Pittsblog Silence Continues

There is nothing to report. Life off-line remains far too full to invest time here. And there just hasn't been much in Pittsburgh recently to talk about.

The Burgh Zeitgeist has lost its edge for the moment. The region's obsession with sport led to some nice pre-Summit "Renaissance" PR a year ago. This year, that obsession has turned into a Clint Eastwood movie: The Good (ice hockey, so far), the Bad (the Steelers' personnel woes), and the Ugly (the Pirates). Even the Pittsburgh Airport is no longer throwing off a warm glow. Last week, I hosted a friend from my distant past who was escorting his daughter on a college visit to CMU (she's in, she likes it, she's going -- in creative writing). They came down from Boston - and they drove, because flying in and out of PIT from Boston was so difficult. I've had similar problems getting to and from New York recently.

The only really neat thing that I've glimpsed nearby is "the polio movie," officially known as "The Shot Felt 'Round The World: The Untold Pittsburgh Polio Story," which had its premiere two weeks ago. I didn't see the movie, but I've been waiting for it, and I'm delighted that it is being screened. Jonas Salk is a hero in many, many ways, and his connection to Pittsburgh is never honored enough around here. In my IP world, his heroism stems from the fact that he refused to patent his polio vaccine. Edward R. Murrow asked Dr. Salk who owned the patent on his work. The reply: "Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?" Among scientists today, you don't hear that sort of thing often enough.