Category Archives: Observations

Is this Dana Rohrabacher’s car?

The driver of this car changed lanes abruptly in front of me in heavy traffic on K Street this afternoon. As you can see, it’s registered in California and bears a license plate marked “U.S. CONGRESS 46.” Does Rep. Dana Rohrabacher drive a green Oldsmobile Aurora? As far as I can tell, it is — [...]

Past performance and future results

Ladies and gentlemen, the starting pitchers for your 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates! Career ERA and ERA+: Jeff Karstens — 4.89, 89 Zach Duke — 4.39, 98 Paul Maholm — 4.30, 100 Ross Ohlendorf — 6.13, 71 Ian Snell — 4.67, 92 Maholm’s career ERA+ of 100 means he is a perfectly average major league pitcher. All [...]

Can’t go wrong

Lindsey says I’m “lobbying for Iron City to become the next hip beer.” It’s true. Iron City is a no-frills lager brewed in Pittsburgh since 1861 by a company that survived bankruptcy a few years ago. If you’re looking for a bland beer with a proud industrial history, look no further (and for $3 or [...]

Going home again makes good sense

One of my parents’ friends told me a story a few years ago about moving home to Pittsburgh for what he expected to be a few months after graduate school before going to New York to start his life. But then an illness stalled him, and then he met his wife (who’d had big-city ideas, [...]

God is a vain ad wizard

I’ve noticed that “God” has leased some space on Washington metrobuses to run an ad that says, “Why believe? Because I created you and I love you, for goodness’ sake.” Humanist associations in the United States and Britain have been running ads using similar words for a few months (“Why believe in a god? Just [...]