An Uber executive threatened to sic opposition researchers on journalists during a recent "off the record" conversation. He proposed spending $1 million to hire four "top flight" researchers who would dig up dirt and feed it to "journalists" also in Uber's employ. Reminds me of GM sending private investigators after Ralph Nader when he exposed the dangers of the Corvair.
Here's a link to the article.
Once he was exposed, Emil Michael insisted it was all a misunderstanding and he didn't really mean it. Mmmm.
What also jumped out at me was Uber's "promise" not to snoop on journalists who use its service. It never occurred to me, but if I use Uber and Lyft, they have electronic records of everywhere I go and when. Creepy. The opportunities for abuse are endless.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Sunday, November 16, 2014
I'll Be Back
Watched one of my all time favorite so-bad-it's-good movies the other day, "Raw Deal" with Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's Arnold at its bad-acting, greasy mid-1980s best. I originally saw it in Japan where for some reason they changed the name to "Gorilla" without realizing that implied our favorite Austrian bodybuilder-turned-actor was a violent simian. Mmmm.
Some choice lines:
"Let's go Deputy Dog." Cop to man caught impersonating cop
"You should not drink and bake." Arnold to his long- suffering, soused wife after she throws a cake at him.
"I want you to get inside Petrovito's organization and tear it up." Darrin McGavin, Arnold's old FBI boss, on his mission.
"I take care of things. All kinds of things." Arnold to the mob boss during his first job interview.
"Smart I like. Smart ass I don't." Mob boss to Arnold on his follow up interview (He gets the job after just two interviews. Boy the 80s were great).
"if it doesn't work out we'll use him for something dirty and throw him in the river" Mob boss after hiring Arnold.
"The only way you'll ever be lying next to me is if we both get run down by the same car." The mob moll to Arnold's nemisis and fellow mob enforcer.
"Cops versus cops. You leave me with no one to rout for." Arnold's mob nemesis after a dirty cop tells him Arnold is not who he says he is. He's flying back to Miami for a cop charity softball event.
"Somebody got really pissed off." Detective viewing the carnage inside the illegal casino where Arnold somehow manages to kill about a two dozen guys and walk away with nothing but a cut on his arm.
And then there is the shoot out in the gravel pit. Arnold blasts out the window of his car (a Chrysler product like all the vehicles in the movie), pops in a cassette (remember those?) of "Jump'n Jack Flash" and drives around the gravel pit shooting people. Hilarious.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Moutain Laurel Blooms
Our Mountain Laurel (the state flower) is finally blooming. It's about 10 days to two weeks late thanks to the cold spring.
Monday, May 5, 2014
The Rand Paul Boom
The national political press constantly pumps up scenarios that have no chance of ever coming to fruition. I don't know if they are clueless, cynical or carried away by events. A little of all three I suspect.
The latest example of this phenomenon is the Rand Paul boom, as illustrated by today's New York Times story on the senator squiring Rupert Murdoch around the Kentucky Derby. Paul, we are told, is the sort-of GOP frontrunner for 2016. His biggest drawback, the political press says, is his less-than-hawkish foreign policy views.
Poppycock. Rand Paul will never be president, and it's not because he questions the Bush-Cheney foreign policy. The oval office is out of reach because he does not believe in the section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that bans discrimination in public accommodations. That means, if I run a business, I cannot refuse to service people based on their race, creed, national original, etc.
Paul's argument is that it was correct to ban discrimination by governments, but individuals should have the right to discriminate. But for that right to be fully excercised, the state would have to intervene on the side of the discriminator. Specifically, police would have to arrest or threaten to arrest the person denied service if they refused to leave the business. So in the end, you would have state-sanctioned discrimination.
The moment Paul becomes a serious candidate, this video of his interview on this subject with Rachel Maddow will surface and it will all be over. In the meantime, tens, perhaps 100s of millions of dollars will be spent, and countless words will be written, all for nothing.
The latest example of this phenomenon is the Rand Paul boom, as illustrated by today's New York Times story on the senator squiring Rupert Murdoch around the Kentucky Derby. Paul, we are told, is the sort-of GOP frontrunner for 2016. His biggest drawback, the political press says, is his less-than-hawkish foreign policy views.
Poppycock. Rand Paul will never be president, and it's not because he questions the Bush-Cheney foreign policy. The oval office is out of reach because he does not believe in the section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that bans discrimination in public accommodations. That means, if I run a business, I cannot refuse to service people based on their race, creed, national original, etc.
Paul's argument is that it was correct to ban discrimination by governments, but individuals should have the right to discriminate. But for that right to be fully excercised, the state would have to intervene on the side of the discriminator. Specifically, police would have to arrest or threaten to arrest the person denied service if they refused to leave the business. So in the end, you would have state-sanctioned discrimination.
The moment Paul becomes a serious candidate, this video of his interview on this subject with Rachel Maddow will surface and it will all be over. In the meantime, tens, perhaps 100s of millions of dollars will be spent, and countless words will be written, all for nothing.
Sunday, May 4, 2014
NFL Blues
I just read "Slow to Get Up," a memoir by former NFL tight end Nate Jackson. It's a great book, a revealing look inside pro football from a player, per the book's subtitle, at "the bottom of the pile."
Jackson played six seasons on the Broncos, mostly on special teams and as a backup. His account of the constant pain and suffering endured by the typical NFL player is harrowing. Even as a non-starter, the list of his injuries and ailments is cringe-worthy. But you can understand the high. Even marginal players like him partake of American's adulation of men who pound each other to jelly for our entertainment. The perks are sweet: VIP treatment at Las Vegas clubs, golf with Playboy bunnies, first class hotel rooms, cash to burn.
I was struck by the odd sense of isolation Jackson experiences in the most team-orientated of games. He's just an interchangeable part, a gypsy ready to move anywhere at a moment's notice. The friends he makes get traded and he never sees them again. He lives alone in a gigantic house. He writes of the affinity between strippers and football players because both live outside of normal society and are subject to impenetrable stereotypes.
The world he presents is in contrast to Vince Lombardi-Green-Bay-Packers ideal of my youth. Books about those teams emphasize the intense bonds formed between players and their coach. Today, it's all business.
The best thing I've read on pro football since North Dallas Forty.
Jackson played six seasons on the Broncos, mostly on special teams and as a backup. His account of the constant pain and suffering endured by the typical NFL player is harrowing. Even as a non-starter, the list of his injuries and ailments is cringe-worthy. But you can understand the high. Even marginal players like him partake of American's adulation of men who pound each other to jelly for our entertainment. The perks are sweet: VIP treatment at Las Vegas clubs, golf with Playboy bunnies, first class hotel rooms, cash to burn.
I was struck by the odd sense of isolation Jackson experiences in the most team-orientated of games. He's just an interchangeable part, a gypsy ready to move anywhere at a moment's notice. The friends he makes get traded and he never sees them again. He lives alone in a gigantic house. He writes of the affinity between strippers and football players because both live outside of normal society and are subject to impenetrable stereotypes.
The world he presents is in contrast to Vince Lombardi-Green-Bay-Packers ideal of my youth. Books about those teams emphasize the intense bonds formed between players and their coach. Today, it's all business.
The best thing I've read on pro football since North Dallas Forty.
Friday, April 4, 2014
Boomerang Man
The world boomerang championships? Who knew?
Here's my story about a Wethersfield man who will take part in the boomerang world cup later this month in Perth, Australia.
Here's my story about a Wethersfield man who will take part in the boomerang world cup later this month in Perth, Australia.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Passage of Power
Just finished "Passage of Power," the latest installment in Robert Caro's massive LBJ biography. Very good, but uneven. Parts, especially those dealing with the Kennedy assassination, are brilliant, can't-put-it-down stuff, but other sections drag. Caro unfortunately engages too often in what an editor of mine called "dumping your notebook." Instead of picking and choosing the good stuff, you throw everything into the story.
Unfortunately, this was also true of "Master of the Senate." I have not read the first book in the series, but I can say that "Means of Ascent," Caro's account of LBJ's scandalous 1948 Senate campaign is by far the best so far. The story is so outrageous that it makes your jaw drop, and unlike the next two books, it never, ever drags. I think I read it in a day or two.
Oddly enough, I found LBJ much less interesting once he became president. Of course, the next volume that will talk about the tragedy of Vietnam and is sure to be gut wrenching.
I find LBJ fascinating. He was a vulgar, crude and cruel man who passed some of the greatest social legislation in our history, a man who could never break himself of saying "nigra," but nonetheless did more to assure equal rights than any president since Lincoln. He would be a great president were it not -- and this is admittedly a very big were it not -- for Vietnam.
I have always been fascinated by something I heard Caro say in an interview about one of the books. He dismissed the cliche about power corrupting. The key insight, the key question, he said, is what do people do with power when they get it. By that measure, LBJ, at least on domestic issues, ranks among our greatest presidents.
Unfortunately, this was also true of "Master of the Senate." I have not read the first book in the series, but I can say that "Means of Ascent," Caro's account of LBJ's scandalous 1948 Senate campaign is by far the best so far. The story is so outrageous that it makes your jaw drop, and unlike the next two books, it never, ever drags. I think I read it in a day or two.
Oddly enough, I found LBJ much less interesting once he became president. Of course, the next volume that will talk about the tragedy of Vietnam and is sure to be gut wrenching.
I find LBJ fascinating. He was a vulgar, crude and cruel man who passed some of the greatest social legislation in our history, a man who could never break himself of saying "nigra," but nonetheless did more to assure equal rights than any president since Lincoln. He would be a great president were it not -- and this is admittedly a very big were it not -- for Vietnam.
I have always been fascinated by something I heard Caro say in an interview about one of the books. He dismissed the cliche about power corrupting. The key insight, the key question, he said, is what do people do with power when they get it. By that measure, LBJ, at least on domestic issues, ranks among our greatest presidents.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Pez Pistol
You've heard of Dead Heads and Parrot Heads?
Carolyn Farrlley is a PEZ Head. She is a passionate collector of everything PEZ, including 300 PEZ dispensers and all manner of sweet paraphernalia.
Check out my story about her.
PEZ are originally from Austria, and I recall them when I went there as a child in the late 1960s and early 1970s to visit my grandfather. On one of the trips, someone gave me a PEZ pistol dispenser. It had a magazine that you filled with PEZ and inserted into the handle, and a firing mechanism that moved like a real pistol when you shot one of the rectangular-shaped candies out of the barrel. I recall PEZ flying out of the gun with considerable velocity.
Here's a link showing the exact model and colors of the one I had:
According to this blog, PEZ had to discontinue the toy because kids were shooting candy into their months. Can you say cracked teeth and choking hazard? Luckily, I was never that stupid.
Alas, the pistol broke, plus y wife was never comfortable with it, so I threw it away.
Carolyn Farrlley is a PEZ Head. She is a passionate collector of everything PEZ, including 300 PEZ dispensers and all manner of sweet paraphernalia.
Check out my story about her.
PEZ are originally from Austria, and I recall them when I went there as a child in the late 1960s and early 1970s to visit my grandfather. On one of the trips, someone gave me a PEZ pistol dispenser. It had a magazine that you filled with PEZ and inserted into the handle, and a firing mechanism that moved like a real pistol when you shot one of the rectangular-shaped candies out of the barrel. I recall PEZ flying out of the gun with considerable velocity.
Here's a link showing the exact model and colors of the one I had:
According to this blog, PEZ had to discontinue the toy because kids were shooting candy into their months. Can you say cracked teeth and choking hazard? Luckily, I was never that stupid.
Alas, the pistol broke, plus y wife was never comfortable with it, so I threw it away.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
The Dean
Today, Steve Kotchko, dean of Connecticut's Capitol press corps, begins covering his 40th legislative session. When the veteran radio reporter started out, Richard Nixon was president, legendary Connecticut Democratic Party Chairman John M. Bailey still held sway and Joe Lieberman was a liberal.
I had the privilege of sitting next to Steve during the five years I covered the General Assembly so I got to listen as he taped his reports. I was always awed by his ability to quickly and accurately summarize a press conference or event in a handful of sentences.
I would add that Steve is also very funny and an all around great guy. Think gravitas meets Bill Murray in "Candy Shack."
Steve sat down with me last week for a story. Here's a link:
http://www.courant.com/community/wethersfield/hc-wethersfield-kotchko-0107-20130107,0,7549131.story
I had the privilege of sitting next to Steve during the five years I covered the General Assembly so I got to listen as he taped his reports. I was always awed by his ability to quickly and accurately summarize a press conference or event in a handful of sentences.
I would add that Steve is also very funny and an all around great guy. Think gravitas meets Bill Murray in "Candy Shack."
Steve sat down with me last week for a story. Here's a link:
http://www.courant.com/community/wethersfield/hc-wethersfield-kotchko-0107-20130107,0,7549131.story
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Sweet Child of Mine
Check out Camille and Kennerly, the Harp Twins. Brilliant and bizarre at the same time. I'm surprised at how good Sweet Child of Mine sounds on the harp. Maybe there's more to Guns 'N Roses than Axl Rose's snarl.
I found this video while researching the harp, which my daughter has decided that she wants to play. The harp, it turns out, is a close cousin to the ancient lyre and one of the world's oldest instruments, dating back to ancient Mesopotamia.
Plus there's Harpo Marx, one of my daughter's inspirations for taking up the instrument. She loves Marx Brothers movies.
Funny thing about Harpo, as hilarious as he is, he's always dead serious when he plays the harp.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Silent Cal
Watching the outrage over the GOP failure to vote on Sandy relief aid reminds me of Calvin Coolidge.
Why? Because Silent Cal faced a disaster comparable in scope and destructiveness, the 1927 Mississippi River flood. He was the last president do what the right wing of the Republican party wants today: he resisted calls for federal disaster relief, a stand that was controversial even at the time. It was the last time that the national government failed to rescue the states from a natural catastrophe.
I just read a sympathetic biography of Coolidge. He was actually very progressive early in his career. Far from uncaring or cold, he was deeply devoted to family and friends. The deaths of younger sister and especially his oldest son devastated him.
But he was also a man out of step with his own times. In a decade during which car ownership exploded, he never learned to drive. He refused to use a phone, considering it undignified for a president.
A good, hard-working, decent man, but a template for 21st century leadership? Doubtful.
Why? Because Silent Cal faced a disaster comparable in scope and destructiveness, the 1927 Mississippi River flood. He was the last president do what the right wing of the Republican party wants today: he resisted calls for federal disaster relief, a stand that was controversial even at the time. It was the last time that the national government failed to rescue the states from a natural catastrophe.
I just read a sympathetic biography of Coolidge. He was actually very progressive early in his career. Far from uncaring or cold, he was deeply devoted to family and friends. The deaths of younger sister and especially his oldest son devastated him.
But he was also a man out of step with his own times. In a decade during which car ownership exploded, he never learned to drive. He refused to use a phone, considering it undignified for a president.
A good, hard-working, decent man, but a template for 21st century leadership? Doubtful.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Storage Bores
I'm a big fan of the original Storage Wars. The characters are hilarious, richly layered and wildly entertaining: Barry, the good time Charlie, Daryl, the valley boy-surfer dude gone to seed, Dave, the ruthless predator and Brandi and Jarrod, the battling lovebirds (What a smok'n hot babe like Brandi is doing with a shlub like him is a mystery).
So of course I had to watch the premier last night of New York Storage Wars. And, well, it kind of sucked. Worse yet, it was boring. The characters were flat and uninspiring. The puns fell flat -- and I love puns. Really uninspiring and uninteresting.
We'll see if it gets better, but it seems like Storage Wars may be about to become Storage Bores. I'll take a little Barry banter and Brandi trash talking over this any day.
So of course I had to watch the premier last night of New York Storage Wars. And, well, it kind of sucked. Worse yet, it was boring. The characters were flat and uninspiring. The puns fell flat -- and I love puns. Really uninspiring and uninteresting.
We'll see if it gets better, but it seems like Storage Wars may be about to become Storage Bores. I'll take a little Barry banter and Brandi trash talking over this any day.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Welcome to Chris Hoffman New Haven
Welcome to my new blog, Chris Hoffman New Haven. What's it about? Good question. I'm just going to start posting and see where the ride takes me.
A few things I'm sure of, at least in the short term: I'll post about cooking and baking. I'll regularly put up pictures of the gnome welcome sign and the frog at the entrance to my house. I expect to post links to certain stories I write. And I hope to make some videos about cooking and other subjects.
My goal is to be interesting, thought provoking and entertaining. I hope I succeed.
A few things I'm sure of, at least in the short term: I'll post about cooking and baking. I'll regularly put up pictures of the gnome welcome sign and the frog at the entrance to my house. I expect to post links to certain stories I write. And I hope to make some videos about cooking and other subjects.
My goal is to be interesting, thought provoking and entertaining. I hope I succeed.
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