Popular Stories [Paul Coogan]

Musings from a toll booth on the highway to Hell — We all know where we are going apparently and the menu only has two choices: Heaven and Hell. Well, yes there is purgatory but that is more like a light apéritif when considering the long-term commitment of the other two. The choice of destination is yours and I can’t tell…

Linus was right about the Great Pumpkin — Pumpkin Spice Oysters Rockefeller! 🎃😋 Uptown meets downtown when these seasonal favorites come together and dress to impress! Ingredients 1/3 cup chopped fennel 1/3 cup chopped parsley 1/4 cup chopped celery 1/4 cup chopped shallots 1 teaspoon chopped chervil 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter 2 cups watercress One 28 fl oz bottle of Starbucks® Pumpkin Spice…

The new face of espionage — There is no doubt DJT is the worst President in the history of the United States but what if that completely misses the point? After reading the redacted Mar-a-Lago affidavit it appears the mission of Agent 045 was more successful than any by the revered 007. We usually think of…

How setup a no cost donation website in no time — There are a lot of options for taking donations these days but the most cost effective and well known is PayPal. …

Artist Amber Erceg stands figure drawing on its head — If you have not been keeping up with the work of Amber Erceg you should read about her break-out work Dumpster Ballon as a way of fastening your seatbelt for the release of I’d Tap that. Again Ms. Erceg works with photographic “Objets Trouves” (AKA “The Found Object”) but this…

A pattern of things to come? — Maybe not — Reading through the list of Russian oligarchs that have died since the invasion of Ukraine brought visions of the Romanovs. Though sanctions are putting pressure on Russian wealth, the weight of this news begins to fade under closer inspection. Leonid Shulman — January 2022 At age 60, it appears Leonid Shulman committed suicide due to…

A peek inside the boxes — I recently read this article in the Washington Post that sparked my interest on several levels: Art, Finland, International law enforcement, art valuations, the story promised to be a smorgasbord of news right smack in my wheelhouse. That’s where short-form journalism failed me again. Finland seizes Russian artwork worth $46…

After 161 years Sonoma’s Fort Ross becomes the vanguard again — Wait, what? The Russians want the fort back? It’s been 161 years since the Russians sold Fort Ross to John Sutter. …