Rainy days and Mondays...

The Tournament of Roses Parade is being held on Monday, January 2nd this year, instead of New Year's Day, as it normally is. Why would they do such a silly thing, you ask? Well, as luck would have it, The Cincinnati Post (of all things) has that answer, and many more!

The "Never on Sunday" rule was adopted in 1893, when officials feared the noise would spook horses tethered outside churches along the route.

Go figure, huh? Also, the weather folk keep promising we'll be getting a big storm in this weekend, and if it keeps up through Monday as expected, it will be the first time the parade has been rained on in 50 years. That year, the Grand Marshall of the parade was Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. This year's Grand Marshall...Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. (Cue Twilight Zone music...)

Merry Christmas...

To all, and to all a good night. Thank you, everyone, for your kind words and gifts. We hope your Christmases were similarly full of excellence and sparkle-tastic goodness.

Sunny days, chasin' the elves away...

On my way blah blah blah... it is 79 degrees out, here. Clear skies. Really unfortunate. We've turned on the AC.

Should we have titles?

I'm on the fence.

We caught Arrested Development this week. In it, Scott Baio played a lawyer named "Bob Loblaw." As Susan instructs: say it out loud. It turns out that Bob Loblaw had to go work on his law blog (like the Volokh Conspiracy?). Say that out loud, too: Bob Loblaw works on his law blog.

Well... this is fantastic:

ATF: 550 pounds of explosives missing in New Mexico

Greg Giraldo used to be funny, but now he's just a big whore. Sad. Okay, to be fair, he's still funny; now with 100% more whoring.

Some North Carolina town names (courtesy the Wikipedia):

• Frog Level
• Tickbite
• Lizard Lick
• Frying Pan Landing
• Soul City
• Kill Devil Hills
• Welcome
• Bat Cave
• Climax

Actor John Spencer of West Wing Fame Dead at 58. Weird. Way too weird; life imitating art.

According to a computer-aided analysis of Mona Lisa's smile:

Mona Lisa was 83 percent happy, 9 percent disgusted, 6 percent fearful, and 2 percent angry.

Kind of an odd mix, no?

Yesterday morning Tom & I were listening to a very interesting NPR story about narwhals. Did you know their tusks are, unlike regular teeth, soft on the outside and tough in the middle? Today there's an article all about the narwhal tusk in the New York Times. Fascinating stuff.

Based on childhood experience, I can say with certainty that my family wouldn't hesitate to torture me. I doubt they'd torture anyone else, but just in case, I recommend to them this piece by Michael Kinsley. Just kidding, family. I know you're not savages.

This morning they're filming ER on campus. I walked by their trailers and equipment trucks and whatnot on my way to the office. When I went to get my usual morning coke, I found my route obscured by shooting! Then I went around to the other entrance and managed to stumble more or less into their scene. I heard Goran Visnjic shouting "Alex!"

When I started dropping quarters into the machine, they had to shut the door. Oops.

Tommy + Helen Keller

So I had forgotten that Tommy was deaf, dumb, and blind because of psychological trauma. It has been a while since I've seen the movie, and the music itself has only some detail. Plus, I'm not old, so don't blame me for not having The Who down pat...

Anyhow, I was trying to think of how he learned to play pinball, while under the misapprehension that he really was D.D.&B and had always been so. It occurred to me that The Miracle Worker -or any of its countless re-productions by junior high school drama clubs- would have really been funny if there was a scene where Annie Sullivan taught Helen to play pinball.

A good Bond-girl name: Tricky Maneuver

Via Ezra, comes an interesting link which has inspired in me some questions for those parents reading this ridiculous excuse for an internet weblog:

What is the deal with parents and parenting "styles" or "techniques?" I've read about Ferberizing -it sounds onomatopoetically (yeah, yeah) like when you put your lips against the baby's tummy and blow, making that funny noise, or perhaps a dry-cleaning method, or some kind of upholstery-protecting spray- and about "co-sleeping." So, what do you all think? What did you do to us? How'd that work out for ya? I know I have problems going to sleep even now, so, yeah, thanks a lot.

This is incredibly stupid. The lesson to take from it is: if you don't like the data, stop collecting it.