234-years ago, Adam Smith published the Wealth of Nations. While some see confirmation of Smith’s beliefs in the return of robber barons, others believe Smith did not mean what you think he meant. We see that the Adam Smith we have come to know is actually only 60-years young, and came from Chicago:
…Lost Legacy has never been slow in criticizing the ‘Chicago Adam Smith’, a person with ideas that are far from the ideas of the Adam Smith born in Kirkcaldy in 1723.
Let me start off by saying that Reagan is the President of my youth, the President that as a child I trusted to keep the missiles from falling, who grieved the astronauts, and who – at the time, I thought – single-handedly defeated communism. You can solidly put me down in the “not a fan” column. Yet I still think he deserves a place on our currency.
I love me some Redbox. I’m ashamed to admit that I’m probably a good 5-years behind on movies I want to see. Buying any DVD (with the exception of kids’ movies) is a waste of money, in my opinion. I contemplated signing up for Netflix, but I doubt I would utilize the service enough to justify the expense. Redbox neatly fills that void by allowing me to pick up new releases at my convenience, all for the low price of $1 plus tax.
Carrying the Shamrock Shake is up to the discretion of each franchisee, much like the rest of McDonald’s menu, so some of you may be Shamrock Shakeless (sorry New York, as of 2007).
Fortunately, there is a recipe, which can be perfected with Bailey’s Irish Creme. Check out some vintage commericals on YouTube.
I finally got around to watching the new Star Trek movie.
J.J. Abrams [IMDB] is a genius, and I have completely forgotten TOS (the original series, for non fans. To be honest, I never watched it much anyway) while watching the movie. Although his plot device is probably the most abused in all of SciFi, Abrams manages to do what none of the other directors of earlier Trek movies could – break free of Trek Canon. Jason Kottke explains:
A graphic designer uses the Dwayne Wayne method for football betting for the AFC and NFC.
Via Coudal Partners.
I’m not much of a movie goer (or watcher at home), but the hubbub over Avatar has given me pause.
Any movie that can simultaneously be heavy handed, improbably primitive, cultish, racist, anti-American, anti-corporatist, anti-Christian, pro-environment, pro-nativist, and anti-Imperialism can’t be that bad. I’ll probably wait until it is on basic cable or broadcast TV – it’s not like I haven’t seen this movie before.
[Update for 2010: You can watch the mummers on TV (in Philadelphia) on WPHL17. I can't find any available live online streams 
]
Mummering
is a pagan tradition dating back to 400 BC as the Roman Festival of Saturnalia with Celtic and Druidic influences. Rowdy groups (another proud Philadelphia tradition) parading on New Years Day goes back to Revolutionary times.
