Month: January 2005

  • 511 is a Joke

    Here’s something we never thought we’d say: We were very sad to hear about the end of traffic reports on the radio. Public radio station KBEM, which is owned and operated by Minneapolis Public Schools, was on the receiving end of a pink slip issued by the Minnesota Department of Transportation when the new year…

  • Thorstein Veblen and the New Barbarians

    In 1899, the maverick economist Thorstein Veblen proposed a unified field theory of American civilization. In his savage and oracular masterpiece, The Theory of the Leisure Class, Veblen theorized that wasteful extravagance isn’t a mere byproduct of consumer capitalism, but its underlying rationale. After all, without gross displays of wealth—“conspicuous consumption” was Veblen’s memorable term—how…

  • You Can’t Take It With You

    Last year, my kumquat and I deemed mid-February a good time to soak it up in South Beach. Sunshine, not booze. At 8 A.M., he was off golfing, while I was setting up my kit on the pure white shingle (had I been naked I would have been perfectly camouflaged), lapped by azure waves. By…

  • to the Editor

    HARD-SCRABBLE LIFEIn “War of Words” [the Rakish Angle, January], Tim Bewer is kind enough to cover the National Scrabble Association’s activities here in the Twin Cities, as well as mention the All-Stars tourney in Rhode Island, which was also on ESPN, and finally he acknowledges that two Scrabble-oriented movies are soon coming out of Hollywood.…

  • No Matter How You Slice It

    I love food. I’m a food lover. Maybe the infatuation started when I was bartending to put myself through school; I always seemed to end up with the kitchen guys at 2 a.m., cooking up a mess of eggs and leftovers. But my real journey didn’t start until I fell in love with a chef––now…

  • Honey, You Married a Pervert

    My buddy Ben saw an advertisement for a little boutique that specializes in sex toys for smart women—a small, independent shop owned and operated by women. It got him thinking. He told me it made him want to buy something for his wife, Val, as a surprise for their anniversary. Ben started to sort of…