The woman cutting my hair today tells me her son’s favorite things to watch are horror movies — he really likes The Evil Dead — and The Simpsons. Did I mention that her son is 4-1/2 years old? Read more →
March 2004
You’ve Got a Problem
You know you’ve got a problem when: You take your stroller-age child to an amusement park and you’re buying a beer at 11:30 in the morning; or You are the stroller-age child. I was at California Adventure yesterday and I saw this happening over and over . . . Read more →
I’d Like to Buy a Bowel
Sale of Body Parts at UCLA Alleged — Los Angeles Times Read more →
Today’s Text
Time passes. Listen. Time passes. . . . — Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood Read more →
Happy Birthday, Spam
On this date in 1994, a message was posted to some Usenet newsgroups by the law firm of Canter and Siegel, advertising its services for the Green Card lottery. Others soon followed in the footsteps of Canter and Siegel, torpedoing the usefulness of newsgroups with junk messages, which eventually spread from Usenet to email. According to Brightmail, most email is now spam. Read more →
Come On!
The Kumon (pronounced KOO-mon) learning centers are very popular here in Irvine, where parents are always looking for ways to give their kids a one-up on somebody else’s kids . . . Read more →
The Noble Pug
The pug is among the oldest breeds of dog. It is believed to have originated in China before 400 B.C., and is known to have been a pet in Buddhist monasteries in Tibet. The pug made the long trek to Europe with 17th-century traders of the Dutch East India Company. I bet they had their heads out the window the whole way! Famous pug owners include the Empress Josephine, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Read more →
We Need to Know the Truth
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for president, said he thought there ought to be some investigation of the claim that Aristide was forced out and escorted by U.S. troops. ‘I have a very close friend in Massachusetts who talked directly to people who have made that allegation,’ Kerry said on Today on NBC. ‘I don’t know the truth of it. I really don’t. But I think it needs to be explored and we need to know the truth of what happened.’ — “U.S. denies Aristide’s kidnap charges,” Newsday This has become standard operating procedure for Democrats: put out some outlandish statement (President Bush had foreknowledge of Sept. 11, Bush was a ‘deserter’), then say you ‘don’t know the truth of it’ but it’s ‘out there’ and ‘we need to know’ what happened. — Best of the Web Today Read more →
Stop the Presses
Black Voters Align With Democrats Against Bush — Washington Post Read more →
French Marines
From a Wall Street Journal article on the arrival of French troops in Haiti: U.S. Marines set up a security perimeter at the airport, kneeling in the grass as about 80 French Marines arrived in C-160 transport planes. The French Marines’ supplies included crates of bottled Evian water. Read more →
Separated at Birth
Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Steve Urkel Read more →