Pato's new haircut

Pato answers questions about his new haircut.

Swine flu #1

A notice posted at Madrona K-8 School in Seattle, WA

What I have been reading lately #25

Today I finished Charles Brandt's book "I Heard You Paint Houses": Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran & the Inside Story of the Mafia, the Teamsters, & the Last Ride of Jimmy Hoffa. This book is based upon the author's extensive interviews with Frank Sheeran, a man who worked for years for the Teamsters and certain organized crime families in eastern Pennsylvania and New York. Sheeran was very close to Jimmy Hoffa for many years in the fifties, sixties, and seventies. Sheeran is now dead, but in the book he claims to have killed Jimmy Hoffa. I won't spoil the story as to how it is supposed to have happened. You'll have to read the book. I will say this much, however-- Sheeran is the first union enforcer and Mafia hit man that I have ever heard of who moonlighted as a ballroom dance instructor.

Below: Jimmy Hoffa (left) and Frank Sheeran

There is also word that this book may be made into a movie directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro.

Picture Of the Day

Kaka' with his birthday cake

What I have been reading lately #24

I have recently finished reading Robert Sullivan's excellent book, The Meadowlands: Wilderness Adventures at the Edge of a City.  From reading this book, I learned about the many interesting items that can be found or previously could be found in this wilderness/wasteland just a few miles west of New York City.  The list includes (in no particular order):

• many of the AM radio transmitters for New York City radio stations;
• abandoned copper mines:
• abandoned clay pits previously used for digging up clay to make bricks;
• salt hay farms;
• failed land development schemes;
• the cities of Newark and Secaucus (to name only two);
• garbage dumps (both in use and no longer in use) containing such items as rubble from the London Blitz, leachate (the liquid that trash makes after it has sat for a while), and fires (both above and underground);
• toxic waste, including, but not limited to, mercury, chromium, naphthalene, methylene chloride, toluene, and ethylbenzene;
• hunters, fishers, and swimmers;
• sports facilities for professional sports teams;
• highways and railways;
• lunatic asylums;
• organized crime murder victims (including, possibly, Jimmy Hoffa - pictured below);
• hotels;
• factories;
• pig farms;
• chemical and oil refineries;
• piles of coal;
• hills made from garbage;
• the Kearny, NJ Library, which boasts of having the world's largest collection of foriegn-language translations of Gone With The Wind;
• soccer stars, including John Harkes, Tab Ramos, and Tony Meola;
• cedar forests;
• mosquitoes;
• buried pirate treasure; and
• the ruins of the original Penn Station from New York City.

Above, the Meadowlands; below, Jimmy Hoffa.

Happy Birthday Kaká!!!

    

Today is the 27th birthday of one of the most talented and most respected footballers in the game today. Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite's (aka Kaka') strong morals, brilliant scoring and playmaking on the field, and his adorable family make a place for Kaka' in all our hearts. 

Kaka' may appear flawless now, but he was not had a simple life. In a middle class family from Brasilia, Brazil,  his life was never going to be difficult. Or so it seemed. In 2001, Kaka' had an accident diving into a pool and was paralyzed. This seemed to end his career before it really got going, and we never would know Kaka' as we do.

Luckily for the world, he made a full recovery and went on to a marvelous career filled with AC Milan, a FIFA World Player of the Year Award, a Golden Ball. He also married Caroline Celico and they now have a young son: Luca. Kaka's favorite drink is water and his favorite book is the bible. These favourites represent Kaka' perfectly, as the reliable, wholesome, brilliant, talented, and wonderful person he is. He is a true role-model.

Happy Birthday! 

What I have been reading lately #23

I just finished reading The Lizard King: The True Crimes and Passions of the World's Greatest Reptile Smugglers by Bryan Christy.  It is about international reptile smugglers and the overworked, underfunded U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agents who try to stop them from smuggling reptiles.  While the subject was interesting, the book was not very well written.  The author took a lot of time to set up the main villain (Michael Van Nostrand who operates a Florida-based reptile business called Strictly Reptiles) but then failed to really explain how the federal government finally brought him down.

Below: Michael Van Nostrand with a turtle, or is it a tortoise?

What I have been reading lately #22

Earlier today I finished Where The Money Is: True Tales From the Bank Robbery Capital of the World. This book is written by former FBI agent William J. Rehder (along with Gordon Dillow). For those of you who don't know, the bank robbery capital of the world is apparently Los Angeles, California.

This book was highly informative and entertaining- the author worked for over 30 years in Los Angeles catching bank robbers. The book focuses on just a few of the most interesting cases, including the "Yankee Bandit" (about whom a movie is being produced), LA gangs who took up bank robbing, "The Hole in the Ground Gang" who tunneled under and into bank vaults and were never caught, David Mack (an LA police officer who went bad), and, of course, the two men involved in the North Hollywood Shootout, whose robberies resembled something out of a bad action movie.

The book reminded me of when I worked for Gold Shield Security Services in Connecticut as an unarmed bank guard. I believe I made $6.50 an hour (early 1990s money) and spent most of my time worrying about getting shot at. Hartford, CT is far away from Los Angeles, however, so I did not have to undergo any robbery attempts.

Below: A photo from a random bank robbery - I believe it is from Colorado.

Lost and Found

This is the Lost and Found at the school where I work.  When students lose clothing and other items, the items are placed here.  Below is another view, this time from the side.  

Picture of the Day

In  Belgrade, Partizan defeated Red Star 2-0.  The Red Star fans showed their disapproval by setting the stands on fire.

Picture of the Day

Why Belgium is famous

Other than Belgian Waffles (and it's debatable how Belgian those are...), Belgium is basically famous for two things: Tintin and the Smurfs.  Tintin was created, of course, by Herge, and the Smurfs are credited to some man named Peyo.  How is it that one tiny country could have produced two of the world's most famous and beloved cartoons?  

Photo above: Tintin puts on his coat while his dog Snowy runs alongside him.

Photo below: The Smurfs decorate a Christmas tree.  Notice that they are not really following the diagram.

Protests at G20 meeting in London

At the G20 meeting today in London, leaders of the world's largest market economies met to try to figure out how to save the capitalist economic system from further meltdown.  Thousands of demonstrators converged on the Bank of England (pictured above), as well as the Royal Bank of Scotland.

(Below- A protester climbs columns in an attempt to hang his banner.)

(Below- Another demonstrator near a line of police.)