I had lunch today at Google’s big New York beachhead down on the southern fringe of Chelsea. I’d tell you all about it, but I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement to get in. I didn’t read the thing all that closely–it was on a computer screen at the reception desk, and I was hungry. [...]

So tomorrow, April 17, is Tax Day. For those still wondering about why it’s on April 17 this year, it’s because April 15 was on a Sunday and today happens to be a state holiday (or a district holiday, if you prefer) in the District Columbia as well as in Massachusetts, which is home to [...]

Paul Wolfowitz is still president of the World Bank. According to the world’s leading source of Wolftroversy news, the FT, several European finance ministers want him out. But given the way power is exercised at the bank, that’s not enough: A senior European official told the Financial Times that unless the White House withdrew its [...]

I generally try to keep overtly partisan sentiments out of this blog, but today I have two words for everybody: Marco! Scutaro! When I saw him come up to the plate with two out and two on in the bottom of ninth, with the A’s two runs behind, I sort of figured something special was [...]

Once again, no column in the current Time. There are reasons … but I’ll try not to let it happen again. In the meantime, check out Alex Perry’s tale of doing jail time in Zimbabwe. It’s pretty scary, until you get to the point where he gets out by paying a fine of “100 Zimbabwean [...]

So Google is buying Doubleclick. From CNNMoney: Search engine leader Google is buying privately held DoubleClick, a top digital marketing services firm, for $3.1 billion, the companies said Friday afternoon. Google (Charts) is buying DoubleClick from private equity firm Hellman & Friedman, which bought DoubleClick in 2005 for $1.1 billion in a deal that took [...]

So why is it appalling when the kid sees an ad for sugar-infused cereal on TV and asks us to buy some, but it’s totally okay to buy the sugar-infused ice cream that Stephen Colbert has been flogging on TV and feed it to said kid? Because it’s all meant ironically, of course! (I can’t [...]

This Paul Wolfowitz World Bank scandal, while it’s lots of fun to rant about and has just reminded me of a great Los Lobos album that I used to own in vinyl, is starting to nag at me a little. Thing is, Wolfowitz faced a really difficult choice when President Bush foisted him upon the [...]

I can only feel deeply honored when I receive press releases like this one: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Los Angeles, CA Can a reincarnated dog bring hope and renewed life to an owner suffering from multiple tragedies? That’s what Lynda J. Austin, now a well-known writer on dog spirituality, discovered when her own dog Maxwell, a [...]