Hey there Delilah

A while ago I talked about my sneaky liking for Delilah, the soft pop hostess who is live on FM radio about five nights a week.

Well, darned if the lady herself wasn't interviewed on NPR this morning! I was amazed. But I shouldn't have been. A few weeks back Scott Simon had Ozzie Obsorne on the show to commemorate the publication of his new book.

Yup, Ozzie wrote a book. But that's a whole other rabbit trail.

Anyway, Delilah said something to Jacki Lyden that really stuck with me. The host who gets hundreds of thousands of calls from Monday to Friday (the weekends are pre-taped) said that she loves her work because she finds people fascinating.

If you'd heard the interview, even you readers who can't stand 80's music unless it's to the left of alternative would have liked Delilah Rene.

Not the music. The woman profiled here in the Washington Post last month.

People go into the media for different reasons.

Some love to write, but don't much like people.

Some like to perform, whether it be for the television crew or on Comedy Central. Some have a commitment to try to change their culture or their world, or are activists on one particular issue.

And some of them, like this journalist, are driven by the desire to learn more about others -- what drives them, what angers them, what illuminates them. I don't have a late night radio show (although I have to admit that sounds very cool) -- but I share with Delilah a passion for getting to know strangers that seems insatiable.

It occasionally gets me into trouble, like with the guy who wants to get my advice on whether he and his wife should have a threesome. They had one before...no, that was a foursome. Anyway, he didn't seem happy when I told him he'd have to be the one to decide.

But that's a whole other story.

Got a few moments later on tonight?

My Michael Pollan moments

Do you worry/wonder/sometimes obsess about the food you are eating -- or feeding your kids -- or allowing your kids to buy at school?

Are you amazed at the way the nutrition advice we get from those who claim to know something seems to change a little bit every other month?

Then come check out my post at the Philadelphia Mom's Blog about something marshmallow and something blue -- "My Michael Pollan Moments."

Why I'm not poly

So I noticed that this poly guy on an online dating site has made me one of his "favorites."

I am curious. I check him out.

He's a little younger than me. A little chubbier. The picture may have been taken at a party, since he seems to be wearing a pirate hat.

All in all, he looks pretty normal for a middle-aged gent. I wonder if he will contact me, and if so, on what basis. I've already told any would be swains that I don't do sex parties or threesomes. And yes, I've been asked.

But I although I know the poly fellow and I could have an interesting chat, I rarely talk to guys who are so far beyond my own little lines anymore. We just don't have enough in common. Sure they are fascinating -- but I'm not writing a novel.

Why am I not poly? Well, if it's not obvous, check back here later today or tomorrow, and I'll tell ya.

Society of "friends"

This week I lost an online friend.

I'm not sure why, but I suspect it had to do with my rant about global warming.

He's much more of a libertarian, and I guess, though I don't have evidence for my guess, that he thought my opinions were a. hysterical, b. uninformed, c. unsupported by evidence.



I have read enough on the topic to believe that he is, franchment, incorrect. But did I need to get as bent out of shape as I did on the subject? Should I have used more persuasive, logical prose in hopes of creating a dialogue?

Should I, in other words, have allowed room for those who believe climate change isn't happening, that it's a natural, not a man-made happening, or that, worse, it's a hoax perpetrated by the scientific community?

So let's say that I believe that no reasonable person can fail to acknowledge the reality of global weirding -- and he believes the opposite. Does that mean we cannot be friends?

Do you have issues that you feel very strongly about? Do you speak of them with passion?

Have they caused breaches between you and people you thought were your pals?

Which begs the whole question of what it means to be someone's "friend" online, and how genuine that really is.

But let's not argue about it, OK? I'm open to persuasion.