Charley Githler

1 week ago | ithaca.com | Charley Githler

Last week, ownership of the Ithaca Times was transferred to Pathways to Equity, Inc., a​n ​​Ithaca-based non-profit organization. Jim Bilinski, publisher of the Times for over 50 years, since even before it was the Ithaca Times, will close his laptop and ease into a well-deserved retirement, though staying on for a year as a publisher emeritus and special advisor.

2 weeks ago | ithaca.com | Charley Githler

Tesla CEO and world-class weirdo Elon Musk told analysts during the company’s first quarter earnings call last week that “paid” and “very organized” demonstrators were to blame for the company’s recent weak earnings. I was pretty excited to learn that there was compensation available to those of us seeking to exercise our First Amendment rights. Frankly, I could use the cash, given the status of my retirement account.

1 month ago | ithaca.com | Charley Githler

At any given moment, there is an 80% chance that the song going through my head is from a television commercial. That’s been true my whole life. Even more appalling, the odds are decent that the commercial in question last aired decades ago. I inherited the affliction from my father. He could have done upper-level scholarly work, or maybe won a trivia contest (a very fine line divides the two) on the subject of Radio Jingles of the 1940s.

1 month ago | ithaca.com | Charley Githler

The first thing that grabs your attention when you walk into the exhibit space at the Tompkins County History Center is a World War I-era biplane. It’s the “Tommy Plane”, an original Thomas-Morse Scout S-4B, first built right here in Ithaca in 1918. It’s one of a few hundred made; for a time they were used to train virtually every World War I pilot. The plane is bigger than you might imagine, and meticulously, exquisitely restored.

2 months ago | ithaca.com | Charley Githler

By far, the column in this space that I regret the most was the one that ran on September 29, 2016 (the Before Time). It was called “Life Goes On”. The gist was that we should dial down tensions about the election, most things will go on as always regardless of who the president is, the system will prevail. I listed a lot of everyday things that seemed more or less eternal. Boy, did I misread the situation.