Map & Graph: Countries by Mortality: Contact with powered lawnmower (per capita) …and yes, Moldova is #1! Clever Rance! And now, a song: I’m looking over my dead dog Rover That I overran with the mower One leg is missing, the other is gone The third leg is scattered all over the lawn There’s no use explaining, the one remaining It flew through the old screen door Oh, I’m looking over my dead dog Rover That I overlooked before!
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Rance checks in with a postcard from the Hamptons, where he may or not may be or have been: I was on the fence about going until he mentioned “We’d be having three-and-a-half pound lobsters at his dinner party Saturday night. I’d always thought that smaller lobsters tasted better, but Bill assured me, “That is a myth invented by poor people.” Bill fits in very well in the Hamptons, by the way. In any case, as you may have surmised from previous entries, quality has always taken a back seat to quantity for me when it comes to crustaceans. So…
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Over at Rance’s place, a recent essay assignment that didn’t make the cut: I read recently that one of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s sons wrote a series of murder mystery novels in which Eleanor was the protagonist and solved crimes. Pitch me a summer blockbuster movie in which Eleanor is the main character. Alternate topic: A drama in which Angelia Jolie plays the President. Contest Rules: As usual winners get 10 DVPs. You may submit only one essay (Exception: you may submit two if you are a Siamese twin). Essays must have a movie title and be no longer than…
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A resort for “Family Friendly America” Casino- and vice-free resort fun for Mom, Dad, and all the kids (other kinds of families need not apply) Orrin Hatch’s American Dream. Unconstitutional and/or against the law, in Orrin’s Perfected America: Abortion Equal Opportunity race quotas Flag burning no longer protected free speech Constitutional: States would have the right to refuse to acknowledge same-sex marriage School prayer Foreign-born US Presidents (the “Ahnold Amendment”) Balanced budget – okay, but at what cost to critical social services? Even among conservatives, Senator Hatch has the reputation of a constitutional gadfly, repeatedly pounding away at his pet…
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Interesting links to check after work via Neat New Stuff: BBC – BBC Four – Audio Interviews Keeping Things Found (we’re constantly struggling with this one)
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I heard from an old friend today. Not via email, or voicemail, or textmail… I got an actual card in an envelope with postage. It seems she’s laid up after a foot operation and is convalescing at her parents’ house, and is feeling lonely and out of touch. I was talking about this tonight over dinner with David and Steve – we got together for some good old fashioned American comfort food at the Olive Garden (yes, yes, primitive irony). In a few minutes, I’m actually going to sit down and write a letter to her (or maybe I’d better…