During past school year, I tutored math and language arts in a local fifth-grade class, so when Public School Success Team (PSST), the homegrown non-profit that ran the tutoring program, decided to encourage a continuing flow of student enthusiasm over the summer, I volunteered to lead a course. Conducted al fresco in my backyard, it [...]
Author Archives: Steve Cotler
Is It Really Extra Virgin Olive Oil?
July 18, 2010 – 12:50 am
On July 14, the UC Davis Olive Center, part of that school’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, released a paper reporting that 69% of randomly selected imported Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) brands had “defective flavors such as rancid, fusty, and musty” and “did not meet international and US standards.” This compares to a [...]
Zorb in Slovenia
July 12, 2010 – 5:42 pm
The Zorb
In 2002, my son and I toured Slovenia by car. Rarely featured as a travel destination, Slovenia is a gem: fabulous scenery, interesting and friendly people, inexpensive (comparatively) accommodations…and it has Zorb.
What is Zorbing? Well, the website states: Imagine yourself suspended inside a clear inflatable plastic ball of about 3 meters [...]
LeBron’s Choice
July 7, 2010 – 3:44 pm
LeBron James, 25, is arguably professional basketball’s biggest star. A member of the Cleveland Cavaliers since jumping straight from high school in 2003, he has led the Cavs to playoff berths for six consecutive seasons. In addition to his basketball salary, he makes many millions each year from endorsements. In December 2007, James was ranked [...]
Anthropocene: What’s in a Name?
May 24, 2010 – 3:10 pm
Geological epochs are defined by the major events that separate them, as when green algae in primeval seas put oxygen into the atmosphere and made animal life on earth possible. Has human technology become one of these epoch-defining events?
Elizabeth Kolbert, a New Yorker staff writer who is aware and knowledgeable about the discussions and [...]
Being Positive Anymore
May 7, 2010 – 8:51 pm
Try this experiment? Write a declarative sentence using the word “anymore” that does not include a negative. You are not allowed to split the word into “any more” as in:
“If there are any more interruptions, I shall clear the courtroom.”
I’ll wait while you cogitate…
The vast majority of you will not be able to.
Sheiks on a Plane
May 6, 2010 – 3:19 pm
Ali Balak Qatlar
Satif Luwi Qatlar
On a balmy Saturday morning in late-1978, two 30-something brothers boarded a Pacific Southwest Airlines flight in Los Angeles. As they walked up the outdoor stairway into the PSA jet, The two men looked suspiciously like Arab terrorists during a time when Arab terrorism was non-existent. They were traveling under their [...]
Betting the Final Four–2010
March 30, 2010 – 9:16 pm
If you bet on the Final Four (or on almost anything), the bookie’s odds always include a built-in percentage for the house. Last year I calculated the Las Vegas Final Four edge at 9.8%.
This year the edge is so big (20.8%) that something must be wrong!
“Muslim” March Madness
March 22, 2010 – 4:30 pm
Ali Farokhmanesh
Omar Samhan
What is the overlap between the set of all rabid NCAA Basketball Tournament fans and the set of all knee-jerk despisers of anything Islamic? I suspect the intersection is large.
If so, then the first two rounds of March Madness may promote more US-Islamic tolerance than all the State Department visits Hillary Clinton can [...]
Census Suspicions
March 16, 2010 – 7:02 pm
I received an email this week with the subject line: Census violating our privacy rights?
It included this comment:
Personal questions are asked by the census taker, [but] I answer only “2 persons live here”. That is all. I consider that anything more is invasive…In past years we have had census takers in our face, in our [...]
