Full Monty: Dress Rehearsal

Ken AshfordLocal Interest, PersonalLeave a Comment

What a blast! 171 people came to the Arts Council Theatre tonight to see dress rehearsal of "The Full Monty".  At $10 a pop (the discounted price), they certainly got their money’s worth. A few technical glitches (including a late entrance by yours truly) didn’t detract from an exciting show.  I watched the last twenty minutes of Act One from … Read More

Rubber Ducky, You’re The One….

Ken AshfordRandom Musings2 Comments

In January 1992, a container full of 29,000 rubber duckies (and blue turtles and green frogs) broke free from a cargo ship leaving China and somewhere in the Pacific. Fifteen years later, what remains of them are about to wash up on the shores of England, halfway around the world.  The Daily Mail discusses their journey, complete with this cool … Read More

Glenn’s Book

Ken AshfordWeb RecommendationsLeave a Comment

In November 2005, I read a post by a what-was-then-new voice in the progressive blogosphere, that of former civil rights and constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald.  The blog was called "Unclaimed Territory".  We had a few nice email exchanges at the time, initially prompted by the fact that we both went to NYU Law School in the early nineties and had … Read More

Facebook vs. MySpace

Ken AshfordBloggingLeave a Comment

Social networking analyzed by a UC Berkeley PhD student.  Bottom line of her thesis?  While MySpace continues to be the social networking destination for kids on the fringe who may or may not have any interest in college, Facebook appears to be growing into a site filled with college-educated, "upper"-class users: Most teens who exclusively use Facebook are familiar with … Read More

Blogging From 1914

Ken AshfordBlogging1 Comment

A good idea for blog: blog from history. Naomi Klein is blogging the diary of her grandmother, Dora Lurie, a Lithuanian stranded while travelling in Europe when World War I broke out.  Unable to return to her country, Dora and her companions became U.S. citizens. The title of the blog is, appropriately enough, "Stranded".

Counting To One Million

Ken AshfordWeb RecommendationsLeave a Comment

Not sure why, but this guy is counting to one million, live, on his webcam. It will take him quite a while.  He started Monday and he’s up to 55,000.  He’s not doing it non-stop — he sleeps, answers viewer questions, and so on.  A few radio interviews. It’ll take him about 3 months. Oooh.  He just started up again.  … Read More

They’re Getting Smarter

Ken AshfordRandom MusingsLeave a Comment

They now have highly-sophisticated arson capabilities: High-wire squirrels torch man’s home twice in 8 days If you think Alan Turcott has bad luck, just think of the squirrels in his neighborhood. For the second time in eight days, Turcott’s Blue Island home caught fire when squirrels knocked high-voltage wires loose from a utility pole and onto his three-story house, fire … Read More

The Ten Commandments Of Driving

Ken AshfordRandom Musings1 Comment

The Vatican, in perhaps a slightly sacreligious way, has issued a Ten Commandments For Drivers to combat road rage: 1. You shall not kill. 2. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm. 3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events. 4. Be charitable and help your … Read More