current events

I borrowed HP7 on Sunday evening (from a cute high school girl who raced through it) and finished it on Tuesday before taking Sophia to camp. I thought to myself, “Aha! I don’t have to worry about spoilers, I can read all those blog entries and forum discussions and things I’ve been avoiding.” But I haven’t bothered, and now realize I’m still reluctant to read anything about the book. It’s not for fear of having something about the plot spoiled, since I know it, but because I don’t really care what anyone else thought about it. Except maybe Kurt, who is reading it now, and we should be able to talk about it by the weekend. So even though I have some thoughts on the book, I’m probably not going to share them here.

Continue reading

On Monday it snowed in Buenos Aires for the first time in nearly a hundred years (since 1918). It was Independence day, so most people were off work, and ran out to play in the snow, which fell for hours. The national weather service (SMN – Servicio Meteorologico Nacional) saw a chance for snow, but thought the possibility so far fetched, they were reluctant to include it in their forecasts.

• Coverage of the event in English
• La Nacion’s archival photos of the June 1918 snowfall
• La Nacion’s photos of Monday’s snowfall
• Coverage from La Nacion and El Clarin(in Spanish)
• A remembrance of the 1918 snowfall from El Clarin (in Spanish)
• Tango composer Bardi witnessed the 1918 snowfall on his way back from the horse races in La Plata, and created a tango about it called “Que Noche!“, which got plenty of radio play this past Monday.

It is strange, strange to see all those familiar places in snow.

Continue reading

My husband asks,”So have you heard about Paris Hilton?”

“No, I listen to NPR, they don’t cover dumb celebrity stuff.”

My husband opens his mouth. In it is the story of Paris Hilton, waiting to come out.

“Nor do I want to,” I interrupt,”I find my life sufficiently full and wondrous without any news whatsoever on Paris Hilton.”

My husband thankfully leaves me ignorant. However, today, catching up on Making Light, I become slightly more informed (some outrage circus about prison time, I think). Oh well. You think you’re safe, but that dumb celebrity info is just waiting to attach itself to your brain, leechlike, when you least expect it. I spent about twenty seconds trying to generate interest, failed, and moved on to this post. Because, you know, it’s been too long.

I like the world in which I don’t have to keep up with famous people, especially the ones who are just famous for having money. I also like the world in which they aren’t keeping up with me, either.

Some people might call my attitude willful ignorance. I call it filtering.

Continue reading

is more heroes.

And if there’s anyone who thinks surviving the Holocaust isn’t in itself heroic, how about throwing yourself in front of a gunman to save your students?

I am awed and humbled by this example of human courage. Thank you, Liviu Librescu, for your example.

Link located at and echoed from Transylvanian Dutch’s blog. It merits, in my opinion, the widest possible dissemination.

Continue reading

I watched part of the ceremony retiring Steve Yzerman’s jersey last night. Yzerman embodies everything that is cool about hockey, in my opinion. He’s that rarity in professional sports, a sportsmanlike athlete. I’m thrilled that he’s been honored in this way.

Still, the most moving thing about last night, for me, was that moment when Konstantinov appeared. I was waiting for it. They’d called all his fellow retired teammates from that 1997 championship team. Several of his teammates hovered around the entryway instead of proceeding to their seats. Oh, of course, I thought, someone’s gotta push Konstantinov’s wheelchair. Then they call his name and by God, the man appears, walking with a walker! He’s on his feet, none too steady mind you, but he’s walking!

Sometimes the ability of the human spirit to overcome adversity just kicks you in the solar plexus. As with me, last night, seeing that man walk to his chair. Only once did Probert, walking next to Konstantinov, reach out and steady him.

Oh, and let me undercut my own gravity here. Larionov? Still a hottie. I think it’s the glasses.

Continue reading

You know, I belong to the school of people who don’t speak ill of the dead. Sometimes I will note the passing of people who I think were great in some regard, or whom I’ll miss, or whose passing I think diminishes us all. None of these things apply to Augusto Pinochet, who died yesterday. I shall make an exception now, and speak ill. This will seem unkind of me, and that’s because it is, but good riddance. The world doesn’t need you, nor dictators of any stripe.

Continue reading

I voted today (yesterday, actually, but I didn’t hit post). Did you? Here’s something cool about Missouri elections that I did not know before today, even though I’ve voted in like four of them. Judges are not appointed for life. There were around a dozen judges on our ballot and we could vote whether to retain them or not. Cool, huh? Unfortunately, I was not able to find information that I wanted for the vast majority of the judges, so I had to abstain. For next time I need to find a good source of information on judges and their voting records. Suggestions?

Continue reading

Banksy rocks.

From the beeb : Artist Banksy targets Disneyland.

The brief version, for those not into the clicky clicky:

A life-size replica of a Guantanamo Bay detainee has been placed in Disneyland by “guerrilla artist” Banksy.

Additionally, if you were curious about the “stencilled image, which showed a naked man hanging onto a window ledge” that locals voted to leave up, it’s viewable here.

Continue reading