Dennis E. Powell's View from Mudsock Heights

Dennis E. Powell is crackpot-at-large at Open for Business. Powell was a reporter in New York and elsewhere before moving to Ohio, where he has (mostly) recovered. You can reach him at dep@drippingwithirony.com.

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Just Assume It's Wrong

By Dennis E. Powell | Jun 21, 2023 at 8:22 PM

As I write this, there is no news about the missing miniature submarine that was launched Sunday in hope of visiting the wreckage of HMS Titanic without itself adding to the rubble.

There Was a Time . . .

By Dennis E. Powell | Jun 14, 2023 at 1:30 PM

New technology and discoveries have improved our lives in many ways, but I wonder if we’ve paid for them in the things we’ve lost. The question was raised through a bit of study disguised as entertainment — how it should be — I’ve undertaken lately. The issue is why it is that when I think of New York City, my first mental image entirely contradicts my years of living and working there.

How About Useful Products?

By Dennis E. Powell | Jun 07, 2023 at 10:25 PM

Last week I saw a short video that demonstrated an amazing new fabric. Controlled by a small “smartphone” application, this fabric changes color. It is very expensive, so the only people who will have garments made from it are teenagers.

The Silent Majority's Silent Power

By Dennis E. Powell | May 31, 2023 at 9:07 PM

If you’re of a certain age, when you hear the phrase “the silent majority” you probably think of Richard Nixon. He used the phrase in the sense that while the loudest and weirdest voices make up the majority of the news broadcasts, they do not make up the majority of the people, who go quietly about their business, saving their opinions for when they matter.

Reporters Reported

By Dennis E. Powell | May 24, 2023 at 10:49 PM

When I was a WOR Radio in the early 1980s everyone smiled when Bruce Eliot came into the newsroom to get a cup of our superior coffee. He was an amiable guy, always with a good joke.

In a Handbasket

By Dennis E. Powell | May 17, 2023 at 9:13 PM

It’s a little mortifying to learn that the Temptations’ hit song, “Ball of Confusion” was a hit 53 years ago. The worrying part is how long ago it was released. And how it came a half century too early.

Rabbit Ears? Um, Yeah, Sorta

By Dennis E. Powell | May 10, 2023 at 11:44 PM
The websites told me to forget it: there is no way in the world I can get over-the-air broadcast television where I live. I was inclined to believe them. I’m glad I didn’t.

Re-finding Newfoundland

By Dennis E. Powell | May 03, 2023 at 10:45 PM

Coincidence, surely, is the reason that the two places on earth I’d most like to visit (but probably never will) are islands.

The Best We Can Do?

By Dennis E. Powell | Apr 26, 2023 at 11:18 PM

Never the sharpest brick in the pile, and never having been accused of honesty, Joe “Bugout” Biden has not aged well.

All really that can be said of him now is that the ravages of time have cast doubt whether his latest falsehood is deliberate or an artifact of senile dementia. The effect is the same: his one hard and fast rule is never, ever to tell the truth. Dishonesty is the one area where he and Donald Trump are real competitors and both deserve to win.

Hi-Fi in the Modern Age

By Dennis E. Powell | Apr 19, 2023 at 9:57 PM

Time was, and it’s well within living memory, that the nicest thing you could say about an audio amplifier as found in a high-fidelity system or “stereo,” was that it was “a piece of wire.”

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