Essays
The sky's no limit: Strippers, nudists take to the air
Published on Feb 20th, 2003
0 comments And you thought the friendly skies had turned cruel, what with the incessant delays, the near-bankruptcy of airlines, and the lousy food. Silly you. No, the news from the airline industry is getting...
Front of the line: The rich get richer in Virginia
Published on Feb 13th, 2003
0 comments F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, "The rich are different from you and me." He was right about that, especially in Virginia. One way they're different here is that they don't have to wait in line. The rich...
What's it all about? Many fingers in the Shuttle pie
Published on Feb 6th, 2003
0 comments What are we doing in space? In the wake of the Columbia disaster, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe has told America that "every piece of evidence" will be examined to determine the cause of "this...
Roe v. Wade: Status quo serves us well
Published on Jan 30th, 2003
0 comments Perhaps the most striking aspect of the many observances of the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized abortion, was the relative lack of drama surrounding...
Feet of clay: Let's take back the church
Published on Jan 23rd, 2003
0 comments The Rev. John Banks, a New Jersey priest, was recently convicted of molesting an altar boy. He told investigators his vow of celibacy "made no direct mention of abstaining from sex." Father Banks...
York: Mystery man of the Corps of Discovery
Published on Jan 16th, 2003
0 comments A friend called the other day to say I might want to take a look at a story in the Metro section of The Washington Post. She knew that I had recently completed a children's novel on the topic of York...
Twin freaks? Human cloning not all bad
Published on Jan 9th, 2003
0 comments At one of the oddest press conferences ever, Brigitte Bosselier, a "bishop" in the Raelian UFO cult announced on December 27 that their cloning company, Clonaid, has succeeded in cloning a 7-pound...
Shady's return: Was Kissinger back to hide assassinations?
Published on Dec 18th, 2002
0 comments Central Virginia's Congressman Virgil Goode and others complained about the recent appointment of Henry Kissinger to investigate 9/11. Citing conflicts with his international consulting work,...
Reparations considered: What's it take to set it right?
Published on Dec 12th, 2002
0 comments Most people never change their minds. Blame ego for this, probably. Reversing your opinion is an act of humility. It suggests that, previously, you were wrong. Wrong? Nobody wants to be wrong! We'd...
Osbourne Inc: Why Ozzy's a great CEO
Published on Dec 5th, 2002
0 comments It's become endlessly popular to make facile comparisons of various non-business-world figures to CEOs. Even today we still see references to George W. Bush having the management style of "a big-...
Not all the turkeys are in the oven
Published on Nov 28th, 2002
0 comments The night before Thanksgiving and all through the county, police were stirring and looking for bounty.  When the tractor beam of light surrounded our car on Interstate 64, we (along with three...
Mr. Oluwa's overture: The email everyone gets
Published on Nov 28th, 2002
0 comments Perhaps you heard from Daniel A. Oluwa over the past few days. He's a member of Nigeria's Federal Audit Committee. He dropped you an e-mail labeled "Strictly Confidential," stating that he's...
Game girl: Sid and Nancy in Electronics Land
Published on Nov 28th, 2002
0 comments The other night, I was bedeviled for more than an hour by a persistent beeping noise. Every few minutes I'd hear the beep, but I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. It sounded like the...
Caller I.D. vs. caller id
Published on Nov 21st, 2002
0 comments Caller I.D has revolutionized telephone etiquette. A helpful (though guilt-laded innovation) for the callee, the invention is potentially devastating for the caller. And not just tele-marketers. We'...
Guilt tip: Voters gave DNA a boost
Published on Nov 14th, 2002
0 comments The guilt or innocence of a man executed for murder is less important than adhering to legal niceties, the Virginia Supreme Court declared recently. Roger Keith Coleman was executed in 1992 by the...
Gush of guilt: Holiday cheer brings water fear
Published on Nov 7th, 2002
0 comments It dawned on me that I've become a bit too obsessive about water usage at home when we hosted out-of-town guests recently. I found myself cringing each time our friends needlessly flushed the toilet...
B-sides: Why I hate my records
Published on Oct 31st, 2002
0 comments Rolling Stone recently published a list of the "100 greatest records of all time," as voted by their readers. "All time" is stretching it. In reality, it's the 100 greatest records the mostly white,...
Celeb unions: Much more fun than the movies
Published on Oct 24th, 2002
0 comments Here's a news flash: Another celebrity love match for the ages has gone south. This time it's Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie. Last time, the pair going splitsville was gonzo comedian Tom Green...
Emily Couric: One year later
Published on Oct 17th, 2002
0 comments Nestled within the Woolen Mills village, Riverview Cemetery is set on a hill overlooking a ribbon of the Rivanna River winding behind Pantops Shopping Center. Walking here, one can hear the traffic...
Pinto to Protege: My life as told in cars
Published on Oct 10th, 2002
0 comments Everyone has a life story that can be told in cars. My first car, a 1967 Pontiac Catalina, was roughly the size of the battleship Potemkin. My father wanted me to have a comfortable ride for my...
Drug czar must abdicate
Published on Oct 3rd, 2002
0 comments According to survey data released this month, past-month use of illegal drugs increased from 6.3 percent in 2001 to 7.1 percent last year. These numbers can mean only one thing: It's payback time. "...
Guilty: Why I shop at Wal-Mart
Published on Sep 26th, 2002
0 comments The guilt hits me as soon as I pull into the parking lot. I know this is wrong. But I don't let it get to me. I try to think of other things like how do they stack those red and blue coolers so high...
Born to be bad? My genes made me do it
Published on Sep 19th, 2002
0 comments Are criminals born or made? A study published recently in Science suggests they're made, but some people provide better raw material than others. The study involved the gene that encodes the brain...
Word to Congress: Before attacking Iraq, declare war
Published on Sep 12th, 2002
0 comments The talk in Congress this fall will all be about a potential war between the United States and Iraq. There will be the elevated discussions: Should the United States undertake this endeavor? When...
Out of Africa: When you're traveling on 9/11
Published on Sep 5th, 2002
0 comments "Is a good time not to be in America, yes?" said the taxi driver. We were speeding through the streets of Cape Coast, Ghana, where the residents' command of English is often as potholed as the...
Deadly mix: Hate and religion an unlikely marriage
Published on Aug 29th, 2002
0 comments The most startling event of our lifetime still partly baffles most Americans. Nearly a year later, we know thousands of details about 9/11, but few can answer the deep questions at the heart of the...
Blame Bogey and Joe: Do movie stars make people smoke?
Published on Aug 22nd, 2002
0 comments It goes without saying that cancer isn't funny. Which should make us appreciate all the more the latest literary achievement of Joe Eszterhas, the notorious screenwriter of such enjoyably trashy...
Protected "porn": Supreme Court saves Romeo & Juliet again
Published on Aug 8th, 2002
0 comments By Michael W. Lynch "What the Supreme Court has said here is that 'child pornography' has to involve children,'" Mark Kernes, a senior editor at Adult Video News, told The New York Times. "And what a...
See ya greater: Why quitting is back in style
Published on Aug 1st, 2002
0 comments   By Rob Walker Even with all the grim business news around us, The Wall Street Journal noted not long ago that employee disloyalty had made a comeback or that it never went away. Workers are...
Charlottesville music: The next Seattle that never was
Published on Jul 25th, 2002
0 comments   By Cripsy Duck Remember the early '90s, when rock aficionados grew suddenly preoccupied with the burgeoning Seattle music scene? As Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam were sweeping...