Terry Cowgill

Lizard Or The Wizard?

Even as I rejoice at the fact that the Bosox are once again atop the baseball world, I have a confession to make. There’s a reptile on the loose in my house. No, not the cable guy who never left, but a real critter with scales. And I know how he got there.

Over Columbus Day weekend, my wife and two kids went up to the Adirondacks to visit her father. We reluctantly decided to get my daughter a pet. She had pretty bad asthma as a toddler and we’re reasonably sure it will resurface with exposure to animal dander. Furry creatures, therefore, were out of the question.

So they settled on a gecko, a small lizard that makes a good pet and can be contained in a modest-sized glass cage with a heat lamp. No problem. That is, until we got home. When Roger took out the little perforated box we thought contained the lizard, he dumped it gently into the cage. Alas, nothing came out but air.

We looked in the car and found nothing except candy wrappers and Lego pieces. We called my father-in-law, lest he come upon the reptile during a nocturnal visit to the bathroom. He reported no unusual sightings in the house. A real mystery.

Continue reading Lizard Or The Wizard?…

Ocean State Measuring Shtick

OK, it was bound to happen. In a news story about the California wildfires, the LAT described the affected area as “roughly two-thirds the size of Rhode Island.” Why is it the only time the Ocean State makes news is when Buddy Cianci gets thrown in jail (again) or when journalists grope to find a yardstick? For a handy list of examples, click here.

Go to Google and type in “the size of rhode island” (all in quotes) and you will be treated to a smorgasbord of other examples of this phenomenon. The area of the 2003 California wildfires was described as “as about the size of Rhode Island.” CNN described a 1999 iceberg, called B-10A, as being “about 24 miles wide and 48 miles long — roughly the size of Rhode Island.” What would happen if a wildfire consumed the entire Ocean State? How would we describe the affected area?

Why don’t we just drop the informality of it all and make Rhode Island an official unit of measure? In enlightened Europe, which would surely turn up its nose at such a distinctly American solution, Continentals could use The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, which is the size of Rhode Island with roughly the population of Wyoming (home of Dick Cheney; but hey, what the Euros don’t know won’t hurt them).

Rudy’s Red Sox

Now that Rudy is rooting for the Bosox, I can divulge a little secret: I am one of the only Red Sox fans on the planet who does not hate the Yankees.

It all stems from my upbringing in Texas. When I was a little boy in Dallas in the 1960s, we had no major league baseball. There was a triple-A franchise that played out in Arlington and my grandfather took me to a couple of games there. But the Rangers would not arrive until a few years after we moved out of the Lone Star State.

And of course, there was no cable or Internet, so my entire exposure to Major League baseball consisted of the CBS Saturday afternoon “Game of the Week.” And since the Tiffany network actually owned the Yankees in the days before George Steinbrenner barged in, that weekly game almost always featured the Bronx Bombers.

I got endless thrills from watching Mickey Mantle, Joe Pepitone, Whitey Ford and Bobby Richardson. So I basically grew up a Yankees fan. And even after my first visit to Fenway on the heels of our move to the Boston area in 1971, I retained my affection for the Evil Empire (and still do). There, it’s out in the open …

So Rudy, even though your endorsement of the Sox is a cynical ploy to curry favor with the New Hampshirites who will vote in the first-in-the-nation primary, I can relate.

Will Schilling be up to the task? In his really cool Red Sox blog, Jose Melendez offers the following:

Tonight is the classic battle of youth and power versus experience and control as fireballer Ubaldo Jimenez pitches against born again finesse pitcher Curt Euro.

I’m hopeful the Rockies ace will look more like Jose Jimenez than Ubaldo. Go Red Sox!

P.S. For anyone who’s interested, join me tonight in the comment section of this post for some live blogging during the game.

LJ 10.25.07

The paper is jam-packed with news this week, what with elections approaching and all. There are lots of candidate profiles (available at tcextra.com on the individual town pages) and an explainer by yours truly on the procedures associated with write-in votes (some of which may surprise you). Also, see the LJ’s endorsements in the local elections.

A forum on conservation and fighting sprawl was held in Great Barrington and biodiesel is (or will soon be) available in Cornwall. Meanwhile, the Housatonic volleyball team is tops in its division and legendary attorney Catherine Roraback is dead at 87.

Inside the A section I wrote an extensive piece on the fact that the Dean Meadow property is back on the market for a whopping $5 million, and the controversy and disagreements that surround the prized property. And Ryan Snyder has a fine piece about the Sharon Housing Trust’s first sale.

Lastly, there are several profiles on the superintendents’ award winners in all the Region One schools (too many links to list here).

Alien Sighting

Oh my god! In her new book, Shirley MacLaine says Dennis Kucinich had a close encounter with a UFO. I’m sorry Shirley, but Dennis Kucinich looks more like he actually emerged from an alien spacecraft (as one of them) than bonded as an Earthling with ET.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer blogger notes that MacLaine “shares Kucinich’s opposition to using weapons in space” and that the presidential candidate said upon seeing the UFO that “he felt a connection in his heart and heard directions in his mind.”

Thanks Colin. And Dennis, you might now have better creds in opposing Star Wars.

He’s Running for Prez of SC

As Red Sox Nation explodes into ecstasy after last night’s 11-2 trouncing of the Tribe, so too is Colbert Nation having an orgasm. Their man, Stephen Colbert is running for president with a one-state strategy. Yesterday he was on Meet The Press. Click on the window above to see the first part of his appearance. When that’s done, click here to see the rest (it’s a two-parter on YouTube).

It was a very humorous sit-down, with Russert assuming the “serious” face usually reserved for Dick Cheney and Hillary, and Colbert announcing his platform, which includes abolishing tips for waiters and waitresses. One great moment was when Russert confronted Colbert with a New York Post headline about his candidacy that read, “Electile Dysfunction.”

“Do you think they are questioning your stamina?” a poker-faced Russert asked Colbert.

One of the things I like about Colbert is he keeps you guessing. The conventional wisdom (borne out by his keynote at the National Press Club) is that he is a big liberal making fun of the blowhard Bill O’Reilly.

That’s certainly a big part of his shtick, but Colbert confronts his liberal guests with their hypocrisy so convincingly that I can’t help but think he believes some of it. And he doesn’t think much of moderates either.

Now that one talking pundit has walked the walk, maybe it’s time for Michael Flint to FedEx some papers to the Secretary of the State’s office to run for Salisbury Board of Selectmen as a write-in candidate. Whaddaya say, Mike? How does Britt-Flint sound? Catchy — it almost rhymes!

Rise of the Libs

Not, not those Libs but the other ones — Libertarians. On Time.com yesterday, Michael Kinsley makes a compelling (if oversimplified) case for the rise of Libertarianism, as exemplified by the remarkable showing of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul (pictured at left).

As regular readers of this blog know, I have taken two online questionnaires about my presidential preference: the first indicated I am a Paul man, while the second (gasp …) showed me to be in Rudy’s camp.

I think the Paul result was more accurate. Paul is benefiting from two things: his passionate opposition to the Iraq war and advocacy for personal liberties endear him to many on the left; while his emphasis on free markets and self-reliance appeals to traditional conservatives.

Of course, he has no chance of winning the GOP nomination but it’s fun to speculate about why Paul is now raising more money than the much-better-known John McCain. I suspect it’s what Kinsley is suggesting: increasing numbers of voters see both Republicans and Democrats as unprincipled parties without any consistent guiding philosophy.

Dems have no problem, for example, with the government interfering in myriad aspects of our lives, but don’t want it to have any say about abortion. Republicans want “government off our backs,” but are happy to use the full weight of it to fight wars or regulate the content of the Internet. Both parties can be communitarian, but only when it suits their needs.

Speaking of abortion, I’ve heard some people say Paul’s opposition to abortion betrays his otherwise Libertarian principles. Nonsense. Libertarians are not anarchists. If you passionately believe that a fetus is a human being (a valid POV, I believe), then it is perfectly consistent with Libertarianism to insist that the state protect the innocent victim from harm.

Be that as it may, the lack of principles of both parties is what prevents me from registering with one of them. I’ve walked in to the town clerk’s office before with the goal of affiliating myself with a party but could never bring myself to sign on the dotted line.

Go, Ron … but better yet, Go Red Sox! First things first …

LJ 10.18.07

I am pressed and don’t have time for a recap of this week’s paper, but click here to listen to the podcast of my appearance this morning on Marshall & Mike.

Speak of the Devil …

Peter Halle forwarded this to me. I will kiss your feet if you can tell me how they do this bit of magic. But if you do, you will likely be the object of a formal complaint (and great opprobrium) from the magicians’ union.

Code of Ethics

Not long after I started this blog last year, I wrote a post about a party at The White Hart that featured a magician (see photo at right). I wondered aloud how they managed to keep their tricks secret.

Well, here are some insights into the machinations behind the wall of silence. We’re talking boycotts, threats and legal action against those who disseminate the secrets.

But most interesting is the question of whether a magic trick falls under the realm of “intellectual property.” It’s not clear since the tricks are not published except in semi-secret magician trade journals that (I’m sure) would magically disappear if they ever found their way onto a newsstand. Fascinating.