Happy New Year!

According to tales and legends, the beginning of Chinese New Year started with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nian or "Year" in Chinese. Nian would come on the first day of New Year to devour livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nian ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One time, people saw that the Nian was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nian was afraid of the color red. Hence, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nian. From then on, the Nian never came to the village again. The Nian was eventually captured by Hongjun Laozu, an ancient Taoist monk. The Nian became Hongjun Laozu's mount.

The world according to Wiki ^ up there. It is the year of the Ox, Earth Ox, to be exact.

Inaugural Eve

Carlos Sim is not known for making bad investments. Yet he's, alledgely, investing in the New York Times (former employer of mine). I'm lefting shaking my head, wondering why. See Gawker (I know, I know) for some details.

The Sulzbergers have done a piss-poor job of running the Grey Lady for at least two decades now and I'd be happy to see a reputable journalist take over (not Murdoch). But Slim? He's apt to leave the biggest loser, Art, in charge - unless he completely takes over and brings in someone new and I'm not sure who that could be at this point.

~ ~ ~

The Swamp, aka Washington DC, has become the center of the known Universe. At least until Wednesday morning.

Media executives must have been paying attention last week when President Bush declared a state of emergency for Tuesday's inaugural.

CNN's Washington bureau chief David Bohrman, for one, issued a "news emergency" of his own.

While Bush freed up federal funds, Bohrman made available satellite phones in the event of rolling cell phone blackouts. There will be cots and air mattresses for staffers camping out in the newsroom on Monday night, along with shower arrangements at a nearby health club. Staffers will be treated to a pancake breakfast prior to braving the bitter cold and bulging crowds.

"It's the biggest event any of us have ever had to cover," Bohrman said.

While this is an important and historic inauguration, once again the media have gone bat-shit crazy. And not in a good way. I wish we could give the totality of the Fourth Estate a large sedative, a blankie and a teddy bear and send them off for a good, long nap. Gods knows they need it. They've been running hysterically amuck since the Bronco incident with OJ Simpson... in 1994? Something like that - nearly 15 years of a never-ending adrenaline rush. Poor things must be exhausted.

Long time no post

Real life gets in the way.

Let see, what's new... survived Thanksgiving and Christmas, though I had the stomach bug from Hell the week before Christmas. Not fun. My godson turned four on the 5th; the twins will be 15 on the 26th (gawds I'm so old!) and it's colder than sin outside right now

Mr. Obama got elected in November. Let's see where this leads. I wish him well. It can't get any worse, right?

Right?

Ah well... I'm not going to complain about Bush, the economy, the war, politics...

crickets

only in this cold snap all the crickets are dead.


Ah, weather! One can always complain about the weather!

Not much point though, huh?


Good news: "Miracle on the Hudson" - everyone survived, with some injuries, from the plane crash yesterday. NYT follow-up story this afternoon: Left Engine Missing From Downed Plane

“The left engine is not there; it’s somewhere,” Ms. Higgins said. "We’ve got to go find that.”

Birds are now and have always been a severe problem for airports and it's amazing there aren't more crashes attributed to birds.

Since 2000, at least 486 commercial aircraft have collided with birds, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Of those incidents, 166 led to emergency landings and 66 resulted in aborted takeoffs.

Canada geese, a frequent visitor to golf courses and open spaces in the metropolitan New York area during the winter, pose a particular danger to planes because of their size. The impact of a 12 pound bird hitting a plane traveling at 150 miles per hour is equal to that of a 1,000 pound weight dropped from a height of 10 feet, according to experts on bird strikes.