to walk us over to our room looking both ways.…
The Texaco Station Mark looked over at Jeanne as they came to the bottom of Rt. 190 out of Death Valley. They had been driving for two hours since leaving their motel at Stovepipe Wells, which was the cheapest place they could find. They were told not to miss having breakfast at the Alabama Hills Cafe in Lone Pine. “You still want breakfast?” Mark asked? Jeanne nodded with a smile. Mark would have passed because…
The Bottom of the Earth At -282 feet below sea level, Death Valley is the lowest elevation in North America, That compares to the lowest in the world at the Dead Sea in Israel, which is -413 feet. If you want to count water-filled depressions, then Lake Baikal in Russia is about -1,200 feet at its deepest point. But then why ignore the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean at -36,000 feet? If Zabriskie Point…