- You never see Charlie Chan movies anymore. These are movies and before that books about a fictional, inscrutable Chinese-Hawaiian detective. First, the movies are very old now and viewed in today’s climate of awareness, their stereotype of Mr. Chan is no doubt offensive to many, many people. I’m reminded of them today because Chan referred to his oldest son as “#1 son,” and my #1 son leaves in the morning on a three-month internship for his Master’s Degree in International Law. Where’s he going? Shanghai, China.
- I preferred when Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays (except of course when I lived in Richmond VA where Lincoln’s birthday wasn’t celebrated) were observed to the current practice of a generic President’s’ Day. In the first place, I’d much rather have a three-day weekend in August than in February. Additionally, on generic Presidents’ Day, someone might celebrate William Henry Harrison, Warren G. Harding, Chester A. Arthur, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson or U.S. Grant (as President, not as an army general) by mistake. I may have left someone out, but my list isn’t designed to be all-inclusive.
- Arianna Huffington was paid something like $315 million by AOL for her Huffington Post website. Many of the blogs on that website are written by bloggers who are not paid for their efforts. I bet they’re thrilled.
- I hereby suggest that the NY Mets move the TV broadcasts of their games this year to the Oprah Winfrey Network. Why? The Mets stand a chance of becoming a win-free team this year.
- Along the roads I normally drive, the last cars blocked in by the post-Christmas snow storm have finally melted out of their winter cocoons. We did have more snow today and there’s more scheduled overnight tonight too.
- One of my thumb drives survived a trip through the washer and drier, but I don’t think I’ll try it again.
- Natalie Munroe, a teacher in Bucks County PA, has been suspended and new reports suggest she’ll probably be fired because she wrote a blog called “Natalie’s Hand Basket,” in which she complained about the students she taught. But, she wrote it anonymously and she didn’t identify the students by name either. However, and I can’t stress this too much, people: Anything you put on the Internet is public.