I was going to let this story go past but if it’s good enough for InstaPundit….

Chaos on Christopher Street. I had a good friend, now moved away, who was (and is still, I assume) gay, and we’d occasionally do the Greenwich Village scene – me, the straight nerd, he, the rather more flamboyant one, but we enjoyed the coffee shops and the street theatre. Christopher Street was always a bit rowdy but it sounds like, these days, it’s downright dangerous. How sad.

What’s green and sleeps five?

A town Parks Department truck.

Too good to be buried in the comments, here’s a fresh contribution from Peeps.

SPQNR – I had the same thing happen when I was in college and had a summer job working for a city maintenance department. I took my big Gravely mower and mowed quickly because I wanted to prove I could work as well as the men did. I’d been dropped off at an area and then found I’d have to wait a long time for the truck to come back and pick me up. I called my job from a deli and said they could come get me and drop me somewhere else and all the men got mad at me for having said something. My immediate supervisor told me I had to understand that I only did this job for two months and then I’d be back at school, but these men had to do the jobs all year and it looked bad if I did it too quickly because then they wouldn’t get to rest enough. I was an 18 year-old girl and was accidentally putting these men to shame.

Where’s Rene Anselmo when we need him?

The Junior League and the town are teaming up to get a new pool in Byram – sounds like an excellent idea to me. It’s awfully easy to tease the Junior League – I certainly succumb to the temptation all the time – but these are good people, doing good things for our town. But heck, if Rene were still around, he’d just cut a check and the pool would be done.

Will Sean Penn be next?

Noam Chomsky denounces Chavez. Easier to do when the son of a bitch is dying, I suppose.

Connecticut state workers lose the loving

Even the Democrats are finding it hard to defend them. I suggest that we rid ourselves of the Democrats first and then deal with the unions.

A defense of Manhattan’s District Attorney

Perfectly reasonable article – the DA, Cyrus Vance,  took immediate steps to keep the French  SOB  DSK here in the country and yet, when it became apparent that the complainant was a fraud, moved quickly to right the wrong. I don’t disagree at all but I still think there’s something rotten here – the State Department put the screws on the DA to discredit the “victim”, is my guess. Otherwise, this case would have gone on for months and months.  DSK is still a dick, by the way.

Mallard attrition

Here on the creek we get to see our mallards breed (Pal Nancy calls it “twitterpating”, which I think sums it up nicely) and then set forth with their brood a few weeks later. But it’s sad to see the numbers dwindle as the summer goes on – the mamas start with perhaps 5-6 babies but they’re soon down to 1,2 or maybe 3. I don’t know what takes these kids, although one year I rowed out and removed an oyster clamped on the foot (paw? paddle?) of a duckling – an oyster! Who knew?

Whatever, life, and death goes on, and the ducks seem to keep enough of themselves going to keep the water populated. It’s a fascinating thing to observe.

Must be election time

Last year: Obummer criticizes trips to Vegas.

Friday: Biden in Vegas, drumming up support at Teamster’s convention.

 

I’m hoppin’ mad

Last year we lost Henry, the best cat ever – EVER!- to a flea-treatment poisoning, ADVANTAGE. Yesterday afternoon, against my own advice, his replacement had a flea collar affixed and within just a few hours I found the poor guy literally foaming from the mouth – huge gobs of frothy, bubbling saliva. Not a good sign, I figured, so collar was yanked off and, as of this morning, everything seems okay.

(UPDATE, 1:45 PM: he ate breakfast this morning and as I write this, he’s sleeping at my feet, so all is good)

I assume that the manufacturers of these things don’t intend to poison our pets but even if they kill off just one in a million, if your pet’s that one, it doesn’t really matter what the safety statistics are. I’ll put up with the occasional flea, thank you, and stay off Hartz Mountain.

Wow, really?

This news story says that literally billions of dollars of treasure have been found in an Indian temple. Pretty cool, if true. I don’t know if you were ever a ten-year-old but these were the sort of tales that fired up young boys’ (and girls’, for all I know) imaginations.

Dang, I wish I had a mortgage!

Banks cutting debt for at-risk borrowers.