My piece on being hugely ripped off by check fraud from last week's Ventura County Reporter…I'm still dealing with the mess, and the creditors. The alarming truth: According to the accounting firm Ernst & Young, more than 500 million fraudulent checks are written every year in the U.S., out of a total of approximately 60Continue reading “The Danger of Using Checks”
Author Archives: Kit Stolz
George Orwell Pooh-Poohs the NBA Finals
Well, not exactly, but if he were here today, Orwell would no doubt mock it as part of "the lunatic modern habit…of seeing everything in terms of competitive prestige." Here, from a memorable essay called "The Sporting Spirit," in a newspaper column from December 14, 1945, Orwell speaks (taken from George Packer's great Facing UnpleasantContinue reading “George Orwell Pooh-Poohs the NBA Finals”
Noctilucents Spotted South of Iceland
Breaking news from the inimitable Cloud Appreciation Society: Noctilucents spotted south of Iceland, from an aircraft, at 41,000 feet. These are the highest clouds in the earth's atmosphere. From Bill Valentine:
Lefty vs. Lefty: Was Economic Crash Reagan’s Fault?
Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman said yes it was, in a column called Reagan Did It: For the more one looks into the origins of the current disaster, the clearer it becomes that the key wrong turn — the turn that made crisis inevitable — took place in the early 1980s, during the ReaganContinue reading “Lefty vs. Lefty: Was Economic Crash Reagan’s Fault?”
The Inexplicable Rightness of Good Poetry
How does Rae Armantrout write so eloquently without (exactly) making sense? Sky god girl. Pick out the one that doesn’t belong. From a longer poem called Advent, in this month's Poetry. All great art has a mysteriousness, an inexplicable rightness, at which we can only marvel…
Killer of Abortion-Provider May Have Foreshadowed Murder in Bitter Comments Posted On-Line
Last fall this blogger noted in a post on Grist a truly murderous threat directed at Dr. James Hansen, the scientist hero who more than any other single individual has awoken the planet to the threat posed by climate change. In a comment thread on a far-right anti-global warming blog, the commenter called for HansenContinue reading “Killer of Abortion-Provider May Have Foreshadowed Murder in Bitter Comments Posted On-Line”
Why Santa Barbara Homes Burn and Ventura County Homes Don’t
The excellent story in the Ventura County Star doesn't come right out and say it, but essentially it's simple — homes built after modern fire codes are far less likely to burn. 'Specially on large lots: There are thousands of homes in Ventura County that, like Eichele’s, are on what fire officials call the “urban-wildlandContinue reading “Why Santa Barbara Homes Burn and Ventura County Homes Don’t”
But Can Jesus Dunk?
Very Important News: the Lakers will be going, for the second year in a row, to the NBA Finals. This year they will win it all, mostly because of #24. As Denver coach George Karl put it, reported by snarky Los Angeles Times columnist TJ Simers: "I think Jesus would have had trouble covering" KobeContinue reading “But Can Jesus Dunk?”
Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lake Imprisoned Again
The life of the elected (but imprisoned) leader of the unhappy nation of Burma, Ang Sang Suu Kyi, suffered a tremendous blow this month when a middle-aged American, John Yettaw, described as "a well-intentioned but misguided man" swam to her compound from across a lake in Burma. This gave the infamously secretive regime in BurmaContinue reading “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lake Imprisoned Again”
Camping on Angel Island (the beta)
Countless folks warned myself and the fam last weekend to watch out for the fog on Angel Island (as if I didn't know that the San Francisco Bay could get foggy in the summer). This maybe is a difference between locals (who have to live with the fog for months at a time, and wearyContinue reading “Camping on Angel Island (the beta)”
Kit Stolz 