Category Archives: Quotable & Notes

Where are they now?

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My first effort at a website dealt with the history of the radio station (KBOA) where my father (and later, I) worked for many years. A visitor to the site recently wrote:

“I have been trying to find Norman Shainberg who was a college classmate and friend. I last saw him in Halloran General Hospital when he arrived from Europe on the Swedish ship “Gripsholm” as a repatriated prisoner of war. Being 83 years myself I naturally wonder if he is still alive and if so how can I contact him.”

I’m trying to help him find his friend. This is one of the things I like best about the Net.

Andrew Sullivan on blogging

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“The one wonderful thing about blogging from your laptop is that you don’t have to deal with other people. You can broadcast alienated, disembodied, disassociated murmurings into a people-free void. You don’t have to run something past an editor, or frame your argument to an established group of subscribers. You just say what the hell you want.”

— Andrew Sullivan in Slate

Cliff’s Buffalo Theory

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“Well you see, Norm, it’s like this….a herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Now, as we know, excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, the regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. And that, Norm, is why you always feel smarter after a few beers.”

— Cliff Clavin (Cheers)