OK, just a few short musings today…
WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE…
The Christian Science Monitor ran an opinion piece from a Briton who is anti-monarchy. He makes standard republican (i.e. person favoring a republic) arguments, but does point out one interesting this. To wit, it is against the law in Great Britain, and punishable by life imprisonment to advocate abolishing the monarchy. It is also illegal to destroy an image of the queen. Oh. My. God. And we are allies with these people?
Meanwhile, the Japan Times has an article entitled "Experts Seeks Tougher Attitude on Parental-Murder Suicide." Now, I was compelled to read the article, just because I couldn't figure out how a society could be tougher on murder-suicides. It turns out that the term for murder-suicide in Japanese translates to "dying with someone who does not wish to." While technically correct, this seems to lose a little of the impact of "murder-suicide." By the way, we are allies with these people too.
The International Herald Tribune did a bit of journalistic navel gazing and reported on an article in Le Monde in which French officials discussed forming a "bund" or union with Germany. This would allow them to "fuse their militaries and diplomatic corps and to share France's seat at the United Nations Security Council." These French never quit. The Germans tried to do this in 1914, and again in 1940 and all the world heard was whining from France. NOW they like the idea?!? I say, nein, danke! P.S. they are both allies too.
WIND CHILL
The Boston Globe reports that Boston is windier, on average than Chicago. The average annual wind speed of 12.4 mph in Boston is the highest of any major city in the country. However, the Boston reporter believes that the Windy City name may have to do with blow-hard politicians, rather than actual wind. Now, for a reporter to brag about AVERAGE WIND SPEED and then call someone else a blowhard is really something. This from the city that calls itself the Hub (of the Universe). One cool thing in the article is a quote from a professor who works on wind power. He describes wind thus: "it's like ghosts passing you in the night."
WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE…
The Christian Science Monitor ran an opinion piece from a Briton who is anti-monarchy. He makes standard republican (i.e. person favoring a republic) arguments, but does point out one interesting this. To wit, it is against the law in Great Britain, and punishable by life imprisonment to advocate abolishing the monarchy. It is also illegal to destroy an image of the queen. Oh. My. God. And we are allies with these people?
Meanwhile, the Japan Times has an article entitled "Experts Seeks Tougher Attitude on Parental-Murder Suicide." Now, I was compelled to read the article, just because I couldn't figure out how a society could be tougher on murder-suicides. It turns out that the term for murder-suicide in Japanese translates to "dying with someone who does not wish to." While technically correct, this seems to lose a little of the impact of "murder-suicide." By the way, we are allies with these people too.
The International Herald Tribune did a bit of journalistic navel gazing and reported on an article in Le Monde in which French officials discussed forming a "bund" or union with Germany. This would allow them to "fuse their militaries and diplomatic corps and to share France's seat at the United Nations Security Council." These French never quit. The Germans tried to do this in 1914, and again in 1940 and all the world heard was whining from France. NOW they like the idea?!? I say, nein, danke! P.S. they are both allies too.
WIND CHILL
The Boston Globe reports that Boston is windier, on average than Chicago. The average annual wind speed of 12.4 mph in Boston is the highest of any major city in the country. However, the Boston reporter believes that the Windy City name may have to do with blow-hard politicians, rather than actual wind. Now, for a reporter to brag about AVERAGE WIND SPEED and then call someone else a blowhard is really something. This from the city that calls itself the Hub (of the Universe). One cool thing in the article is a quote from a professor who works on wind power. He describes wind thus: "it's like ghosts passing you in the night."
posted by David at 12:11 PM
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