I am up to my eyebrows

in a major, major webcast presentation and the testing is not going well. Fortunately in the comments to my last post Valerie (who has a very nice blog, by the by) provided an important reality check.

Seems a classmate of hers from years back unfortunately passed away at a very young age. As it turns out, her classmate's brother was a gentleman named Michael McHugh. A random thing, except it happens to be that Michael was murdered on September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center. And of all things, the 2,996 Project assigned Michael to me as a subject to blog about more than two years ago.

I had, of course, completely forgotten I had even done it.

I went back and reread my tribute to Michael Edward McHugh, Jr. As it turns out, not that long ago several people who actually knew Mr. McHugh had commented on the post. They seemed to appreciate my attempt at honoring a man I'd never heard of.

The internets is a funny place where random events connect total strangers. Occasionally something pops up to remind you that the daily grind of our lives can be pretty trivial when compared to other people's reality. So take a moment on a random November day to remember Mike McHugh, his recently passed brother John McHugh, and wish the family some consolation. It helps to put things in their proper perspective.

Seriously...

how do you lose a pyramid?

4,300-year-old pyramid discovered in Egypt

Presidents & Promises

I don't want to make much of Tuesday's results. The guy I wanted (albeit reluctantly) for the job didn't get it. The nice part about democracy is sometimes you lose, and the American version says you suck it up and work harder next time.

Any number of people, including many conservatives, are describing this as a great, historic moment for America. I don't buy it, perhaps because I didn't grow up during the period when this would be unthinkable.

I think I might actually be post-racial, unlike the people falling all over themselves about this. Because I don't care in the slightest that he's black, and I never did. I don't think this is a great moment for America, because I believe the President-elect is mistaken in what he believes is good for America. I think his economic policies will damage this country tremendously, and his judicial approach will take away American freedoms.

I would gladly have voted for a black man (or woman) who matched my beliefs in the power of the American citizen's abilities to take care of themselves. I would not have voted for a white man who believed, as I think Obama does, that American citizens are children who need nannying.

I wish him and the rest of us luck, and I hope sincerely that I am wrong about the Administration and Congress about to take over the reigns of government. I will gladly admit I'm wrong if America is a better place to live in 4 years. But if I'm right...

Once again

I attempt to make the point that the usual reference to Europe as the place and style to follow has its limits:

Hamilton rejects Ecclestone's comment that racism in F1 started as joke

Ecclestone is in effect saying "boys will be boys" and writing off the casual racism of Europeans I have mentioned in the past. So I ask - why exactly do we want to be like these people?