This is a blog. A what? A blog. Oh, a blog...

Most of my blog entries are not really appropriate for a blog. The conclusion I reached in an earlier entry (also, not really a true blog entry...) is that an authentic blog should be a survey of the websites that the author has been visiting lately -- a compendium if I will. And, it looks like today, finally, I will.

Recently a big news story in the New York metropolitan was the mysterious "natural gas" smell that covered the city and its neighbors a few days ago. As almost always happens when a funny smell occurs, people immediately blame New Jersey. We New Jerseyans get a little bit prickly about this. I particularly enjoyed a quote from Stan H. Eason, a spokesperson for Jersey City, who said, "'We’re going to get some industrial fans out and blow the smell back over to New York,'"

In other news from my home state, the state legislation is seriously considering making some important changes to the constitution. Nope, not gay marriage. No, not the death penalty. No... it was a five letter word!

Aside from horrid smells, and word choice, some of you might have noticed Bush's national announcement of the "troop surge" in Iraq. My first instinct was to question whether or not our Commander in Chief needed to make such a public display of increasing our troop numbers by a paltry ~12 percent? Having been convinced by one of my trusted advisers that this was, indeed, appropriate, I've distilled my objection to this: seeing as basically no one believes that 20,000 troops is going to make a significant change in the military situation in Iraq, then Bush' motivation must have been to make a significant change in the political situation in the United States, and I'm not really sure he should be trying to make political hay while the kids die. On this subject (and this is where the link comes in...) I read a New York Times column by Maureen Dowd (which is "reprinted" on someone else's blog, because you have to pay to read certain Times articles on-line these days.) In it she tries to psychoanalyze President Bush by making an elaborate allegory to his college days. She describes Bush in the following way:

"Junior was known as an extremely aggressive player in the venerable Parker Brothers board game, a brutal contest that requires bluster and bluffing as you invade countries, all the while betraying alliances. Notably, it’s almost impossible to win Risk and conquer the world if you start the game in the Middle East, because you’re surrounded by enemies."

Here's my beef. All psychological or military accuracy aside, if you are going to waste almost 24 column inches of the New York Times with a board game allegory, you should really get your facts about the game straight. You cannot bluff while playing Risk. I've never seen anyone attempt to bluster their way into a better position. Nor are there usually any alliances to betray. Risk is actually a game that is skewed to the defensive (when two players role equal numbers on the dice, the defender wins,) and rewards good positioning and overwhelming numerical superiority.

Sorry about that... it's just something I'm passionate about, and I hate when someone sullies such an important topic with politics.

I went to an art show in SOHO that my friend and ex-housemate Amanda Thackray was exhibiting at. The show was fairly political, intermittently sophomoric, and to my unrefined mind, over-priced. But, it did provoke the following conversational gem, which I wish someone had overheard and reported on this nifty website:
Ezra: What is that terrible noise?
Noise: WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Amanda (with no hesitation): I think it's either a fire alarm or art.

The curse of the yellow piece: a woman was hospitalized after playing poorly in a game of Trivial Pursuit. Which would suggest that perhaps it isn't such a trivial game after all. I love the fact that the person who reported on the incident felt the need to report that the woman in question was, in fact, playing as the yellow piece. I especially enjoyed that because I ALWAYS play as the yellow piece. I think it's because yellow is the color of the history questions or maybe because Nero Wolfe's pajamas are yellow.

My motivations are sometimes less than clear. But if you are interested in history, especially if you have ancestors who immigrated to this continent from England, then you might be interested in this little history thing, which doubles as my last link of the day. Enjoy!