Monday, October 5, 2009

Krauthammer's Law, Revisited

In 2006, Charles Krauthammer expounded his Law, everyone who is anyone is Jewish until proven otherwise. But even Charlie himself must be astounded by this one: according to the Telegraph, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, the despot of Iran and would-be scourge of Israel, was born to Jewish parents.
A close-up of the document reveals he was previously known as Sabourjian – a Jewish name meaning cloth weaver... The Sabourjians traditionally hail from Aradan, Mr Ahmadinejad's birthplace, and the name derives from "weaver of the Sabour", the name for the Jewish Tallit shawl in Persia.
Well, stranger things have been alleged.

Hat tip to James Taranto (who is, of course, Jewish).

Fan Appreciation

The Sox had fan appreciation during their victory lap series this last week. Beth has great photos and anecdotes.

Colonel Kez

My sister is extraordinary, which is not news to those of you who know her. The latest of her exploits - serving a U.S. Army medical team in Haiti as its go-to person, and serving their patients as a fluent and bold advocate with the Army - is chronicled on her blog in several parts. Naturally, she was appreciated:
And then [the U.S. Ambassador] asked for Madame Keziah F. I walked up, shook his hand, and as he passed me the plaque, I heard the US soldiers.

Throughout the entire ceremony, they had been silent, applauding politely when they saw everyone else applauding. When Colonel Hershey was awarded 2 plaques, they clapped. When a plaque was announced for the entire MEDRETE team, they clapped. But when my name was announced, they leapt to their feet and gave me a shout-out. If you've never experienced an Army shout-out, I'm sorry, I can't do it justice. Imagine a score of deep male voices shouting out a secret code of Army brotherhood, something that you can't imitate and you can't fully understand. But when you look at their faces, you realize that you don't need to. And it's all you can do to keep from crying.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Outfield

Who knew? Of the 45 American League outfielders, the highest two in OPS are (drum roll) Jason Bay and J.D. Drew. Or so says the Herald's John Tomase. The Yahoo! numbers beg to differ: Bay is third in the AL, Drew is fifth. What data was John reading? Or maybe he didn't notice Adam Lind (#1) who belted a homer against Tim Wakefield last night.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Dracula



I'm going to see this in Rochester on Halloween night. Who's in?

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Ice Cream Truck

Gothamist reports that the ice cream truck wars in Manhattan have gotten nasty.
Reached for comment, Benjamin Van Leeuwen tells us that his driver, Travis, was being followed by three Mister Softee trucks as he tried to find a place to park near Lexington and 55th Street. When he pulled over, they surrounded him and "threatened to kill him" if he didn't leave midtown. Van Leeuwen tells us, "They do that all the time," but so far this is his company's first brush with the Mister Softee mafia in midtown. He tells us that Travis considered calling police, but in the past they've been "really unhelpful" and reluctant to file a police report, and Travis wanted to get back to work.
If this sounds like fiction, it's probably because you've read The Pushcart War. What makes the ice-cream truck war more plausible is that (a) it pits competitors in the same niche against each other, and (b) it's actually happening.

Hat tip to BOTWT.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Qaddafi at the UN

Obama's speech was forgettable. Not so "king of kings and leader of the revolution" Muammar Qaddafi's. An excellent FT blog reaction was noted by Drudge.