Category Archives: Family

What’s up with Dad?

My father was always Pop. He was born in 1908. His father, also Pop, was born in 1863. That guy’s father was born in 1809, and I don’t know what his kids called him. I’m guessing, from the chart above, … Continue reading

Posted in Family | 7 Comments

A happy 75th anniversary

My parents (that’s them, Eleanor and Allen Searls) were married on 17 August 1946, seventy-five years and two days ago. I would have posted something then, but I was busy—though not too busy to drop something in Facebook, where much … Continue reading

Posted in Family, Past, Personal, Photography | 4 Comments

Home is where one’s butt is

I don’t want to explain why we’re bivouac’d at a friend’s house in San Marino. What matters, for the purpose of this post, is that we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the Covid-19 pandemic. But hey, it’s a … Continue reading

Posted in california, conferencing, Digital Life, Family, Friends, Social, Travel | Leave a comment

An evacuated view on the #ThomasFire

Here’s the latest satellite fire detection data, restricted to just the last twelve hours of the Thomas Fire, mapped on Google Earth Pro:That’s labeled 1830 Mountain Standard Time (MST), or 5:30pm Pacific, about half an hour ago as I write … Continue reading

Posted in Broadcasting, data, Family, Geography, Life, Photography, problems, ThomasFire, Travel, tv, weather, wildfire | Leave a comment

Everybody should have a surprise birthday party as surreal and wonderful as this one

The scene above is what greeted me when I arrived at what I expected to be a small family dinner last night: dozens of relatives and old friends, all with of my face. For one tiny moment, I thought I might … Continue reading

Posted in Awesome, Family, Personal, Photography | 2 Comments

A milepost in an increasingly exclusive demographic club

Because I’m busy today, I’ll re-post what I wrote about my birthday five years ago, because it’s no less true now. Here goes… I worked in retailing, wholesaling, journalism and radio when I was 18-24. I co-founded an advertising agency … Continue reading

Posted in Family, Personal | 2 Comments

Consumers can’t help health care. Customers can.

Economically speaking, the American healthcare system is not built for patients, because patients aren’t the ones paying for it directly. Insurance companies are. See, health care in the U.S. is mostly a B2B insurance business. It is only B2C when … Continue reading

Posted in Broadcasting, Business, Family, Friends, Health | 5 Comments

BYSMD

Once, in the early ’80s, on a trip from Durham to some beach in North Carolina, we stopped to use the toilets at a roadhouse in the middle of nowhere. In the stall where I sat was a long conversation, … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Family, Friends, Fun, Geography, North Carolina, Personal, Places, Strange stuff, Travel | Leave a comment

Where the dead receive guests

This is about visiting my great-great grandfather, Thomas Trainor, dead since 1876 and reposing in Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York. Thomas and a friend bought the Trainor family plot, two graves wide, in 1852. It now lies roughly in … Continue reading

Posted in Family, Geography, Geology, history, Past | 2 Comments

What’s up with @TMobile in North Carolina?

Check this out: I took that screen shot at the excellent Oakleaf restaurant in Pittsboro, NC a few days ago. Note the zero bars (or dots) of telephone service, and the very respectable (tested!) data service. To confirm what the … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Family, Gear, infrastructure, Internet, North Carolina, Places, Strange stuff, Technology, VRM | Tagged | 9 Comments