Radio Free New York Site Update: RNI!

This week marks the 20th Anniversary of Radio New York International!

That's right - it was twenty years ago that a group of underground broadcasters got together and attempted to sign on an offshore pirate radio station (broadcasting on an old fishing trawler called The Radioship Sarah) from international territory, four-and-a-half miles off the coast of New York City - outside the three-mile limit.

Well, as we learned, territories can be in the mind of the beholder - and after just five days of broadcasting, RNI was shut down and dismantled by the FCC. Despite RNI's short existence, it left a lasting mark on the radio scene and those of us who were a part of it will never forget the experience!

Radio Free New York is proud to mark RNI's 20th Anniversary with a group of site updates that add new audio, video and text commemorating this historic event. Among the updates are:

More detailed notes on the RNI saga.

Embedded video from our personal collections, including news coverage from that crazy week and the days that followed!

Airchecks of the last broadcasts from The Sarah before the FCC brought the hammer down on July 28, 1987.

The new updated pages (with audio and video) can be found directly HERE.

I'm sure these new RNI pieces will bring back memories for you as they did for me while I was putting them all together!

As always, thanks for surfing our way!

The Bronx Is Burning…Again

ESPN is running an excellent miniseries commemorating the 30th anniversary of the 1977 World Champion Yankees. It’s not JUST about the Yankees – it’s about the whole astounding mess the city was going through back in 1977, from Son of Sam to the big Northeast Blackout, to one of the more contentious mayoral elections in city history.

The miniseries is based on Jonathan Mahler’s excellent book of the same name, although the TV version relies heavily on other sources since it mainly focuses on the ’77 Yankees and their role in the turbulence of the times. So far the acting has been top-notch (John Turturro’s turn as Billy Martin is downright scary) and the vintage news and game clips are sure to rattle a few memory cells that you haven’t referred to in a while.

If you’re around my age and lived through the insane craziness of the time, you’ll definitely want to check it out. ESPN has set up an excellent sub-site with episode updates and the like HERE.

Fourth of July Memories

Happy Independence Day, everyone! Earlier this week at work, I was waxing nostalgic about July Fourths of my youth, taking a stroll down memory lane...

Growing up in Brooklyn NY, Independence Day always meant the sounds of firecrackers, whistling rockets and crackling fountains - starting somewhere around mid-June and increasing in intensity until July 4th, with a rousing, citizen-provided, city-wide fireworks display the likes of which you probably wouldn't see anywhere else.

In addition to the sights and sounds of sparkling lights and popping crackers, the smell of sulphur would permeate your nostrils. It was hard to escape the full-senses assault: pretty much every city block featured a high number of homeowners barbecuing and setting off their own Chinatown-purchased displays (it was always illegal to buy and sell fireworks, and to an extent, to set them off...but most law enforcement looked the other way in the spirit of the holiday and all that).

When Rudy became mayor, all that changed. He decided to crack down on John Gotti's annual ridiculous Grucci-like displays in Queens, and I guess he felt that it would only be fair to crack down on EVERYONE. Police began confiscating fireworks from the average citizen in great numbers; patrols were doubled and tripled on July 4th; people that protested were issued summonses.

I am a huge fan of what Rudy did for New York - reversing the cancer that had been allowed to spread under Koch's last term and the total ineptitude of the Dinkins years (shudder) - but I feel in this particular instance, he was simply going over the top. What Gotti was doing and what John Q. Homeowner were doing in their front yards was like comparing one tiny apple to a truckload of oranges. Autocrat Bloomberg must share an equal disdain for fireworks, as he has kept the hard-line ban up under his rule.

I have been back to Brooklyn for Fourth of July in the years since the crackdown, and you'd never know it was the noisy, joyous place it used to be when I was a kid. You occasionally hear a fire cracker pop from a brave soul, or a whistle from a wayward bottle rocket - but it's nowhere near the full-blown rattle and bang that it used to be 'back in the day'.

I miss those sounds, and I miss those smells. As a young boy, I couldn't wait for the Fourth because I knew it would be a borough-and-city-wide block party of epic proportions. But it's still a good time for a fun barbecue!

The iPhone is Here (or, Invasion of the Brain Snatchers)

Apple released the much-ballyhooed iPhone to the masses today, and while this is being treated as a grand day for technophiles, I see it as yet another strike against humanity.

Oh, the humanity.

It’s bad enough that we already live in a society that wherever you look, you are surrounded increasingly more and more by oblivious idiots that walk through life staring down at their blackberries, blueberries or whatever the Hell mobile umbilical cord they happen to have attached themselves to. I’ve seen people walk into traffic, into poles, into each other – all because they simply tear themselves away from their e-mail long enough to walk from the Subway to the office (where, it should be pointed out, the e-mail gleefully awaits them).

The iPhone is sure to kick up the social retardation a few more unbearable notches. It’s got e-mail! Videos! MP3s! Internet access! Voice mail! YouTube! Holy mother of GOD, it’s got EVERYTHING! So – how long before someone gets hit by a commuter train because they were too busy opening up 1GB .AVI files attached to their webmail to se see the train coming?

Some mornings I see commuters hop on the bus, one after another, all yapping away on their bluetooths and unbelievably annoying chirping walkie-talkie 2-way phones…or the inevitable e-mail-reading downward-staring obliviot. It blows my mind.

It’s not that I’m old-fashioned…I like gadgets as much as the next guy (look – I even BLOG). I just worry about a society that continues to implode exponentially inward from a glaring misconception that it needs to be in touch every minute of every hour of every day – so much so that the concept of having to do WITHOUT their redundant lifelines can throw them into frenzied panic attacks.

Maybe I am turning into a crotchety old man, but to me, the need for constant contact has eclipsed the natural desire for ACTUAL contact – be it with other people or the world around us. You can’t enjoy watching life go by of you’re too busy staring down at a 3” by 3” LCD screen.

In other words - it’s hard to stop and smell the roses when your phone keeps buzzing. Me? I’m still trying to find a good turntable stylus.

Radio Free New York Site Updates!

Just wanted to let y'all know that I've added embeds from Hank's YouTube videos to several pages on the Radio Free New York Site! Check out the WFAT, WHOT, RNI on WNYG, WHOT Returns, Current and Archives pages for some video fun. I'm hoping to get even MORE video up soon, so check out the new adds!

Also - this July, Radio Free New York will mark the 20th Anniversary of Radio New York International! While it's tenure on the radio airwaves may have been brief, it was an experience that none of us will ever forget. We have received some airchecks of some of the long-lost test broadcasts from listeners and hope to have the final test show - hosted by Hank and Jim on the day before the FCC "bust" - up soon. Has it REALLY been 20 years???

Thanks again for your continued support, aircheck tapes and for spreading the word about RFNY - it is greatly appreciated. Don't forget - your submissions, questions and comments are always welcome!

Happy Easter

I hope everyone had a great (albeit cold) Easter Sunday. We had a great weekend here – Hank and Tina Hayes came out for the wheekend and there was much joy and merriment. The four of us went to the Sellersville Theater in PA on Saturday to see The Smithereens, and they were phenomenal! It was the first time Mon and I had seen them live, and they really blew the roof off the place. It was awesome!

Of course, the drive from NJ out to PA yesterday was not without a degree of difficulty – heavy snow squalls provided some challenges, and getting back from there provided us with a scenic driving tour of greater Tinicum township – but we were none the worse for the wear today, enjoying a wonderful Easter dinner with the parental units at a nice, fancy-schmancy restaurant.

Hope everyone’s weekend was just as good!

Hope Springs Eternal

It's been a bit of a while since my last trip to the blog-o-matic, but what better a day than Opening Day?

Mere hours from now, the Yankees will take the field against the Devil Rays. Yankee Stadium will no doubt look as splendid as it always does on this special day, with the smell of freshly-mowed grass and hot dogs in the air, the sounds of various high school marching bands, the sight of red, white and blue bunting waving in the air and the sound of baseballs popping into leather gloves. Opening Day is always a grand day no matter which team you root for. The slate has been wiped clean, and as the Tigers demonstrated last year - anything is possible.

For those that have never experienced Opening Day at Yankee Stadium, it is truly something to behold - with all the pomp and pageantry of a military ceremony combined with the tradition and memories of great days gone by (and to come). On TV, it impressive; in person, it is stirring.

More than anything else, it is tradition-laden spectacles like Opening Day's splendiferous grandeur that make Baseball the king of all games - and form where it draws its' strength to survive. Baseball survives - and thrives - in 2007, despite a long amalgamation of events that over history were supposed to be harbingers of the game’s “demise”, yet it has managed to outlive them all.

Baseball has survived the Black Sox scandal, Dead Ball era, the lowering of the pitcher’s mound, Astroturf, the designated hitter, Pete Rose, several work stoppages, the absolute worst TV coverage (FOX), the idiocy of Interleague play and it will survive no-necked idiots shooting bovine growth hormone in between their toes.

Why? Because what Baseball is – a myriad of imperfections wrapped up in a blanket of total perfection – is a lot like us, both as individuals and as a Nation. There are a lot of things about this country that may not be perfect – but when you look at the alternatives, it looks pretty darn good by comparison.

Play Ball – and GO YANKS!

Calvert DeForest, 1921-2007

Just heard on the news that Calvert DeForest, the guy that played Larry "Bud" Melman on David Letterman's late night shows (you know - back when Dave was actually FUNNY) passed away today after a long illness.

DeForest's old appearances on Late Night used to crack me up. It was obvious that he had no idea what the hell he was talking about half the time, yet could milk laughs out of even the silliest concepts. Who can forget the fake commercials for "Larry 'Bud' Melman's Toast-On-a-Stick", or the nonsensical ones for "Melman Bus Lines".

There was one old Late Night where Dave put "Larry" in the basement of the Port Authority Bus Terminal to greet "travelers" as they arrived in New York City. Of course, only COMMUTERS come in the bottom floor...well, the results are intentionally and unintenrionally hilarious. Watching "Larry" hand out hot towels to weary travelers in Port Authority. Classic.

Another gem was putting "Larry" in a huge bear suit and sending him out in the street to hug people. The results were about what you could expect on the streets of NYC. Every second that ticked by was a potential train wreck waiting to happen.

DeForest's last appearance on Late Show was in 2002 on his 81st birthday.

Little known fact: Calvert's paternal great uncle, Lee DeForest, was a radio pioneer who in 1906 invented the Audion tube, also known as the triode, which made large-scale broadcasting commercially feasible - and for that I will always be eternally grateful.

Rest in peace, funny man. You'll be missed.

Back From The Fest!

Another Beatlefest in in the books, and as is my way - here is the full report!

The basic rundown:

The snow and ice caused many accidents on the roads to Secaucus, so the normal post-work 15-minute bus ride in from Port Authority took almost two hours. From the hotel window, we could spot accident after accident taking place out on the Turnpike. Looks like it was a great night for all those tow-truck drivers making overtime.

The weather made a HUGE dent in the Friday night attendance. It was probably the first time that I've ever seen an open seat in the bar on a Friday night (there was about seven people in there when I poked my head in around 10PM)! Still, the sparse attendance made for a nicer-than-usual commiseration experience with the old friends that did make it.

Attendance was more up to its' usual numbers on Saturday. Bruce Spizer's first slideshow (mainly containing material in his new book) was hindered because some of his audio / video material never made it via FedEx due to the weather! So we missed out on hearing an actual song by The Titans and WWDC playing "I Want To Hold Your Hand" for the first time in the US. Bruce covered up nicely (certainly better than Ashely Simpson would have).

Ran into Billy J. Kramer in the afternoon (he was just hanging around - not an actual guest!), talked baseball with him (of all things), got a picture. I also discovered that while the inclement weather may have cut down on the number of participants in the yearly Beatle-freak show, the intensity of the ones that DID show up were definitely kicked up a notch (bam!). Definitely an interesting side show element this year.

The Smithereens were great in the afternoon (when are they not?) and The Bootlegs had a great crowd (as usual) on the second floor. Saturday night festivitites ran WAY late (Martin Lewis didn't begin his goofy panel discussion until after 1 AM in the morning - when, by the by, Liverpool was STILL playing!!!). The Blue Meanies / Mr. Neutron finally got going around 2AM and good fun was had by all.

Didn't stay around very long on Sunday (I'm STILL suffering from some flu-like symptoms, so I spent more time sleeping than partying this year, and felt a little burned out by early afternoon on Sunday). Lo and behold, here I am back at the ole homestead a few hours later.

Other things of note that were obverved this year - for the first time, probably EVER - the hotel security was extremely Nazi-riffic. There was an increased "beefy rent-a-cop" presence throughout the Crown Plaza, and they were very quick to flash their hotel-supplied rent-a-cop badges and talk tough about people making too much noise (excuse me?) and open bottles (wha?), etc. For the most part, Fest crowds are very diligent about policing themselves, so seeing a lot of heavy-handed, ham-fisted cro-magnons making threats to people that really weren't doing anything out of the "Fest norm" (singing, drinking, etc.), and stomping around like jackasses was a tad disturbing.

Other notes - heavy amounts of ice and snow caused the cover on the lovely outdoor Crown Plaza pool to cave in. A somewhat incoherent Mark ("Cap'n Crayola") Hudson grabbed the mike on the second floor Saturday afternoon while The Bootlegs were on break and made a rambling spectacle of himself. Last but not least, someone made a VERY "intereting", um...shall I say, "phallic" snowman out back some time on Friday night that was easily visible to Saturday morning breakfast diners seated near the lake-facing glass in the hotel restaurant. Looked like someone had slipped Frosty a few Viagra!

See y'all again in 2008!

Beatlefest 2007 Is This Weekend!

Or, you know - The Fest For Beatles Fans, or whatever it is being called this week!

I'm planning to arrive Friday after work, probably around 6PM. Hope to see some of you there!

FLU UPDATE: Believe it or not, still feeling somewhat sick - TWELVE DAYS after feeling the initial signs of illness coming on. Hopefully more of that will clear out by the weekend!

Pete's Influenza Diary

It was exactly one week ago today that I first started to feel the effects of The Flu. Little did I know then that it WAS "The Flu". Boy, would I be sad to learn that this year's Flu is the Nuclear Flu.

It's the Flu on Steroids.

For those of you who may think you are coming down with The Flu, here's what you have to look forward to...

Friday, March 2: This is the first inkling I have that something is wrong. I drag all day and collapse in a heap before 8PM.

Saturday, March 3: I wake up feeling OK, assuming that I was merely tired the night before. Mon and I go to breakfast, hit the Stop & Shop, pick up something for lunch and head home. Between the hours of 3PM and 9PM, it becomes apparent that something is very, VERY wrong. My temperature shoots up. My nose closes up. My head starts to feel like it's in a vise.

Sunday, March 4: I wake up feeling like something cats play with after they've killed it. I can barely get out of bed without feeling like I've run the NYC Marathon. The concept of eating anything is nauseating to me.

Monday, March 5: Called in sick. No energy. Fluctuating between feeling like I am on fire and chattering with the chills. I manage to get some soup down, but that's about it. Nighttime brings massive chills. No matter what I do, I can't get warm. Hobbes throws himself on top of me and I manage to get a few hours of restless sleep.

Tuesday, March 6: Still at home. Chills still an issue, can't breath, throat is killing me, can't stop coughing. No appetite. Headache is debilitating. Can't move because head is pounding. This is how the entire day goes.

Wednesday, March 7: Feeling only slightly better. Some of my appetite is back, choke down some soup. Blow through an 80-pack of cough drops in about four hours. Knocked off my THIRD bottle of Robitussin.

Thursday, March 8: STILL out of work. Finally able to handle some solid food. Temperature is normal for the first time since Saturday morning. Despite all this, my throat is still like razor blades and energy level is zilch.

Today, March 9: Went back to work...big mistake. By midday I feel like I've been hit by a bus. Get some backed-up work done and hit the road as soon as possible.

And here I am, seven days later. Still feel like Hell. Temperature has normalized, but the cough is killing me. Chest aches. Tired. Going to bed.

I wonder how long it will be until I feel normal again...?

Sick...and Getting Sicker

Hey Gang,

Sorry to report that I seem to have been bitten by the flu bug, and have been feeling worse by the minute all day (although it really seems to be intesifying this evening...I feel like I've been hit by a steel truck).

Therefore, I probably won't have the Podcast up tomorrow that I wanted to post, but hope to get it done some time next week.

Well - back under the blanket wit a hot tea and a cat or two.

Life Is Funny

There are people who will say that "life is funny" without really knowing what it means.

I don't mean "funny, ha-ha" - I mean, "funny, like a kick in the balls" funny. When you are young, you have this idea in your head of how you want your life to turn out. Then, one day you wake up and realize you are still going around and around in the same cul-de-sac of frustration you were in ten, fifteen years ago.

The funny part is that life will throw you a bone every once in a while, and you think "Ah, finally - things are starting to turn around the way I always expected they would". But - those feelings are often short-lived; plans get squashed; things get ruined; and you find yourself back in the same spiral, watching sands pass through the hourglass and days get ripped off the calendar one by one, month by month...and your dreams and blueprints that you drew out for yourself the aforementioned ten, fifteen years ago - are not even CLOSE to coming to fruition. If anything, they are even further away than ever.

Like it or not, things WILL conspire against the blueprints you draw out for yourself, knowingly or accidentally. But in the end, the biggest enemy is yourself - because you know you could have done things differently, but you chose the path of least resistance at every turn rather than fighting the good fight because you just didn't have the stomach to fight.

You can look around one day, and in the blink of an eye you can feel the walls closing in on you - or, feel the foundations you built around you being dismantled with the cruel, clinical precision of an undertaker - brick by painful brick. Before you know it, the foundation is gone, and the ever-closing walls - will snuff out the dreams like a tsunami on a single candle.

It's at that point when you reach your nadir. How to get back to where you expect - no, demand to be - seems like a distant, darkened light at the end of an endless tunnel (that you have no clue how to navigate).

Thank goodness that at the end of the day, there is AT LEAST an iced tea and a cat on your lap to look forward to.

The Eagles Are Gathering

Last time the anti-war crowd decended on Washington, they spent a lot of their time desecrating monuments, causing disruptions and spitting on war vets. Horrors of horrors, they will be back on March 17th.

Thanks to a heads-up from Michelle Malkin in her column today, maybe we can do something about it this time:

A 'GATHERING OF EAGLES' TO MARCH FOR AMERICA

February 28, 2007 -- HOW many times have you sat in front of the TV over the last four years, watching anti-war activists march on Washington, chase the ROTC off your local college campus, vandalize war memorials, insult the troops and wreak havoc under the surrender banner?

How many times have you thought to yourself: What can I do?

Here is the answer: Get off the sofa and join the Gathering of Eagles on March 17 in Washington, D.C.

Perhaps I shall free my schedule for this.

Please go to the GATHERING OF EAGLES WEB SITE for more info.

Some Cool Jazz After The Snow

Hope everyone is successfully dug out from last night's latest round of snow and ice (remember back in November when it was in the upper-60s?). Got "iced in" again here today and used the opprotunity to get some stuff done around the house.

Thought I'd share something that is entertaining on two levels: it's a cute cartoon, and the music is top notch (Ella and Louis - does it get any better???).

Enjoy!

Busy Week

Hey all...had a pretty busy week so not a whole lot of time to blog, which is just as well - there wasn't a whole lot going on anyway. Work, as usual these days, gave me a headache - but I did take some time out to visit Hank and Jim and do some show, which was nice (I love doin' shows, man).

As a bonus, I recorded a George Harrison tribute for his birthday tomorrow (Sunday). George would have been 64, and while he may not be around anymore, he left behind a ton of great music for all of us - so I'll be playing much GH tomorrow at 4PM ET on the one-hour WBCQ show normally hosted by H&J (thanks, guys) at 7415 on your short wave - or you can get it on the net at WBCQ's Web Site and click where it says "Click here to listen live". Check it out, we had some good fun.

By the way, in case you missed it - Punxatawney Phil called for six more weeks of Global Warming! Good thing I bought that scarf!

A Little Ice for St. Valentine's Day

Unbelievable day in progress here…after a night of freezing rain and ice, we’re now being pelted by huge chunks of frozen…stuff.

Still have power (as you can tell), but the lights HAVE flickered on and off a few times. The fireplace is in full effect and the cats are bemused by all the racket the racket the ice is making.

Check out this picture I just took of the back yard. The white stuff LOOKS like snow, but it’s actually SOLID ICE. I haven’t heard a car on I-78 (what is on top of that hill and noticeably empty) in hours (just the occasional truck that is probably salting).



Still cannot believe how bad the roads are. Made one feeble attempt to get to the train this morning – the car went sideways and we turned around and came back. Saw a few cars up on the shoulder on the way down and back.

Good to see my tax dollars at work!

PS - Yankees pitchers and catchers reported for Day 1 of Spring Training - yesterday. Go figure.

The Wild Week That Was

It's amazing what can happen in just a few short days, isn't it?

Super Bowl XXVVXXWWIIXXVVIIXX came and went in a blur, as sports and news organizations alike tripped over themselves pointing out that both coaches were African-American - something the coaches themselves kept trying to downplay without much success. Both Dungy and Smith are fine coaches (religious fellows, too), who led less-than-perfect teams to the Super Bowl on skill and guile. The fact that the 'skill and guile' parts of that equation are not being mentioned very much shows you that we still have a long way to go in this country if we're ever going to have a TRULY "color blind" society.

Astronauts gone wild: Space Shuttle astronaut Lisa Nowak popped a cotter pin and strapped on an adult diaper to drive from Texas to Florida in an effort to "confront" the lover of a fellow astronaut she'd fallen smitten with. "Confront" could mean a variety of things...Nowak had a card full of items that could have been used for a kidnapping, attack of some kind, or worse. There was a time when our Astronauts were the best and brightest we had to offer. This could be the first one that becomes eligible for NASA's experimental "shock therapy" program.

By now, unless you've been living under a rock you know who Anna Nicole Smith is and you know that she's dead. You also know that there's now a couple hundred million dollars just floating in the wind out there like Forrest Gump's feather. As a result, there has been a mad rush on potential daddies for Smith's baby, the likes of which we haven't seen since the California gold rush of the 1800s. Who knew there'd be such a huge queue of men willing to admit to repeated unprotected sex with a notorious skank (not named Britney)? Stay tuned.

Also in the news, the amazing snows in upstate New York. The poor folks in Oswego are digging out from over ten feet of the white stuff, while several other towns around the Great Lakes region break all-time records for massive snowfalls and low temperatures. At the same time, here in our neck of the woods we are waiting for a storm that's supposed to blow through on Tomorrow night, dumping snow and ice all over the Middle-Atlantic region, up to New England - with more record cold to follow.

Global Warming Fever: Catch it!

Last but not least...I don't know if you've ever seen it, but there's this repuslively horrible reality show on MTV called "My Super Sweet 16", where cameras follow the exploits of these conniving, disrespectful, annoying, spoiled, bratty, rich 16-year-old girls around while they whine and stomp and bitch and scream like the spoiled little bitches they are for half an hour while their poor, long-suffering parents arrange a multi-thousand dollar birthday party for the little twats. That's right - no punishment for being horrible human beings - just more rewards. It will actually make you physically ill watching it all unfold before your very eyes.

I can only assume that's pretty much what watching the Grammy Awards was like last night when the Ditsy Twits got all their "statement Grammys" for a bunch of songs that about eight people outside of Hollywood and New York have heard. I understand there was also a Police reunion, and Lionel Ritchie performed.

And people want to know why I NEVER watch awards shows.

All The News That Causes Fits

As many of you know, I have begun to commuting to NYC via train instead of bus. The bus was just too damn expensive and at least I know WHEN the train will get in at night

Much to my chagrin, I have learned that one problem has followed me from the bus to the train: the dreaded curse of the large tabloid.

There was ONE kind of person I hated to sit next to me on the bus: anyone with a copy of the New York Times or the Newark Star-Ledger. Let's take annoying editorial policies aside (that's enough reason right there). The freaking papers are BIG. Too big, if you want my opinion. They are big and think, and have 100 sections in each because both papers seem to think people still have about three hours to read the newspaper in the morning.

It seems that any time a guy with The Times or The Star-Ledger sits next to me, they always do the same thing. First, they start disassembling the paper like some kind of sophisticated spy puzzle: this section comes out, goes back in the bag. This section stays on top. This section is not going to be read at all, so it gets folded and crammed under their seat.

Then, they whack and smack the paper into several readable folds. Of COURSE, they ALWAYS sit with their elbows at thier sides, flush to the seat - so that you get dug in the ribs with their freaking elbows for the rest of the trip. Then, the turning of the pages...grrrr. Perhaps the number one, most-annoying trait of the large tabloid reader. Since the dopey papers are so big and unruly, the pages can't just be TURNED...oh no, the have to be snapped, slapped, pounded, twisted and crinkled...in a cacaphony of noise specifically designed to disrupt and bring to an end the extra hour of sleep that I like to squeeze in en route to a day at the salt mill.

Naturally, it's logical to assume that the lack of respect for personal space and creation of all sorts of unnecissary noise just go hand in hand with that "I'm a Times reader" or "I'm a Star Ledger" reader attitude. "I'm better than you because I read a paper the size of a 1950's-era Mobil roadmap", the Time reader being the more arrogant and oblivious of the two.

At least the Star-Ledger has a couple of comics pages.

New York Deep Freeze

This just in from the Radio Free New York weather center: the Central Park temperature at 3PM ET was 16 degrees. That's right - sixteen.

The rest of the week isn't supposed to get any warmer, either. In fact, the highest temperature for the next five days is supposed to only be in the upper-20s.

Remember back in November and early-December when it was in the 50s and 60s, and every time you turned on the news all you heard was "Global Warming this" and "Global Warming that"? Seems like a long time ago, doesn't it?

Humorously, a group of U.N.-picked scientists decided last Friday was a good day to release a report claiming that the ever-dreaded Global Warming WAS happening and it'll be all over for us in a few thousand years! Never mind that the foundation of this report was all based on "predicitons" and "estimations", but very few "facts" (unlike this article HERE).

No matter how much proof there is that shows climate change is cyclical and as natural as dandelions in a sea of crab grass, there are always going to be those who insist that we'll be sorry when the Polar Ice Caps melt and pengiuns are forced to wear wife beaters. Why? Because the U.N. says so!

They also probably believe THIS.

PS - Now that Super Bowl XXVVIXXVVVIIIXXXVVV is over, the good news is that Pitchers and Catchers report in 10 days. Whee! Were those the WORST Super Bowl commercials EVER, or what???