Month: October 2003

  • Letter of the Month

    I have been won over by Al Franken a little bit lately because of an interview he did on Michael Medved’s conservative talk-radio show and the Rake interview [“Al Franken Is a Big Fat Genius,” October]. Nevertheless, I think the Democratic Party is a lot like the Rake’s article: confusing and broken up! It’s heartening…

  • It’s Liver, Lover!

    It’s a child’s privilege—and punishment—to help with the Thanksgiving turkey. The responsibility of assisting in the preparation of the main dish is heady, indeed. Turkey is pretty much the definition of Thanksgiving for many kids, and they may dream of the moment when that golden bird is brought out to the big table and all…

  • Hack the Vote

    It’s not hard to get away with rigging an electronic voting machine. No matter how thoroughly the machine is tested, you could always hack it to, say, give every tenth vote for Candidate A to Candidate B, but only if it’s November 4. Anyone testing the machine on November 3 or 5 would find everything…

  • He Leadeth Me Over Still Waters

    Up until about two weeks ago, Mike Byard was a daytime operator of the historic Stillwater Lift Bridge. Byard is one of three seasonal attendants who keep the bridge manned twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week until mid-October, when the Coast Guard restricts river traffic in anticipation of winter. The bridge, built in…

  • Rake Against the Machine

    Every year about this time, the Noise Pollution Clearing House gets a flurry of calls about leaf blowers. Some people don’t like them, and in California, the gas-powered models have been outlawed or restricted in several municipalities. They can’t be used within five hundred feet of a residence in Los Angeles. The director of the…

  • Wisconsin Cat Man

    “Wilbert! Wilbert!” his wife yelled at the top of her lungs toward the makeshift house behind the llama cage at Behn’s Game Farm in the tiny town of Aniwa, in northern Wisconsin. “He’s hard of hearing,” she explained. With a slight limp, Wilbert slowly emerged from the plywood building, looking as though he’d just awakened…