Author Archives: floegel

Running in Place

11/14/2013 – 2:40 pm

I was on the high school track team.  Initially, this was because a) terrified freshmen tend to do things in herds and b) the track team didn’t cut anyone for insufficient athletic prowess. The idea was to compete in the high hurdles, which seemed the coolest track event.  The insufficient athletic prowess thing got in […]

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Legalize It

11/7/2013 – 9:23 pm

Which will be legal first in all 50 states: possession of small amounts of marijuana (say, under an ounce) or same-sex marriage? That’s a quantitative, not qualitative question.  Your chance to predict, pure oddsmaking.  My prediction: pot.  Although same sex marriage has a 14 to two lead, I see pot crossing the 50-state line first. […]

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Nobel, Schmobel

10/31/2013 – 11:57 am

It was pretty clear the Nobel Peace Prize committee goofed when they awarded the 2009 version to Barack Obama, apparently for the sole reason that he was not George W. Bush.  I have sympathy for their error; I was as tired of W’s arrogant idiocy as anyone. Four years later, I wonder if the Nobel […]

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Last Day to Feed the Bees

10/17/2013 – 8:56 pm

Tuesday, the 15th, was the last day to feed the bees, at least in this part of the Champlain Valley.  To ensure a sufficient supply of food to keep a colony healthy through the winter, a hive should weigh 160 or so pounds by now.  Most of that’s honey, but to top off a hive, […]

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Going Down in History

10/10/2013 – 11:44 am

I studied history in college and feel an obligation, as a witness to history, to write something about the political hostage taking in Washington, but I (like everyone I know) have crisis fatigue.  Really, since 9-11 it’s been one war, recession, mass murder or environmental disaster after another. In the first of these posts for […]

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Pink Collar Ghetto

10/3/2013 – 12:33 pm

My old boss, Sue Goetschius, was in the New York Times a few weeks ago.  Alfred University and Alfred State College were tussling with their namesake village over money.  Sue’s acting vice president for external affairs at the university, but three decades ago she was Allegany County bureau chief for the Olean Times Herald.  I […]

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All in the Family

9/26/2013 – 7:58 pm

I try to do this on Thursday each week.  It doesn’t always work, more so as time goes on.  I’ve missed more weeks this year than in the previous 16 combined.  My hours and days overflow, other priorities push their shoulders into the crowd, as they should.  I hate missing deadlines, even self-imposed, especially weeks […]

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