this and that

i feel like i should start my blog with a bang, but not feeling very bangish. instead i will ask this profound question -- who the hell is amy winehouse? all of a sudden the celebrity news pages don't go by without tales of her woes in the headlines. i know i'm getting older and un-with-it (more about that later), but where did she come from and why do we care?

read tonight an article, Mexico City Rolls Out Women-Only Buses, admitting to such blatant sexual harassment problems that they've introduced some "women-only" buses. i'm trying to imagine adding that to all the other frustrations of everyday life. i already had a list of places i'm glad i don't live (obviously topped by those where famine is rampant and those where veiled faces are de rigueur); i've now added mexico city to that list.

now the sign of age thing. i realized recently that today's generation won't have any idea that tv stations used to actually go off the air at night. a picture of a waving u.s. flag (i'm trying to remember if they played the national anthem), a test pattern, and then nothing. gray snow until the station signed back on again the next morning. really.