Maybe the scientists were right.

Maybe the Sumatran earthquake did cause the earth to wobble and maybe even change its orbit. The Red Sox pitching staff delivered two successive shutouts and the team won last night's game 1-0.

As I've mentioned, my mother was a woman of peace, but nothing got in the way of her sending and receiving mail. So, modest armaments would certainly be appropriate.

It's been generally true that the higher up the management chain you go, the more email you get. I don't know which comes first, the abundance of email or the management behavior, but new research may explain what's going on here.

Let's see. Malodorous gases. Long periods of suspended animation. New science or business as usual. You decide.

As Georgetown is poisoning pigeons in the park (with apologies to Tom Lehrer).

Recently we had a brief conversation with a friend who is gay and who has been in a relationship for a long time. We hadn't see her for a while and it was good to catch up. After we left, Sandra and I asked the same question - did they get married? There's a new pressure on gay couples in Massachusetts to address the marriage question. What should be a private decision between two adults now has a public dimension. A history professor of mine used to say that every act is a political act and has political consequences. Some acts (or non-acts) have greater political implications than others.

This is similar, in some ways, to the pressures that the families of the September 11th victims had to face. What is typically a private event of grief and healing became very public events with reporters and others looking in. I attended a funeral of a former co-worker who was on one of the flights. His family showed great grace amid the overwhelming crowds.