I see no one claimed Holland and Costa Rica

Just wait until I launch my army of killer tulips and mutant butterflies.

Ala Winnie, 1918

Only the names of the two conquerors have been changed. Notice the complete absence of that blot on the landscape between Germany and Spain.

Big Jim Dwyer: This one time, there was a Pogues commercial on TV/
.
Norbert the Great: this one time i wish i weren't sick anymore
Big Jim Dwyer: As I've already told Kaitlin, my general modus operandi is to not get sick.
It's worked quite well for me over the years.
Norbert the Great: i usually don
't
i just get majorly sick when i do
Big Jim Dwyer: And you seem to get majorly sick about once a year.
Norbert the Great: its not a great strategy really
no
Big Jim Dwyer: Yes?
Norbert the Great: maybe every 2 or 3 years
alright, we're dividing up the map
Big Jim Dwyer: I think I know more about this than you do.
Norbert the Great: you pick a country first
Big Jim Dwyer: Norway.
Norbert the Great: damn
ireland
Big Jim Dwyer: Looks like I win.
Italy.
Norbert the Great: germany
Big Jim Dwyer: UK.
Norbert the Great: N. Ireland doesn't count
Big Jim Dwyer: ok
Norbert the Great: you get great britain
i
i'll take the usa
Big Jim Dwyer: Djbouti.
Norbert the Great: spain
Big Jim Dwyer: Australia.
Norbert the Great: azerbaijan
sp
Big Jim Dwyer: New Zealand.
Norbert the Great: tasmania
Big Jim Dwyer: Not a country.,
Norbert the Great: i need a place from which to strike your oceanic power base
i'll take indonesia
Big Jim Dwyer: There you go.
Tahiti.
Norbert the Great: bahamas
Big Jim Dwyer: Are they country?
Norbert the Great: yeah
Big Jim Dwyer: ok
Greece.
Norbert the Great: turkey
Big Jim Dwyer: Saw that one coming.
Poland.
Norbert the Great: russia
Big Jim Dwyer: Austria.
Norbert the Great: switzerland
Big Jim Dwyer: Canada.
I need some territory.
Norbert the Great: japam
japan
Big Jim Dwyer: China.
Norbert the Great: croatia
Big Jim Dwyer: Iran.
Good ruins there.
Norbert the Great: egypt
good ruins ther
e
Big Jim Dwyer: Czech republic.
Norbert the Great: brazil
Big Jim Dwyer: Sweden.
Norbert the Great: finland
Big Jim Dwyer: Denmark.
Norbert the Great: portugal
Big Jim Dwyer: Iceland.
Norbert the Great: hm
mexico
Big Jim Dwyer: Ha!
Oh, I'm sorry.
Peru.
Norbert the Great: i can control the border
chile
Big Jim Dwyer: Argentina.
Norbert the Great: morocco
Big Jim Dwyer: Kenya.
Norbert the Great: ethiopia
Big Jim Dwyer: Good ruins there.
Congo.
Norbert the Great: better ruins there
south africa
Big Jim Dwyer: India.
Norbert the Great: damnit, i was just going there
pakistan
Big Jim Dwyer: S. Korea.
Norbert the Great: nepal
Big Jim Dwyer: Bhutan.
Norbert the Great: i like bhutan
thats too bad
Big Jim Dwyer: Looks like I get the Gurkhas.
You're doomed.
Norbert the Great: i'll go with ukraine
it is strong
Big Jim Dwyer: Interestingly enough, I've heard it's weak.
Albania.
Norbert the Great: ha!
vatican city
whoa
Big Jim Dwyer: Touche.
SMOM.
Norbert the Great: ?
Big Jim Dwyer: Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
Norbert the Great: ah
Big Jim Dwyer: Location: inside the Vatican.
Norbert the Great: malta
Big Jim Dwyer: Mongolia.
Norbert the Great: israel
Big Jim Dwyer: Singapore.
Norbert the Great: thailand
do you give up?
Big Jim Dwyer: Myanmar.
Norbert the Great: you've been roundly defeated you know
Big Jim Dwyer: I have not yet begun to fight,
.
Norbert the Great: myanmar is a vehicle-less morass
way to go
Big Jim Dwyer: Exactly, you'll be lured into the swamps and drowned.
It's your turn, you know,
.
Norbert the Great: oh, i know
Big Jim Dwyer: I also have the majority of the world's population, Gurkhas, and fjords.
I don't think you can top that triple threat.
Norbert the Great: i have the US and the vatican and thailand
and most of europe
outside the frozen north
Big Jim Dwyer: Europe is weak.
Much like your face.
Are you going to pick, or what?
Norbert the Great: venezuela
Big Jim Dwyer: Tanzania.
Norbert the Great: columbia
ha, i control the drug trade
Big Jim Dwyer: Nigeria.
Norbert the Great: mozambique
Big Jim Dwyer: Moldovia.
Norbert the Great: terrible pick
madagascar
Big Jim Dwyer: Terrible or awesome?
Cuba.
Norbert the Great: jamaica
Big Jim Dwyer: Caman Islands.
Looks like I get Joe now too.
Norbert the Great: trinadad and tobago
Big Jim Dwyer: Afghanistan.
Norbert the Great: iraq
Big Jim Dwyer: Tunisia.
Norbert the Great: saudi arabia - i now control almost all the worlds oil
Big Jim Dwyer: Kuwait.
Norbert the Great: venezuala, saudi arabia, iraq, russia, usa
i can invade kuwait
i'll take syria
Big Jim Dwyer: Iran, Canada, UK, Norway, Kuwait, Nigeria.
Lebanon.
Norbert the Greatnot nearly as much oil
i've got maybe 80%
Big Jim Dwyer: I doubt that.
Canda's got a ton of reserves.
It's just mixed with sand.
Norbert the Great: really hard to get
Big Jim Dwyer: Expensive, not infeasible.
Norbert the Great: i still destroy you there
Big Jim Dwyer: I no think that means what you think it means.
Norbert the Great: hm, i think i need turkmenistan
home of the turkmen
Big Jim Dwyer: Your forcing me in Kazhakstan.
Norbert the Great: unfortunately, i think i am going to have to declare my victory and go to sleep for a bit
i feel unwell
Big Jim Dwyer: I smell a retreat.
Among other less savory odors . . .
Norbert the Great: chicken nuggets?
Big Jim Dwyer: *odours.
I said less savory.
I gues it is "odor."
How silly.
Norbert the Great: you brit

He Said What?

Well, I can't link to it directly, but if you direct your mouse here and then go to the bottom left and click on the TV spot entitle "Morning Ritual :60," you'll be able to see Cadillac's use of The Pogues' "The Sunny Side of the Street." I'm not quite sure the commercial works, but I am quite sure that this is the first time the lyrics "a lust for vomit" were unleashed before the unsuspecting network masses. Good thing Shane slurs his words.

Full lyrics in commercial:

Seen a carnival in Rome.
Had the women, I had the booze.
All I can remember now
is little kids without no shoes.
So I saw a train and I got on it
With a heart full of hate
And a lust for vomit.

Now I'm walking on the sunny side of the street,
The sunny side of the street,
The sunny side of the street,
The sunny side of the street.

Don't those just scream happy yuppie family life?

You Can Run, But You Can't Glide

This magnificent site occurred at the Southwest corner of the main Arts building Monday.

I got to watch it for a good ten minutes. Apparently squirrels are a lot harder to eat than I thought, but then that bad boy didn't think to bring a knife with him. It was there for an hour and a half, merrily tearing away, until some idiot got to close and scared it off. Idiot.

My sodales and I are pretty sure it's a red-tailed hawk. The picture is from a gracious Sanskrit lecturer who happened to have a camera on hand.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year . . .

I agree with Rico. Lent is powerful. And necessary. There isn't a better time to try to turn things around, and I'm pretty sure we all need to turn things around. That's kind of the point, after all.

The majority of my recent posts seem to be complaints, but I can't stop from making one more. I went to the 12:20 Ash Wednesday Mass at school. A couple of minutes before Mass, the priest asked everyone sitting in the two side aisles to move to one of the two middle aisles "to make the distribution of ashes easier." I guessed what was coming, and you, dear reader, probably do to. When the time came to receive the ashes, the priest said that there had been a change of policy. This year we would give each other ashes and that we should keep in mind the words "Remember that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return."

Instead of the solemn yearly procession I had participated since before I can remember, we fumbled around passing the ash containers and trying to figure out the best way of putting the ashes on each other. Even though I had seen it coming I didn't realize how mad I would be. That they played "We Rise Again from Ashes" didn't help. I mean, it has a nice tune, but if you only heard the tune you'd say it's a triumphant soft rock ballad. Not exactly what were looking for in Lent.

I'm normally a pretty easygoing guy. I just don't understand the change. This is an event that happens once a year replete with symbolism. Words matter. Actions matter. And they took away one and drastically altered the other. I guess I'll talk to or e-mail to the head of the Catholic Community here, but that's probably not going to make a difference.

Well, happy Lent, y'all.

This may be the coolest thing I've ever seen.

If someone wants to make me the greatest gift ever, they should start here. I think I would actually cry tears of joy if I owned one of those.

"Remember that from dust you came, and unto dust you shall return."

Lent is my favorite church season. We all need a reminder from time to time that to share in the resurrection of Christ, we must also share in His passion and death. One of my great pleasures is attending our parish's Stations of the Cross each Friday.

I would encourage you to do something special during these coming weeks to remind yourself of the suffering Jesus endured for all of us. Go to daily Mass, Stations, or Eucharistic adoration. Pray more regularly, read the bible, or pray the rosary. There are so many ways to do that; find something that works for you.

Race and the NFL

I think what Rico's trying to say is that the large number of black coaches in the NFL prevent white players from getting a fair shake.

Race, the South, and the NFL

I was reading this post on The Blue-Gray Sky, and it got me thinking about the effects of race on football. Big 10 Commissioner Jim Delaney recently wrote a long ranting letter about how his conference rocks and comparing it to the SEC. In doing so, he basically called out the SEC, saying "It seems premature for us to lower our admission standards or give up on the tremendous talent pool in the Midwest."

While I don't dispute that the Midwest has talent, I wanted to look at the prevalence of NFL players by state. Thanks to this valuable site and Census Bureau estimates, I was able to rank the states according by per pcapita NFL participation. Here is the list:

State NFL Players per Million Residents
DC 17.20
MS 16.15
LA 14.46
SC 11.34
AL 10.00
FL 9.34
GA 8.97
TX 7.36
VA 7.33
HI 6.22
NE 6.22
AR 6.05
NC 5.98
WA 5.79
OH 5.66
CA 5.43
US 5.42
OK 5.31
PA 5.22
NJ 5.04
MO 4.96
ND 4.72
AK 4.48
MI 4.46
IA 4.36
MD 4.27
AZ 4.22
KS 3.98
TN 3.81
CO 3.79
OR 3.78
WI 3.78
IL 3.66
UT 3.53
IN 3.33
KY 3.09
WV 2.75
ID 2.73
MA 2.64
DE 2.34
MN 2.13
MT 2.12
NY 1.76
CT 1.71
NM 1.53
SD 1.28
NV 1.20
RI 0.94
NH 0.76
ME 0.00
VT 0.00
WY 0.00

As you can see, the list is dominated by the south. Taking it one step further, I plotted these numbers against each state's percentage of African-American residents. The results:


(Click on chart to enlarge)

I knew the correlation would be pretty strong, but I didn't expect quite so powerful. For the statistically disinclined, the equation says that all other things being equal, a state with no black people will have 1.87 NFL players per 1,000,000 residents and one with all blacks will have 28.6. It also says that the percentage of black residents explains 65.3% of the variance between states in per capita NFL players.

Incidentally, Canada has 11 NFL players. These are the things I do at work when I have free time.

Presidential Predictions

IM chat transcript, unedited save the changing of screen names:

Rico: If you had to guess today, who do you think will be the presidential nominees in 08?

Big Jim: Oh gosh.
Hillary.
And, I guess Guiliani

Rico: I'm taking an informal poll
10:45 PM

Big Jim: I went for the frontrunners.
How bold of me.
I just think McCain's too old.

Rico: Interesting

Big Jim: What about you?

Rico: I like McCain and CLinton

Big Jim: Alright.
Whom do you have winning?

Rico: McCain
And you?

Big Jim: I think a Republican can probably beat Hillary.
I dunno about Obama though.
10:50 PM
The way the Dems are heading in Iraq, I think the country needs a Republican president.

Rico: Yeah, although I imagine the office of the presidency would moderate whatever Democrat ended up in office

Big Jim: Would a Democratic president veto Murtha's bill?

Rico: Murtha's bill may not exist at all
Half of its purpose is to hamstring the president
If a democrat wanted the surge, the Murtha bill would never make it to the floor
11:00 PM

Big Jim: True.
Though the Congress might force the President to pull out by other means.
I wonder if a Democratic President can be responsible.
without losing the base.
In which case, will he choose to be responsible.

Rico: I think it's an interesting question, but I have to imagine that the responisbilities of the office would lead the democratic president to act responsibly on the greatest issue of our time
Having said that, his/her idea of responsibility probably varies considerably from yours

Quick Prediction

Britney Spears will be to my child's generation what Michael Jackson was and is to our generation.

Lect-ing

I got all excited there for a miunte thinking "lect" was an actual word. Unfortunately, it's not.

For those interested, lector means "one who reads the lection." And lection is defined as "the liturgical reading of the day." Alas, no entries for lect.

Also, I've never seen a church where the lectors are so involved with the Mass.

It Begins

I try to stay away, but it's like crack.

Angela!

I lected for the first time this past Sunday--a task I was not necessarily looking forward to, though I was willing to help the parish. I was nervous mainly because, for some odd reason, this particular parish somewhat combines the role of server and lector, e.g., a lector carries the cross in the procession. A cross-bearing lector also leads the congregation to receive communion (This parish receives communion starting with the rear pews). So, to sum up, I was not only a little nervous about reading in front of large number of people, something I hadn't done in a while, but also about fulfilling the other roles required of a lector. My plan was to lean on the on my fellow lector, as she probably had done this whole thing before. Unfortunately for moi, she decides not to show up, which left me not only fumbling through the Mass, but also having to practically site read a longish passage from Samuel. I managed to pull off the hard stuff (Ziph and Abizhai) but did misspeak once. I also noticed that I tend to swallow some of my endings. I'll have to work on that.

I shall have my revenge, Angela. In this life or the next.

Recruiting 2007

Just some brief thoughts.

First, Greg Little and Justin Trattou are losers. According to Mike Frank, who is not one to cast aspersions, both were asked by the coaches they eventually committed to (Butch Davis and Urban Meyer respectively) not to tell Weis that they were being recruited. Of course, this means that they parents were also in on it. Greg Little also told the ND coaches the night before that everything was ok and he would commit to ND in the morning. Classy.

I'll give the class a solid B. The defection of the Littles ruined what would have been the best offensive recruiting class in the nation. Even without them, a backfield of Clausen, Allen, and Hughes with a Kamara and Tate and wide receiver and Ragone at tight still make up the most balanced offensive skill class. While Dever and Romine will almost definitely start at some point for ND, a class of only two offensive linemen is positively Ty-esque. If Ragone and Allen can get back their pre-injury speed, the ND offense if going to be a thing of beauty.

Defense is where the Weis whiffed. Safety was the only position where we attained our goal. Gary Gary continues our trend of attracting top cornerbacks; however, it would have been nice to sign two. While Ian Williams is just what the Irish needed at DT, we shouldn't have needed to bring Nuss and Nwankwo over from the offensive line. LB is slightly less in disarray, since Neal looks to be very much, while two of Smith, Nagel, and Paskorz should make valuable contributions.

I would like to end this post with an observation made by one Sean D. Notre Dame has a 100% failure rate of people named Greg and Chris with the same last name. Clearly this is losing proposition. My only hope is that a similar situation doesn't develop among players with the last name of Smith. Losing, Scott, Toryan, Harrison, and Brian would be a little much.

Oh, and Anagramticus informs me that Johnny Rico = Inch Nor Joy. I don't know what that means, but I imagine something terrible.

A brief rant against newspapers

One of the responsibilities of my job is to talk with members of the media about publications I've written as well as topical tax issues. I enjoy doing radio interviews because they afford me the opportunity to put the things I say into context.

Conversely, I don't like newspaper interviews, because journalists have a tendency to fit whatever I have to say into the narrative of the story they want to write. There are some exceptions to this rule; a few local journalists that I've talked to multiple times are genuinely interested in learning and writing informative articles that serve the greater good. Unfortunately, they are few and far between. Whether it is out of ignorance or malice, few reporters seem both willing and able to write a smart, contextual story.

Generally, I'm not someone who thinks I could pick up a job and do it particularly well. I understand most occupations take time to learn and hone your craft. However, I'm convinced that if I got a job as a newspaper reporter tomorrow, I would immediately be in the 90th to 95th percentile in the profession. Simply put, they are not good at what they do.

I assume a lot of the reporters with whom I interact have journalism majors. I say that because they do not seem to understand the issues they are writing on at all. While I'm sure a journalism degree teaches people some fine things, reporters would do well to also study some relevant field, be it economics, political science, or even history. Without the context these fields provide, reporters cannot hope to understand the issues they cover.

Having said that, you'd at least think a journalism degree would help reporters write well. You'd be wrong. Take this story, from today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, on property values and home sales. It begins as follows:

Wisconsin weathered the national housing downturn of 2006 - but it came at a price.

Home resales declined 4.5% from a year ago, but the number of homes sold was the second-highest in state history.

A fourth-quarter price slump canceled out gains made earlier in the year.

The median house price in Wisconsin is now $164,000, up 1.2% from 2005.

The year ended on a low note.

In the final three months, resales dropped 10.7% in the southeast, 10.6% in the south central and 9.4% in the north, compared with a year earlier.

Autumn was a time when over-ambitious sellers realized their pricing mistakes, said David K. Stark of Stark Co. Realtors in Madison.

The first seven paragraphs of the story have one paragraph each! By my count, the article has 24 paragraphs, 17 of which have one sentence. There are also four two-sentence paragraphs and three three-sentence ones.

If journalism classes teach this sort of writing, shame on them. If editors encourage it, shame on them. When the media cannot be trusted to write an intelligent, straightforward, unbiased article, they certainly cannot be trusted to serve as a watchdog against things like government corruption and corporate sleaze. Consequently, we all suffer.

Anagramticus Says...

Big Jim Dwyer = Jib Wed Grimy

I think that means you're supposed to marry Frank Grimes, but he's dead. So I'm not sure what you need to do.

17 Angry Drunk Vikings and a 1/2 Mease of Herring

House Rock Built has a magnificent rundown of ND's 2007 recruiting class:

Offensive Skill Players

Linemen

Defensive Skill Players

I wish I'd thought of Anagramaticus . . .

What Danger Zone?

I would just like to point out that as my posting here has decreased, over at The Corner, a certain "Mark Steyn" has had a vastly increased role. Interesting, eh?

P.S. That makes five posts in one day. Booyah, Grandma. Booyah.

Different Strokes

Some cultures induce men to stick bones through their noses. Others to cast fat, bratty boys as the heroes in their movies. I hate to condemn an entire nation over two B-Movies like Gamera and Time of Apes, but Mystery Science Theater 3000 has definitely opened my eyes to a sick, twisted side of Japanese culture. As well as more than lightly touched by the ugly stick, Kenny (Gamera) and Johnny (Apes) are rude to their parents, incredibly stupid, and fail to realize a single admirable trait in their respective 1 1/2 hours of film. Those bones are definitely preferable. This post may seem childish, but you have to see the movies (from Season 3 of MST3K) to see just how much horror these two truly induce.


Kenny - Apparently it is possible to be possessed by a turtle.


Johnny - Who cares about gun wielding apes chasing us when there's food? Anyway he does have a 3 inch knife to protect himself.

The real reason for Japan's decline?

Nothing Says "I Love You" Like a Ruined Planet

From James Taranto's Best of the Web:

London's Daily Telegraph reports that sending flowers on Valentine's Day can contribute to warming--and not just of your sweetie's heart:

The Valentine's Day bouquet--the gift that every woman in Britain will be waiting for next week--has become the latest bête noire among environmental campaigners.

Latest Government figures show that the flowers that make up the average bunch have flown 33,800 miles to reach Britain. . . .

Environmentalists warned that "flower miles" could have serious implications on climate change in terms of carbon dioxide emissions from aeroplanes.

The Telegraph's headline reads "Valentine Bouquets 'Are Bad for the Planet.' " It occurred to us that some neglectful husbands and boyfriends are going to use this as an excuse: I would have sent you flowers, honey, but I wanted to save the planet. Trust us on this one, guys, it won't work.

On the other hand, think of how much more meaningful it now is if you do send flowers. The message: You mean more to me than the whole world. This may be the best thing ever to happen to the floral industry.

I just might start believing in Global Warming, if it makes giving flowers that much more effective.

Book Report: What Happens at Mass

By Jeremy Driscoll, OSB. 135 pp.

I actually read this book over Christmas Break; a gift from my little brother. This is one of the most important books I've ever read. Driscoll does a magnificent job of explaining the Mass to the intelligent but non-expert reader. He does an especially good job of emphasizing the importance of the readings and of explaining (as far as possible) the consecration. My father, a theology teacher of over 25 years, says that Driscoll offers the best, simple definition of Mystery he's ever come across:

I would say that a mystery is a concrete something that when you bump into it, it puts you into contact with a divine reality.

When you attend the same event every week of your life, it's easy to become complacent. What Happens at Mass goes a good way towards shaking this complacency. Although slim, this book requires frequent rereading to truly begin to understand it.

Snow Day!

More? More.

Just to make it a fearsome foursome of posts tonight, I'd like to talk a little bit about St. Thomas More. Truly a renaissance man, More was a successful lawyer, author, and royal aide. He is known best for being martyred by King Henry VIII for refusing to accept Henry's claim as head of the Church of England. He also wrote Utopia, actually an interesting book on communism (unlike all of Marx's stuff), as well as several defenses of the Catholic faith.

Well, my friends, today I submit to you that St. Thomas More has a new finest moment. I have been honored as the recipient of Marquette University Law School's St. Thomas More full tuition scholarship. Though St. Thomas died for his faith, I have been selected to carry on his legacy in posterity. Talk about your great honors.

Baby Rico

This an a picture of my unborn son, Batman British Johnny Rico Jacob, circa 20.5 weeks:



If you can't read those notes, they say, from left to right, "Spine," "Fist," "Chin Lips Nose," and "Noggin."

Book Report: America Alone

Mark Steyn's America Alone is the most important book I've read in a long time. In just over 200 pages, Steyn lays out an absolutely devastating case for the impending ascendancy of Islam in Europe.

If you're an avid reader of Steyn, much of the material in this book will be familiar, as he reprints a lot of the material from his columns of the past few years. Still, to see it all together is a fascinating - and at times terrifying - experience. Looking at demographics and politics, Steyn concludes that in the upcoming conflict between Islam and "the West," "the West" will be represented solely by America (and possibly Australia). Simply put, a Europe that knows only appeasement and can't even procreate will not have the spine to face the Islamist threat.

This is the kind of book that can actually impact those who read it. Though Steyn is largely preaching to the choir, his use of statistical evidence could convince those who otherwise have not considered this issue thoughtfully. I plan on buying it as a gift for my dad on Father's Day, and I give it my fullest and heartiest recommendation.

Danger Zone

I think we've officially entered the blog "Danger Zone." We've been doing this for a few months now and we haven't achieved fame or fortune yet. If I don't start posting again soon, this blog might go the way of Britney Spears' movie career.

Luckily, I have all sorts of information to bring. For starters, did you know that Heroes' Masi Oka wrote programming code for the special effects of movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean, War of the Worlds, Hulk, Terminator 3, and the last three Star Wars movies? Hiro Nakamura, badass.

O Tempora! O Mores!

Thursday gave us the best Scrubs of the year. This episode also gave us the least JD. Not a coincidence, I fear.

May just be my own impression, but it seems like every character besides JD has grown and matured. He's left looking childish and pathetic. It doesn't help that the Mandy Moore character was far more his type than Kim. Oh well. JD, you had a good run.

Wii will rock you

If this were around during our college years, there would have been about a 70% probability of me failing out:

2008 Watch

If possible, John Edwards' 2008 campaign has even less substance than his 2004 one. His entire startegy revolves around platitudes and ignorant populism.

If he is elected president - or even nominated by his party - it will reflect a serious decline in the quality of American democracy. Calling him an empty suit is an insult to all the three-pieces hanging on the racks at Men's Warehouse.

If I had to rate my "favorites" among the current top-tier Democratic candidates, it would have to be:

1) Obama (shudder)
2) Clinton
3) Edwards

I only put Obama ahead of Clinton because I imagine the side effects of an Obama presidency could be reasonably good for the nation. It probably would be good for America to have a black president. (Especially an "articulate" and "clean" one, right Joe?)

Winter Wonderland

Current projections indicate that there's a chance that the temperature won't get into double digits in Waukesha, Wisconsin until next Wednesday. Also, we need to be on the lookout for overnight wind chills betwwen 30 and 40 below zero.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my wonderful wife for attending the Medical College of Wisconsin. Apparently, the Siberia University School of Medicine wasn't good enough for her.

I would also like to reaffirm my support for global warming. Apparently those famous Wisconsin cows aren't farting enough.

Fix Bayonets!

Congratulations to Rico and Mrs. Rico.

I think we can all agree that any child of Rico is sure to be larger than life. Only one combination of first and middle name is capable of living up the legend. A name that spread fear to the four corners of the earth (as well as tea and a certain sense of fair play). A name the sun never set on.

British Footman.

It's a boy!

I've already got it all figured out:

Notre Dame, Class of 2029

Governor of Wisconsin (or some similar state): 2042

White House: 2052

Of course, this all assumes that he doesn't end up going to the NFL. If he chooses that route, the political aspirations should probably be pushed back about 12 years.

In all seriousness, the important thing is that the baby is healthy and developing very nicely. He's got all his limbs and organs, and he's positioned well in the womb.