Recently in Miscellaneous Category

I hope you are all having a wonderful long weekend. TB, the kids, and I certainly are. Yesterday we had a movie night, and broke with our usual routine to dine in front of the TV. The movie was National Treasure: Book of Secrets. The movie fell somewhat short of the first due to its predictability, but the banter and special effects were top notch. And there was a hint of a third movie to come which we'll definitely want to see.

Today, the kids are over at a schoolmate's house for the afternoon. TB is taking it fairly slow since she's recovering from a tooth extraction combined with a sinus infection. Me, I've got around 35 pounds of pork shoulder (butt roast) on the smoker - it's pulled pork for dinner tonight.

Had we not received the invite for the kids, I would have liked to have driven south to the tour of Dover's Revolutionary War veterans at Christ Episcopal Church Cemetery in Dover. Did you know we lost 25,000 people in the Revolutionary War? Not all were battlefield deaths, most died from disease or in prison ships. Casualty-wise, the Revolutionary War differs dramatically from our current conflict in scope. What the first war does have in common with today is that the troops then, as now, were all volunteers.

While all those who have died in defense of our country deserve respect and remembrance today and every day, there's a special place in my thoughts for those who willingly serve knowing that they may not survive. It's a devotion and love for country and countrymen that some Americans don't feel and can't understand. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as this is a free country and folks can believe as they wish. Still, I can't fathom the need for some to take a day like this and use it to deride the sacrifices so many have made for our country.

For example, I saw a post yesterday on another blog suggesting that we separate Memorial Day into two holidays - one to "honor the troops that were drafted into fighting", and another to shower contempt upon those "schmucks that signed up for it" who "knew what they were getting into". This means volunteers, including, for example, the 25,000 I mention above and the 6.3 million who volunteered during during the second world war.

However, it's still a free country, and I don't mind having volunteered 20 years of my life toward maintaining his right to spit contempt and ignorance.

Back to the real nature of the holiday, though. TB and I wish for all of you to have a safe and happy holiday as we honor and thank those who gave us the freedoms we enjoy today.

Especially the volunteers.

Heh. I was thinking "Psycho".

Quick, what's the title of this post referring to?

If you guessed you, have a cigar. I'm not a breakfast person, and I'm grateful I didn't have to hold down an omelet while reading this:

Since they first walked the planet, humans have either buried or burned their dead. Now a new option is generating interest — dissolving bodies in lye and flushing the brownish, syrupy residue down the drain.

The process is called alkaline hydrolysis and was developed in this country 16 years ago to get rid of animal carcasses. It uses lye, 300-degree heat and 60 pounds of pressure per square inch to destroy bodies in big stainless-steel cylinders that are similar to pressure cookers.

Ick.

I missed this a week ago when it broke:

Retirement home tries a second renovation to rid itself of swastika shape

DECATUR, Ala. -- From the ground, the Wesley Acres Methodist retirement home looks like any other building. But fly over in an airplane, and the outline is unmistakable: It's one big swastika.

Prompted by complaints from a Jewish activist, the agency that owns the government-funded building is planning to alter its shape to disguise the Nazi symbol. The move comes just a few years after a $1 million design modification meant to quiet similar complaints from a U.S. senator.

And indeed, it does look similar to a swastika:

I have no problem with Jewish folks being offended by the symbol associated with the holocaust. What makes this a little over the top for me is the claim of conspiracy from Avrahaum Segol:

The latest push to rid the landscape of the broken cross shape follows complaints from Avrahaum Segol, the same Israeli-American researcher who last fall helped publicize a swastika-shaped barracks at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego. The Navy said it would spend about $600,000 to alter the building, which opened in the 1960s, but the work has not yet been done.

Segol calls the Alabama retirement home a "sister swastika" to the building in California and says they were both part of a tangled, government-funded conspiracy to honor Nazis.

Segol claims the swastika shape of Wesley Acres in Decatur pays homage to the German scientists who came to nearby Huntsville after World War II and designed the rockets that put Americans on the moon.

Was there a conspiracy? Who knows? Here's the barracks in San Diego:

Unrelated to Mr. Segol, here's a town in Belgium that had to change it's fountain for the same reason:

Again, I don't question the offensiveness of the symbol. But if we've come to the point that folks have to scour satellite photos to find something offensive, maybe we all need to take a minute to reflect on how far we've come that there's so little left to pick at.

The folks at PR Newswire channeling The Shining. Redrum.

It's a fairly slow news day (for the moment, anyway), here's a few miscellaneous items:

• Eric Ruth at the WNJ suggests that Delaware businesses will gain from the upcoming bump in Maryland sales tax. Good thing, if it happens, but color me skeptical. Folks wishing to dodge Maryland sales tax already come here to shop. Last night I went to Elkton with the family to shop at the only decent Wal-Mart in the region, and parked in a sea of Delaware-tagged vehicles. It would seem that that sales tax isn't the only thing folks consider in choosing where to shop.


• Fox News has been flogging this story about a dog from the Washington Square area possibly being held for ransom. Not to take away from the story itself, as it's truly difficult not to empathize with the dog-owner's loss, but why is this a national top story for Fox? Have they run out of MAWWs (missing attractive white women)?


• I stayed away from the story about the NIE last week. Opinions on the right are as varied as I've seen, and the left predictably has flip-flopped on their view of our intelligence agencies. Before, they were untrustworthy tools of the administration, suddenly the CIA is back in vogue now that the meme is convenient to the reflexive purveyors of hatred toward all things Bush. All kinda predictable, I suppose. A couple of points, though. Applying pressure on a rival nation and actually going to war are very different, and I've seen nothing substantive to indicate that Bush has crossed that line or even plans to. With even many on the right (including me) conceding that the administration has made plenty of errors, why does the left feel compelled to engage in fantastic conspiracy hype and downright dishonesty?


• Okay, one more thought on the NIE. In industry, it's not uncommon to design something even go so far as to prototype it, then shelve the design while waiting for some outside event to occur, such as new availability of raw materials, or the maturing of complementary technology, or an anticipated change in market conditions or politics. The elephant in the middle of the room regarding Iran is that they did indeed have a nuclear weapons program, and they are still enriching uranium they don't need. Isn't it possible that they shelved it for reasons having nothing to do with us? Wouldn't it be folly to assume that "shelved" is the same as "scrapped"? Just asking...


• On the CIA's destroyed interrogation tapes - everyone knows that we waterboarded two or three terrorists a few years ago, and haven't done it since. Does a tape of an event already admitted to really add anything new to anyone's argument on either side? Other than to be used as fuel for demagoguery, that is. Speaking of which, all of the "obstruction of justice" talk seems to be a little overboard in light of the fact that no one was objecting to the CIA's techniques at the time, including some key Democrats like Nancy Pelosi, Jane Harman, Bob Graham, and John D. Rockefeller. But I don't hear anyone calling for investigations on their complicities in the matter...


• I agree that Huckabee is starting to look like he has too many warts to go the distance. Shame, too, as he seemed pretty likable before his record started coming to light. Maybe there's still time for Fred to come alive...


• Lots of folks seem to agree with the sentiments in this opinion piece. I can't remember Ron Williams' message, though - all that stuck with me was the childish and petty tone of the piece. Shame, too, as Ron might have had something important to say...

...of kidney failure. Hope there's not a hidden message here.

The AP article tells the story about how Gatorade was invented, I'd never heard it before. It started with a coach asking the inventor, "Doctor, why don't football players wee-wee after a game?"

I've never heard a coach say "wee-wee", have you?

Here's a Canadian Passenger ship that sunk yesterday near Antarctica. The good news - nobody hurt!

Well, soon, anyway. It's been a long break, and we're playing around with updating the site and doing some housekeeping. Upgraded to Movable Type 4.01 - what a pain that's turning out to be, but it should be to the good after it's finished.

In the next week or two we'll be making regular posts again.

Although not well-rested. Yesterday was my youngest daughter's birthday - 5 years old. As you might expect, it was a big night in our home - decorations, presents, balloons, movies, Barbie dolls, cake, ice cream, and sodas well into the night. It was worth it, though. I'll accept tired - before I left for work, I noticed she was smiling in her sleep.

I hope that one and all have a safe and happy holiday. Regular blogging will resume tomorrow.

Pottstown, PA - Gator lunges at man delivering newspapers

Lindenhurst, NY - Police capture gator on Long Island lawn

Would somebody please call Florida and let them know they left the gate open again?

And I may or may not post much today depending on what TB and the kids have planned for me. All I know so far is that they created homemade Father's day cards, thanks to the fact that 4 year-olds have no sense of how far voices carry.

I hope all the Dad's out there have a terrific day!

Foul ball.

Because there's a tragic shortage of this kind of thing in the blogosphere.

Yesterday I took the kids to a place called Boomers in Avalon, PA (miniature golf, arcade, pizza, etc). The weather was great, the kids had a wonderful time, and I noticed this garrison flag flying over the Perkin's restaurant next door:

I hope you all had a great weekend.

To my post Sunday about the collision between the Nisshin Maru and the Artic Sunrise. Andrew Davies, stationed aboard the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, posted the following comment:

Thanks for trying to tell both sides of the story, but there is an important inaccuracy in the above post.

The captain of the Arctic Sunrise in fact did put his ship into full astern, trying to avoid the collision.

Check out the video on our site again. You can see from the smoke coming out the stack of the Sunrise that her engine is working hard. You can also see that she is moving dead slow, or even in reverse - while the Nisshin Maru is moving at a good clip.

So yes, at first the Arctic Sunrise captain maintained course and speed (as required), then realizing the Nisshin Maru was not going to give way (as required), he went full astern in an attempt to avoid the collision.

It should also be pointed out that in the minutes before the incident, the Nisshin Maru was tied up along the OTHER side of the tanker (the third ship in the video). It cast off, turned to port and went all the way around the stern of the tanker in order to line up on the Sunrise.

Finally, I want to also point out that we have as much a right to be in this part of the ocean as they do. I have been out myself in our small boats, getting between whale and harpoon, and we are at all times considerate of the whaler's safety - if only they were as considerate of ours.

For more about our work I encourage you to check out our crew weblog.

First, thanks to Andrew for his comment. It's always nice to hear from folks you write about. And since he surely realized that this is a conservative site unlikely to be friendly toward leftist organizations like Greenpeace, worthy of respect as well.

I've taken his advice and viewed the video again. And again. I must have watched it over 50 times. So many times that I delayed posting this until today. And it appears he may be right about a couple of things.

The Artic Sunrise is indeed moving slow - nonetheless, when the video starts it is moving toward the Nisshin Maru's bow. Since the Nisshin Maru was making a hard left turn at the time, it's obvious that it's bow was not moving toward the Greenpeace ship - it was the Greenpeace ship moving toward the Nisshin Maru.

As you play the video, listen to the engine sound. It doesn't vary throughout the tape segment. From the time the video starts, it appears that Artic Sunrise is indeed in reverse. I take this not from the audio alone, but from the video and a couple of photographs released by the owners of the Nisshin Maru. I found them posted at Jennifer Marohasy and they really clarified things:

This first photo has a good view of the water near the Artic Sunrise's bow. It's clearly the wake of a boat in reverse. In the second picture, look at the churning water towards the stern. Remember that the engine sound doesn't vary. Not knowing the sounds of the engine in the Artic Sunrise, I had no way of knowing prior to viewing this picture whether the Sunrise was idling or working hard. The smokestack didn't help here, Andrew. Could be a dirty engine (wouldn't that be ironic), and this is also in a cold climate - no, the smokestack alone is a poor indicator. But the picture helps to show that the Greenpeace vessel is indeed in reverse and actively trying to avoid collision for the duration of the tape. So to answer the question of whether the Artic Sunrise rammed the Nisshin Maru... No. They didn't.

But that doesn't automatically answer the question of who's at fault for the collision. As I mentioned before, the Sunrise is closing on the bow of the Maru at the beginning of the video. If the ships were over a kilometer apart at the beginning of the incident, then the Artic Sunrise closed much of that gap herself - and unnecessarily so. The purposeful close proximity manuvering of the Greenpeace ship in a wide-open stretch of sea, combined with their signature tactic of blockading created a condition under which accidents were more likely to occur.

Andrew is right that Greenpeace has as much right to be in the ocean as anyone else. But that right needs to be applied with a little wisdom. A pedestrian has a right to cross the street. If I step out in front of a moving car, I should expect to be hit. In most places, the law would likely be on my side. But as a practical matter, it would still be my fault, since I could easily (and wisely) wait for the car to pass, giving that large, moving chunk of metal the respectful distance it deserves.

LB, TB, and the kids wish all of you a very merry Christmas.

In the ongoing war between Wal-Mart and the Unions, things are heating up:

Deputies arrest two in Wal-Mart protest

The head of a South Florida labor-rights group was arrested on assault charges Thursday after about 20 protesters clashed with a Wal-Mart manager outside the retail giant's store in North Lauderdale.

Alyce E. Gowdy (pictured left), 30, who runs South Florida Jobs with Justice, and Jean A. Janvier (pictured right), 41, were arrested during a protest against Wal-Mart's labor practices. Some of the demonstrators were dressed as Santa and his elves.

Someone called 911 after one of the protesters pushed the store manager, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office. Deputies arrived at 3:24 p.m. at the store at 7300 W. McNab Rd. and took Gowdy and Janvier into custody.

Now the interesting thing about this incident isn't the scuffle. It's the diversity of the two sides' stories shilled to the press. Here's WakeUpWalMart's story:

Contrary to the myths put out by Bob McAdam, a former Tobacco spokesman, what actually occurred, based on over 10 witnesses in and out of the store, was that four of our supporters, one of whom was a 13 year-old child dressed in an elf costume, entered the Wal-Mart to make the manager aware of Wal-Mart's terrible health care record.

Note that they went inside the store - a union protesting no-no.

According to all who entered the Wal-Mart store, at no time did a single customer react negatively to our group, nor did any child cry. Wal-Mart statements to the contrary are false and manufactured lies. At all times, our supporters were respectful and polite to all. In fact, the truth is that many customers were shocked to learn about Wal-Mart's poor health care record.

"According to all who entered the Wal-Mart store..." it appears that they're referring only to the four protesters. Why no independant witnesses? And the reference to customers being "shocked". When you enter a business and start discouraging customers, you're inhibiting the operation of that business. A no-no for anyone. And I would have to say that "shocked" is indeed a negative reaction.

The manager then said he did not care about our health care concerns and asked the group to leave. The group said to the manager they would leave immediately - and did.

As the four supporters exited the Wal-Mart, the manager and his security personnel became hostile to the outside group and then pushed two of our supporters. In fact, contrary to misstatements by Wal-Mart's Bob McAdam, our supporters were peaceful and respectful inside and outside the store. In contrast, the Wal-Mart manager and security personnel not only unfairly targeted two of the group, but the manager became hostile, aggressive, and Wal-Mart personnel actually were the ones to push and shove the two African-American supporters.

Again, all who witnessed the event, including a Reverend and professor, state the event and actions by our supporters were peaceful - both inside and outside the store.

"including a Reverend and professor" - The Reverend is Reverend Dr. Lucy Hitchcock Seck of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Miami (pictured left). Here's a sample of her work:

"The whole Iraq mess is scary not only because we, the people, the Congress, the United Nations, the Brits, were duped into going to war unnecessarily, but because our elected officials will still not become transparent, but issue statements that are crazy-making. We live in a Halloween house of spooks and mirrors. What wraith will jump out at us next? And each wraith is re-imaged, and distorted and impossible to catch as it bounces from one teller or observer to the next. In the Nike case before the courts, it is being determined if false advertising can be legitimated as free speech. That is, which is the higher value before the law honesty or the free speech that allows false advertising? On NPR this week, I heard some earnest government spokeswoman's cover-up of our President's subterfuge regarding what he knew before going to war and wondered if she knew the truth herself or if she had just bought so much party line, had been fed so much propaganda, that the truth was lost forever."

Sounds more like BDS than religion. Here's another sample:

"I am thankful for Kurt Vonnegut whose real religious practice, as I see it, is to speak out against injustice and foma or lies. He helps us to overcome despair with a cat's cradle, “a pulling of the strings of our life back together” again and again. Perhaps there is “no damned cat, no damned cradle,” no God, no Heaven, but he reminds us there are “Houses of Hope and Mercy in the Jungle.” There are Albert Schweitzers. "

Somehow I don't picture her flock muttering "amen" and "praise the Lord" or even something in Latin or Arabic very much.

Anyway, her statement starts with "A group of us were taking part in WakeUpWalMart.com's 'All I Want for Christmas is Health Care for Mommy' campaign." Anyway, she's a player, and definitely has a dog in the fight. Not the first choice for a credible witness. Even the religious credentials are somewhat shaky - the Unitarian Universalist Association looks more like a magnet for left-wing political activism than a religion.

How about the professor? That would be Bruce Nissen (pictured left), whose statement starts with "We were peacefully handing out literature to customers." Oops. Another player. And the credentials don't help here, either. And a side note for anyone putting together professor bios on college web sites - Avoid using the word "scholarly" repeatedly, as in "He has published seven scholarly books", and "Dr. Nissen is also the author of 20 scholarly articles in books and in journals". It's redundant, and gives the appearance that you're trying to convince someone - and will likely have the opposite effect.

So if the witnesses are not credible, what do they have left? Well, there's the language of the "witness" statements. Each has two common themes - the first is best done by showing examples:

That they can't separate their political message from their statements about the alleged assault speaks volumes. Also, doesn't this kind of sound a little like Eddie Haskell from Leave It To Beaver and other characters from the 50's and 60s, answering charges of wrong-doing by starting out, "well, I was on my way to help out the sick and elderly when suddenly..."

The second theme is more odious. Here's a few quotes:

"target two African-Americans for arrest"

"unfairly targeted two African Americans"

"they targeted two African Americans"

And here's a sentence from Lucy Hitchcock Seck to tie it all together:

I can only hope Wal-Mart will acknowledge its profound mistake and explain why two citizens were apparently racially profiled by Wal-Mart.

I think the direction taken here is obvious. And to cap it off, the press release includes an ad hominem attack on a Wal-Mart employee:

"Contrary to the myths put out by Bob McAdam, a former Tobacco spokesman..."

"...instead of thinking about new ways to use a former Tobacco spokesman who only specializes in misleading the American people."

Okay - in one corner, we have the union bunch from United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (that's the WakeUpWalMart bunch above). In the other corner, we have Wal-Mart, with a statement on their web site:

“Unfortunately, this union leader campaign stunt went too far,” said Bob McAdam, vice president for corporate communications at Wal-Mart (pictured right). “Union demonstrators dressed as Santa and his elves entered a Wal-Mart and began presenting some of the children in the store with wrapped boxes. The children became excited and started saying things like, ‘Let me have the big one.’ But when the children opened the boxes, they found that the boxes were empty. Needless to say, the children were upset and some began crying.

“When asked to leave, the demonstrators became argumentative. They claimed that they had permission from the Wal-Mart home office to demonstrate, but, in fact, they did not. Soon the demonstrators began pushing and shoving Wal-Mart associates. The Broward County Sheriff’s office was alerted and deputies arrested two demonstrators for battery and gave fifteen other demonstrators trespassing warnings."

You probably think I'm gonna go easy on Bob, but I'm not. First, bringing the "children crying" meme adds nothing to the overall story, and is included just to elicit emotion.

"Pushing and shoving Wal-Mart associates" is somewhat of a stretch compared to the news account ("Someone called 911 after one of the protesters pushed the store manager").

And this last paragraph is noteworthy enough to quote in its entirety:

“The Washington, D.C.-union leader campaign is failing. With sales up 4.3% last month and 10 million people visiting our stores in just the first six hours of Black Friday, the union leadership is resorting to desperate and divisive attacks. The American people are becoming increasingly incensed by the nature of this campaign and are still wondering why the union leadership is obsessed with attacking a company that creates jobs and provides affordable health insurance to working families.”

If Bob really wants the protesters to go away, taunting them isn't going to help. And in a statement about an alleged assault, it's definitely out of place.

It's curious that Wal-Mart, famous for the number of video cameras in and around their stores, hasn't released any security video of the incident. Or perhaps the police took the tapes for evidence. Still, if I were that manager, I would be pressing to get the tape on the six o'clock news. Wouldn't you?

So who's telling the truth here? I think, even with the posturing by Mr. McAdam, Wal-Mart probably has the upper hand for believability. One would have to presume that the Broward County Sherriff's Deputies would ask a few uninterested bystanders what happened, and probably review any relevant security tapes.

In the end, we may never find out the truth. My prediction is that Wal-Mart will drop the charges to spare itself the accompanying publicity. But as the union's war against Wal-Mart gets increasingly emotional, I expect this won't be the last incident.

By the way, if you want more analysis of the politics of the union vs. Wal-Mart soap opera, Starling Hunter at The Business of America is Business has a number of very good posts. Try here, here, and here for a start, but check out the rest of his blog as well - some good stuff there.

Update 12/19/05 7:19 PM: Commenter Amy asks: "Did they, or did they not, hand out empty presents to children?" Well, you ask, we deliver. According to the Ft Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel:

Kali Zervos, membership director of South Florida Jobs with Justice and a Thursday afternoon protester, said four people went into the store and handed out the gift-wrapped boxes: Santa, an elf and two activists. The boxes were given to employees and the manager, not children, she said.

As I said before, why no uninterested witnesses? The two stories are sooo far apart.... And again, I still have to award higher believability to Wal-Mart overall. If these union stooges gave empty presents to my kids, I'd have a lawyer already.

Via AP/Yahoo:

BEIJING - Armed with guns and shields, hundreds of riot police sealed off a southern Chinese village after fatally shooting demonstrators and searched for the protest organizers, villagers said Friday.

Reports say up to 10 dead and 20 wounded. This is going to bring up much of the same reaction as the Tiananmen Square shootings in '89, and more tension between the US and China can't be helpful to the situations in North Korea and Taiwan.

Update: Gateway Pundit has lots more. Apparently it was 20 that died.

Castro is channeling Richard Simmons:

Jeb Bush 'Honored' by Castro's Jab

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday that he was "honored" Cuban President Fidel Castro had referred to him as President Bush's "fat little brother in Florida."

Castro insists he only had Jeb's welfare at heart:

In his speech, Castro insisted his comment was intended as constructive criticism.

"Forgive me for using the term `fat little brother,'" the Cuban leader said, according to a transcript obtained by The Miami Herald. "It is not a criticism, rather a suggestion that he do some exercises and go on a diet, don't you think? I'm doing this for the gentleman's health."

You just can't make this stuff up.

No real message here - just a picture of a two-headed turtle:

Because you can't have too many multi-headed animals when discussing politics.

Photo by Carlos Drews/WWF via U.S. Newswire Photography.

Linked with:

Don Surber
Conservative Cat
Wizbang
Stop The ACLU
Basil's Blog
Jo's Cafe

This'll please the history buffs:

Scientists Probe Lewis & Clark Encampment

WARRENTON, Ore. - A fire that destroyed the replica of Fort Clatsop, where Meriwether Lewis and William Clark spent the winter of 1805-1806, has provided a rare chance for archaeologists to probe the ground where the fort stood, seeking even the subtlest evidence of the explorers or the Clatsop Indians who came before them.

They've only a small window of opportunity - till Dec 10 - but a great bit of luck for some archaeologists who wouldn't have gotten a chance otherwise. I hope they find everything they want.

Yuck.

New research says non-flush urinals, also known as waterless urinals, pose serious risks to public health and the environment.

Seems to me we didn't need a "Ph.D., P.E., QEP, DEE" to figure this one out.

Study Predicts Political, Economic Turmoil If UN's Internet Governance Schemes Succeed

Just one more thing to be worried about.

Remember Tonya Harding? Her claim to fame was having her ex-husband and his pal try to break Nancy Kerrigan's knees before the 1994 Olympics. I guess once a star, always a star:

Man Arrested After Tonya Harding Run-In

VANCOUVER, Wash. - Tonya Harding tussled in her home with a man she described as her boyfriend, prompting an emergency call by the figure skater-turned-boxer and an arrest of the man.

Christopher Nolan was charged with assault and pleaded not guilty Monday. He told deputies Harding threw him down and bit his finger when he said she had too much to drink on Sunday. The 27-year-old Nolan was ordered to stay away from Harding and to avoid alcohol.

If he had the ability to avoid alcohol, chances are he wouldn't have been with her in the first place.

We had a great time at the Renaissance Faire. Pirates seem to be the rage this year, with numbers equal to the knights, lords and ladies.

The bonus was going in October, when there are also lots of Halloween decorations as well. My youngest daughter B was thrilled to see all the pumpkins and ghosts decorating the park.

My oldest tells me her favorite part was getting to ride an elephant. For TB, the highlight was the carriage ride. The driver was well into character and very funny and energenic. As for me, it was a treat to be out in the sun. It's been really dreary here lately, and I enjoy fall more than the other seasons.

If you have never been, do go - it's worth the drive.

I'm tinkering with a new template for the site, so I haven't added any of the niceties to this one that you would normally expect.

Someone pointed out to me that I should at least have an Email address for Y'all.

Please Email me here.

This post on Power Line is gratuitous and devoid of meaningful content - so much so, that I've bookmarked it and will re-read it often so that I can avoid making the same mistakes.