I googled my cousin-in-law the other day, and ran across this mp3 of one of her songs. Perhaps because I have trouble writing anything that’s not transparently autobiographical, it strikes me as an interesting choice of theme for somebody who to all appearances is blissfully married.

Michael Jackson is shocked, shocked, I tell you, that he comes off as a complete freak in a new documentary about him that involved following him around for months. He can’t understand how it happened. And his pal, the spoonbending jerk, Uri Geller, didn’t see it coming.

I was listening to a song where the singer was saying how you hurt those who love you, my little polecat. Polecat? Actually the song was called “Coquette”.

Brought to my attention by a loyal reader: People don’t pay attention. 17% of Americans surveyed knew that none of the hijackers was Iraqi, while 44% believed some or most of them were.

Two books of the day today, both lavishly illustrated coffee table books. The Art of the Airways by Geza Szurow features beautiful reproductions of vintage airline posters, from the days when air travel was romantic. Pacific Legacy: Image and Memory from World War II in the Pacific by Rex Alan Smith and Gerald A. Meehl shows the physical remnants of WWII in the Pacific. From memorials and monuments (on both sides) to rusted-out airplanes crashed in the jungle and helmeted skeletons that turned up in someone’s back garden. Lots of history is given to link these islands of memory to the events that caused them.

The Disgruntled Housewife webpage is prettier and maybe funnier and more informative than my website. But I don’t resent her for it. No.

The excellent Dawn points our attention to a column by Rick Reilly* on the lack of attention to women’s achievements in sports and a call to vigilance for Title IX.

*Also the author of the excellent sports novel Slo Mo! My Untrue Story.

From Washington State Vital Statistics 2001, the top ten baby names in the state in 2001:

girls:

Emily

Madison

Hannah

Emma

Grace

Olivia

Elizabeth

Samantha

Sarah

Ashley

boys:

Jacob

Joshua

Ethan

Michael

Andrew

Alexander

Daniel

Nicholas

Tyler

Matthew

The list in the book, from the Department of Health, lists the top 100, with percentages and raw numbers. The odder names are further down the list, with some broken up by different spellings. Well, I say odd perhaps only because I don’t watch soap operas.

Today’s book of the day is “Diaper Free! The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene” by Ingrid Bauer. Yes, it’s chock full of “wisdom” on how to hold your baby over a receptacle when your intuition alerts you to their need to eliminate. Lavishly illustrated with black and white photos of white people with dreadlocks, tattoos or organic cotton clothing bonding with their widdling babies, holding them over toilets, mixing bowls, or the great outdoors.

Seen today, on the back of a pickup truck, a sticker shaped like those tree air-fresheners, but with a stars and stripes pattern. I’m stumped. Is it supposed to indicate patriotism with a piney fresh scent? But it’s not actually scented, cause it’s a sticker.