Al Qaida operatives

President Obama announced that the US would close Guantanamo within a year and then the press leaped on the news that one person, released from there in 2007, appears to be a chief Al Qaida lieutenant. Has anyone asked whether a prolonged stay at that facility might not turn a reason person into a USA-hating fanatic? Perhaps he was swept up in the early collection days and was never a political enemy of us. Ah, but after God-knows-what treatment, perhaps that turned him into a person ripe for recruitment... Just a thought.

Great video about the 44 presidents

This is a wonderful video featuring the presidents morphing into one another.

Oxford Philosophy

Let's try to embed a player with this Oxford Philosophy spoof by Beyond the Fringe, courtesy of Youtube. Now, this reminds me of a discussion between myself and my friend [and I say "friend' with a certain degree of ironic referential annotation] Larry Reinstein...

Old Photos from PBT

 
 
 
 Here are some great photos from my brother Paul.  

The Bishop

Here is a priceless video from-who else but Monty Python?- on THE BISHOP.

There's a rat in the kitchen, what am I a gonna do?

Some of you may recall the iconic UB40 single, "There's rat in the kitchen..." I am thinking that UB40 must certainly have been instrumental in introducing ska to the American scene in the 80s or early 90s.

In any case, I had my very own epiphany this morning when I arrived downstairs in my house, at 6 am, in the pitch black, to discover indeed a rat in my kitchen. Huge. Dead. Ghastly. I reacted in the appropriate adult way; that is, I ran screaming back upstairs to awake Mike and demand that he deal with it forthwith. Luckily Mike is always up for dead animal removal and picked it up by the tail (augh!!) and put it outside. I got him to agree that it was not a mouse but a genuine, bonafide RAT. Lest you doubt my veracity I am including a picture of the above referenced rat. NOTICE HOW HUGE IT IS...

Now, to whom do we owe honor and glory? We are betting on Rodney, cat supreme but Hektor, the terrier- mind you, did mysteriously go downstairs last night for a while. I do not think he can claim the kill as I am almost positive he would have brought it back upstairs and proudly displayed it on my bed. Oh the horror, the horror. In any case, Rodney was sauntering around the kitchen this morning with a look of modest pride, seemingly saying/thinking "Ah yes, the rat... Well [modestly said] it was really quite simple, really. No problem at all."

The real question is: did the rest of the rats get the message...?

January 2009

Well, I have been busy doing stuff and have neglected my blog. I am sure the world has been holding its breath for the next installment!

I just returned from visiting my friends, the Harris', in Westport, CT. Brig is restoring with utmost faithfulness his childhood home. That involves taking it back in time to the Federalist period and beyond with plaster, original floors, and even kitchen! Good news: they get to keep an early 20th century bathroom rather than going back to the outhouse. Yikes!

But it will be stunning, I am sure.