It was in the news that Reggie, the renegade L.A. alligator was captured, yesterday at Lake Machado.
What's interesting is that some of the folks in on the capture weren't sure if they had the right reptile. The animal was bigger than they expected, so some wondered if it could be another gator.
I guess they figured it wouldn't grow that fast.
In any event, the critter is being held at the L.A. zoo, pending a decision as to his ultimate fate. I've come up with a few possibilities:
a) Send him or her (the sex hasn't yet been determined) to Mexico, where they'll turn the hide into handbags and boots. But before you do that, you may want liquidate the alligator and feature the meat as the prime ingredient on a special pay-per-view edition of the Iron Chef (proceeds going to fight brush fires).
b) Send Reggie to UCLA, so that can adopt him/her as their new mascot. Since the Bruins got their asses whipped twice in the past 2 NCAA basketball tournaments by the Florida Gators, they might as well adopt the champion's mascot. (As the saying goes, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!")
c) Send Reggie to San Francisco State Univ., since their mascot is already the Gator. They can stick it in Lake Merced, which is next to campus.
d) Send it to Harbor community college, which is very close Reggie's hideout (Lake Machado). Since the gator had been adopted as a second mascot (the first being the "Seahawk"), they oughta put it in a special pool at the school. It's time to cash in on the critter and start a new certificate program -- alligator wrestling. (Freddie Blassie would approve, but the WWE might not!)
Think of the final exam when that baby gets to be a full size adult of 13+ feet long!
This is not about the Republican '08 Presidential candidates, but about another homogenous racial group, the good people of Norway.
I recently received the Spring 2007 issue of "News of Norway", a zine put out by the Norwegian embassy. There's an article on Norwegian and US collaboration on cancer research.
Inger Thune is quoted commenting on the advantages of doing medical research in Norway. She is an oncologist in Oslo and heads a Norwegian breast cancer research project.
"Norway is a very good place to conduct research on large groups of the population, because we have a very homogenous population and a tradition of getting everyone egnaged in these studies. A good example is the large 'Troms/o study,' where almost 40,000 of the inhabitants of Troms/o were asked to enroll in a health survey that now has been going on for 33 years. Of the people invited, more than 80% decided to attend and most of those who joined in 1974 are still participating. Something like that would be difficult in the U.S."
Yeah, I guess this country is too diverse and we tend to move around a lot.
OTOH, consider the Johns Hopkins Precursors Study, the oldest longitudinal health survey in the U.S. It's been following the JHU Med school classes of '48 through '64. The sample size is 1337 and comprised of mostly white men.
Since this is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, I propose that APA's be surveyed about health issues. It should involve thousands of people and continue for many years.
Only recently have I learned about the feud between New York City Mayor Bloomberg and Virginian officials over NYC-authorized undercover operations to identify those selling guns illegally in Virginia.
They way I figure it, if NY can send their garbage to Virginia landfills, then Virginia can send guns to NY.
(Either way, Virginia is making money off of New York.)
The following was reported in the LA Times today:
A 29-year-old theology student who claimed that she accidentally stabbed her husband in the heart during a clumsy hug was convicted Thursday of murder.
Jee Hyun Song of Anaheim could face 16 years to life in prison when she's sentenced July 20.
She and her husband, Dong Uk Kim, 24, were both students at Anaheim's Bethesda Christian University on Nov. 10, 2005, when she stabbed him in the chest with a 5-inch kitchen knife in their Anaheim apartment.
During the trial, she claimed that he had essentially stabbed himself by unexpectedly spinning her around for a hug from behind while she was holding the knife and cooking noodles.
Instead of calling 911, prosecutors said, she waited two hours before calling a girlfriend, who contacted police.
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The way I figure it, she was probably chopping up some vegetables to add to the noodles, when he tried to hug her...
...I guess the jury didn't buy her explanation, especially when chopped liver was found next to the body -- his liver ... (sorry, I couldn't help myself)...
But what lessons could be learned from this case? I think there are several:
1. There is a time and place for hugging.
2. Expressing one's horniness too quickly can result in unsatisfactory relations.
3. Be careful around older Korean women (especially those wielding sharp objects).
Eastern Market in DC caught on fire, yesterday morning. I hope it reminds people of local history.
Too often, those of us who live far beyond the Beltway, think of DC as the Capitol, full of politicians, bureaucracy, marble buildings, and memorials.
Yes, it's all of that, and more.
I've never been to Eastern Market, an old building that contains food, flowers, and a flea market. But I did mention it in a post about its German-born designer, Adolf Cluss, over a year ago. You'll have to scroll down to the entry about the "commie" architect.
It's worth noting another historical news item from yesterday, that of the official handover of the German map that named America. 500 years ago, in 1507, Martin Waldseemueller's map was published that used the name, "America." (The German-born mapmaker worked in France, so you could claim that the map was of French origins, but the prince that sold it to the Americans in 2001 was German. That should be an interesting story in tracing the map's history.)
Yesterday should've been declared German-American Day.