Every so often NPR provides a report on a mass phenomena that is so rich in detail, so entirely truthful, and so well scripted that you feel like you are watching a documentary and not listening to one. The incredible Juan Williams this morning gave a feature called Monopoly, Present at the Creation, which highlighted the game’s founders and the ethical and business and ideological backgrounds of the game.
I always had a sneaking suspicion, even as a kid, that the game, while played often by billionaire real estate tycoons, was slightly subversive. It turns out I was only partly correct — the original inventor was Elizabeth Magie, who in 1871 used to the game to teach the virtues of a progressive national economy. The gentleman who popularized it — and began producing the game on oil cloth, was named Charles Darrow. The game was superbly popular during the Depression, when folks couldn’t get enough of feeling like they were rich, even for an evening around the candlelight or light bulb. In any case, Mr. Williams does a far better job than I do at describing the political and historical ins and outs of my favorite board game.

Part of the problem of working a lot, seven days a week for months on end, is that you become less and less interesting. You can participate in fewer activities, events, relationships, and are generally out of touch. As I’ve got a lot of work on my plate during the next few weeks, I apologize in advance for the boring, ridiculous, and often plain dull posts that I’ll inevitably make herein.
It will not be for lack of interest in the world or in you, dear reader. Rather, the mundane and simplistic inanities that will be spawned here are simply signs of unrest, long hours, and poor nourishment. I wish I had a fresh fruit subscription to Harry & David.

If you like Canada, as I do, or just like the idea of it, take a look at this. Very funny and well-produced. Thoughtful, too, in a smart, Canadian way. (You might have to go to the Apple Switch Ads or watch TV to get it.)

For those of you, like me, who want to consume more Web logs, or at least very good ones, here’s the article for you: WSJ.com – Find a Blog. Written by Geoffrey Fowler, this is a great piece about trying to find blogs that are of interest to you.
It sounds like an easy task, but it’s not. I mean, how would you find a blog dedicated to miniature car racing? Or one focused on The Bachelor’s lost angels, one more of whom will gain her wings tonight!

Going along with (I guess) our theme this week (consumerism), I’ve been thinking lately that I’d really like to have a Mercedes-Benz S500V. The starting price is $81,665.
That’s a lot of money. In fact, it’s a grotesquely large amount of money. Well, anyway take a look at that car. I promise that next week I’ll go back to being a reader again.

Well, here you go, folks. Finally, Amazon.com is offering the Segway Human Transporter for sale and you can get one by March 1, 2003, if you order right away.
Boy, I sure would like one of these! Of course, it’s less interesting to me now that I’m driving a car — but I’d love to have one for weekends in the park! Oh yes, only 2 per customer at the price of $4,950 each (a price much larger than the $3,000 number I recall when Amazon first advertised this beauty).

Today, the huge tobacco company put a very slick and probably very expensive brochure (measuring 9.5 x 12.25″) in every New York Post (I’d estimate each brochure cost at least $2.00, perhaps $4.00). Beautifully produced and smartly written, the brochure actually advertises the new Web site of Philip Morris U.S.A..
I have to say this is a nice site — very well formatted, thoughtfully presented and, funnily enough, the focus is on quitting, not smoking, and the harmful effects of smoking. You figure it out — I believe the company recently got slammed with a $800 million law suit — a Web site sure costs a lot less and is cooler to parents and their smoking teenagers. The site is low on actual images which makes the site look kind of like … a blog! Or perhaps a medical Web site. Then again, what images can anyone show these days of happy smokers? Take a look — it’s chock full of good usability, political, and marketing effects.

At today’s services, the Torah portion told the story of Jacob’s semi-understanding that G-d exists in the world. Jacob, the third patriarch in Judaism (after Abraham and Isaac), found G-d amidst the ruins and asked rhetorically, “I did not know G-d was here.” But He was, and He’s really everywhere, so what’s Jacob talking about?
A commentary I read today said something that fascinated me: It is only when we do not know, when we are most unsure, that we are most in G-d’s presence. It is this not knowing that makes G-d close. And I think this is right. If I think of all the people I know, it is those who are least sure, least positive about their place, their birthright, their knowledge, that seem closest to G-d.

I recently wanted to find out what had happened to Niles Crane, the “other” shrink on the show Frazier, which I haven’t watched in years. Cancer? Does anybody know?
More importantly, I believe that GE has redesigned NBC.com and it looks quite smart. Finally, a media conglomerate that takes its audiences seriously — no crazy pop-ups about tonight’s special, no Flash animation grabbing you by the throat to read it, no glaring headlines saying click on the news when you really, truly wanted to be entertained. I very much like their listing of all the main shows below so you don’t have to search for something like Will. And check out the nice little animated peacock logo at the top left. Corporate sweet.

The BBC recently announced the winners of 50 Places to visit before one lays one’s head in the deep, dark earth. It’s kind of a fascinating question — where do you want to visit before your time is up? The top 5 in this list are The Grand Canyon, the Great Barrier Reef, Florida, South Island, and Cape Town. New York City is number 7! I’ve been to 3 of the five, which is not bad.
But it makes me wonder, what are *my* top places to see before I die that I haven’t seen before? Hmm (in no particular order):
– Niagara Falls (where my parents went on Honeymoon)
– Tokyo (where everything is in vending machines and you can sleep in a tube)
– Kiev and Zhitomir (near Chernobyl, Ukraine, where my grandmother was born)
– Alaska (before it melts away)
– Helsinki