Here in London, the only place we see panic and dismay at the recent rash of attempted car bombings in Great Britain is on the softly glowing screens of the Toshiba TV in our London flat and our trusty laptop. Newscasters here are calling the plot the “Doctor Bombers.” Puts a whole new spin on [...]
Wandering about Old Blighty, the Dowbrigade has escaped to a tranquil English Garden belong to his new friend Norm, of DynEd fame, while recovering from the transatlantic flight and preparing for the legal decathalon which begins Monday.
It’s been 36 years since the last time we were kicked out of merry olde England, but they seem [...]
Three of the top Berkman denizens were rewarded for their brilliant ideas, but more than that, for their ability to transform their ideas into concrete programs that actually improve people’s lives in the real world…
The future of journalism is in your hands.
That was the message yesterday as the John S. and James L. Knight [...]
We awoke this morning at the crack of dawn, 6 am, when the weak sunlight seeped through the as yet unspring-cleaned dingy window. We lay in bed thinking about aquatic mammals – specifically, why they don’t die of thirst. Can they live, unlike other mammals, without fresh water? Do they somehow desalinize salt water? Do [...]
After years of applying for every exotic posting, niche program, foreign conference and off-shore exchange related to our professional position, the Major Boston University where the Dowbrigade has been gainfully employed since ’88 (a good year), despite our reputation as a brilliant but eccentric loose cannon we are finally getting to go somewhere.
In July, just [...]
In Israel they won’t be passing many dubbies this Passover. The country’s pro-pot Green Leaf Party ("Aleh Yarok") has sent a mass e-mail to its members warning that hemp-related products may be a no-no for those who keep Kosher during Pesach. According the party’s spokeswoman, "we are considering announcing a ban on everything containing hemp [...]
Despite the season of peace and goodwill, the Dowbrigade household has for the past week been enveloped in an acute pre-Christmas crisis.
Nothing as mundane as a cash-flow shortage, or as dramatic as domestic abuse, it was mysterious and disturbing nonetheless. The baby Jesuses were missing.
A bit of background. Among her endearing qualities, which are [...]
The Dowbrigade is a sucker for a bargain. On rare occasions this means we stumble onto a true, historic bargain. Even a blind pig comes up with a truffle now and again. However, much more often we wind up being taken for a sucker. Case in point.
Last week [...]
BOSTON — A Boston University grad is raising some hackles with his new book, "The Absolute Worst Places To Live in America," which names Fitchburg, Mass., and Boston’s Allston neighborhood as among the worst.
Dave Gilmartin, 30, originally hails from New Jersey, which he said helped qualify [...]
So, yesterday,
we were with our son Gabriel on a US Naval Base, waiting
in line to go through a rather strenuous security check, when another unmarked
black [...]
The
quid pro quo for having a herd of friendly foreign in-laws in exotic
climes from Flushing, Queens to Jipijapa are long, unfortunately timed
visits from selfsame in-laws, particularly the traditionally gnarly mother-in-law.
So [...]
In the past we have written of Zapatos,
the funky warehouse shoe and clothing store, featuring seconds, overstock
and, we suspect, the contents of an occasional mysteriously missing
[...]