Bob Rhubart's Weblog

American Car Culture is Humming Along

2009-05-28T09:51:00.002-04:00

In his Wonderland column in today's Wall Street Journal, Daniel Henninger accuses the Obama administration's efforts to increase automobile fuel economy standards and drive the transition to alternative energy sources of killing an important element of American culture: When Barack Obama announced that the government will use its fist to wave onto the highways of America cars that get 39

Boomer Barbie

2009-03-02T11:57:00.002-05:00

For five decades little girls (and little boys with remarkably open-minded parents) have elbowed their way to the foot of the family Christmas tree to frantically claw at gaily wrapped presents in anticipation of finding Barbie. Today many of Barbie's fans are adults who continue to collect Barbie stuff. But you have to wonder if some of these mature fans aren't thinking that it's about time for

Klingon for Social Occasions

2008-11-12T08:31:00.001-05:00

Being a fan of CBS's Big Bang Theory, I wasn't exactly surprised that this week's episode opened with the characters speaking Klingon. But I laughed anyway. The fact that a fictional language -- or maybe it's a real language created to flesh out fictional characters -- remains such a fixture of popular culture is funny in itself. And that was the inspiration for a column I wrote about ten years

My Election Night

2008-11-05T18:13:00.001-05:00

I voted by absentee ballot a couple of weeks ago because I had to be in Denver for a technology conference on election day. Given the reported voter registration issues -- real and contrived -- and the way things played out for the last couple of presidential elections, I assumed it would take several days before we'd know the real winner. So I was completely surprised when I returned from

Storm Damage 9/14/08

2008-09-15T10:02:00.002-04:00

Storm DamageOriginally uploaded by Bob RhubartAbout an hour after my daughter called from Columbus to report that a wild wind storm was uprooting trees all over her neighborhood, the same thing began to happen in Bay Village. It wasn't long before my wife and I heard a huge thump that shook the house. The limb in the photo was the source of that thump. I now have a hole in my roof, crushed

Gas prices, shrapnel, toxic fumes, and a beautiful lawn

2008-05-27T14:27:00.000-04:00

In The Plus Side of High Gas Prices, Joseph over at Plunderbund writes: Yes, gas prices are much higher than they used to be. And yes, the cost of fuel is impacting the cost of groceries and everything else we buy. But maybe the news isn’t all that bad. Joseph cites increases in the use of public transportation and the use of bicycles as benefits. Those are very good things, indeed,

Elderly Brothers at Wilberts, 5/29/08

2008-05-27T11:36:00.001-04:00

Cleveland faux-folkers The Elderly Brothers will open the CD release party for the Troubadours of Divine Bliss this Thursday at Wilberts in downtown Cleveland. I have a limited number of free tickets for this event. Ping me on Twitter. Technorati Tags: Cleveland,The Elderly Brothers,Troubadours of Divine Bliss,Wilberts,music,faux-folk,live music

35 and Counting

2008-05-25T11:13:00.000-04:00

This past weekend Kathy and I celebrated our 35th anniversary with a great dinner at Momocho, where we learned halfway through the excellent meal that our very gracious and affable waiter was owner/chef Eric Williams. This was our first visit to Momocho, but we promised Eric that we wouldn't wait until #36 to return. Last year at this time I posted exactly the same photo you see here, but

Not so lost in translation

2008-04-02T09:40:00.001-04:00

Among the spam in my inbox this morning, I found this: From: "bio Subject: "Increase your copulation organ" Message body: "Extend your rocket with loads of inches running on the chief therapy. Go instantaneously to bootsize.com and penetrate the praiseworthy therapy on the market." Technorati Tags: email,spam,funny,bad translation

A sure sign of Spring

2008-03-25T13:26:00.001-04:00

Solar Ferris Wheel Originally uploaded by Bob Rhubart The object in this photo is a little solar-powered Ferris wheel, maybe a foot tall. It came into my possession a couple of years ago in one of those weird, overly complex office Christmas gift exchange rituals. There is an electrical cord, but I've never plugged it in. Though I don't remember how it ended up this way, exactly, the

Life in the City with the Hole in the Middle

2008-03-20T16:30:00.004-04:00

Some days are just weird.This morning, driving up W.139th toward the Triskett Rapid Station, I saw a person back out of his/her driveway directly into a parked car. The person paused for a moment, then drove off.At the station, the train, once again, was late. When it finally arrived there were few seats left. As I took up a position in the aisle, I watched as a women quietly but firmly said "

Because we need something to look forward to

2008-03-18T22:30:00.004-04:00

Looking north from the 16th floor of the Penton Media Building in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, on a gorgeous July day. Note the sunlight and the green things and the absence of ice on Lake Erie

The Wind Ate My Hat -- and other tales of Winter Misery

2008-03-13T10:20:00.001-04:00

This morning, after taking about 20 paces out of the unfortunately named Terminal Tower, one of those 75 mph gusts of wind that are all too familiar to those who work in downtown Cleveland (The City with the Hole in the Middle) blew my favorite baseball cap to its new home in a distant galaxy. The week started off on a sour note anyway. On Monday I drove, as usual, to Triskett Station to

I got my sticker

2008-03-04T11:41:00.001-05:00

I voted at 7:30 this morning at the Dwyer Senior Center in Bay Village. No line, no waiting at all. The low-tech, pen-and-paper approach was a bit of a surprise, but the learning curve was not an issue. Afterward, a very cold, uncomfortable young man in the parking lot asked me to sign a petition to allow casino gambling in Ohio. I like casinos. I told him where he could find coffee.

Not all that nasty

2008-02-27T12:14:00.000-05:00

Another ominous drive-time forecast this morning:Nasty morning commute (again) - Weather: Cleveland weather forecast, news, video and more: "The Winter Storm Warning is still in effect for Northeast Ohio. Read the Winter Storm Warning report here. The roads are still slick in places, likely enough to cause some accidents around the area. Check out our traffic page for incidents on your route. and

The Primaries, Hillary, and Change

2008-01-08T09:08:00.000-05:00

Just now, while listening to the BBC Newshour on Sirius, a reporter covering the New Hampshire primary asked a man-on-the-street why he was voting for Hillary Clinton. His reply:"Hillary can make change, and she has the track record to prove it."Can she break a twenty?

Tim Ferris on the reality of RTA

2007-12-06T13:44:00.000-05:00

In response to Tim Ferris's "Claudia pens a beautiful devotional piece" comment on RTAIn August of 2006, for a variety of reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with any dissatisfaction with RTA services, I ended 9 years of daily weekday RTA commuting and rented a parking space in the Penton Media garage. A week ago, for a variety of reasons that include yet another increase in the parking

A Cleveland Evolution

2007-11-25T23:41:00.001-05:00

A tenth anniversary is a significant thing, and I couldn't let a special date pass without notice. At 4:00 PM on Friday, November 21, 1997, I slipped my time card into the clock at Gleasel String Instruments, on the fifth floor of an ancient industrial building at East 36th and Superior, and punched out for the last time, ending a 25-year span of mostly blue collar jobs. At 8:30 am the

BBC NEWS | Americas | Students shot at Cleveland school

2007-10-10T15:22:00.000-04:00

BBC NEWS | Americas | Students shot at Cleveland school: "Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson told reporters that two teenage boys and two adults had been hurt in the shooting and another girl had injured her knee."On the heels of the shootings in Wisconsin comes the news of similar violence right here in Cleveland, just a couple of blocks from where I'm sitting right now.Who needs Al Qaeda? We're

ABC News: Butt Pat Could Get Boys Jail Time

2007-07-24T13:16:00.000-04:00

ABC News: Butt Pat Could Get Boys Jail Time: "Two middle-school students in Oregon are facing possible time in a juvenile jail and could have to register as sex offenders for smacking girls on the rear end at school."As is pointed out in the ABC article and elsewhere, there's no question that what these kids did was inappropriate. But if adolescent ass-grabbing is a sex crime, 80% of the boys in

Nation Beat @ Ingenuity 3.0

2007-07-21T12:59:00.001-04:00

Pounding it out Originally uploaded by Bob Rhubart I left work a little early on Friday to walk over to Ingenuity 3.0. Got there just in time to catch the last couple of numbers by Nation Beat, a fantastic World music band, based in Brooklyn, New York.

Pope: Other Christians not true churches - Yahoo! News

2007-07-11T14:29:00.000-04:00

Pope: Other Christians not true churches - Yahoo! News: "LORENZAGO DI CADORE, Italy - Pope Benedict XVI reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation."Perfect! In a world already torn apart by religious sectarian

Yucking it Up

2007-04-27T20:23:00.000-04:00

Manohla Dargis's New York Times review of Robinson Devor's horse-on-men sex documentary "Zoo" includes this sentence: "It is, after all, difficult to sing of the bodies electric and equine amid a chorus of 'yucks.'"The first thing I thought of when I saw the word "yucks" was that I wouldn't have spelled it that way. I associate the word "yucks" with laughs, as in "let's get together and have a

Author Kurt Vonnegut dies at 84 - Yahoo! News

2007-04-12T08:49:00.000-04:00

Author Kurt Vonnegut dies at 84 - Yahoo! News: "Vonnegut, regarded by many critics as a key influence in shaping 20th-century American literature, died Wednesday at 84. He had suffered brain injuries after a recent fall at his Manhattan home, said his wife, photographer Jill Krementz."So it goes.

Satellite Radio Combination Criticized: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

2007-04-03T16:39:00.000-04:00

Satellite Radio Combination Criticized: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance: "Because there will be fewer channels and programs operated by a combined monopolistic entity, there will be less demand for innovation and a fresh supply of creative new talent and material,' The Carmel Group wrote."If I knew of an effective way to express a spit-take in words, I'd do it right now.According to this story,