Merry New Year!

To go along with the fun of a New Year's celebration, some interesting stuff today:

Careful on the Test Track line at Disney -- A new law went into effect in Florida today that permits state residents to carry concealed firearms. Brady campaigners have taken the liberty of passing out fliers to travelers at the airport, warning them not to piss off any residents. Should make spring break in Daytona real exciting, too.

Nicholas Cage must not like his new son -- I can see his first day in kindergarten: "So, Kal-El, what did YOU do this summer? Change the course of mighty rivers?" Yes, it's true - Cage's son was given Superman's Kryptonian birth name.

[I'm a Met fan, so take the next one with a grain of salt] What possessed the Yankees to basically give away the last game of the season against Boston the other day? While they had clinched (barely) the American League East, they gave up home field advantage to the Angels by basically pitching the "B" team (well, whatever Jaret Wright is at this point) against Boston, who promptly pummeled the Yanks 10-1 (obviously, the game was meaningful to THEM). The Angels also made sure they won, apparently prompting some Yankees to claim that their manager was going too far for a game that didn't really matter. If the Yankees lose a 5th game in LA, they'll have this to look back on.

George Bush's "hastily prepared" (according to the NY Times) quote about his designated choice for Supreme Court Justice (White House lead counsel Harriet Miers) was interesting. He claimed that he sought someone "with grace", among other things. Now call me sexist, but this quote sounds so after the fact - would a search for a male OR female justice have been characterized this way? Does the new Chief Justice have "grace"? By the way, I hear this and keep thinking of the Sienfeld episode in which Elaine is trying to get a highfalutin job at a publisher and is supposed to have "grace" as well, like Jackie Kennedy did. Anyway, the quote sounds a bit stupid, but given its source, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.