Insomniacs unite!
However, being awake at 5:00AM at least gives me the time to blog this bit of New York weirdness:
more than 160 riders participated in the fifth annual No Pants Subway Ride before police halted their No. 6 train about 5 p.m.
I don’t think riding the subway in your boxer shorts qualifies as illegal activity, although going commando and then offing your pants probably would. Apparently this lot were all underpants-clad, so hey, go for it. Whatever floats your boat.
Shakespeare’s Sister today reposts one of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr’s best speeches in honor of the holiday. There’s not a man or a woman alive today who’s as good a speaker as he was. We have some gifted speakers, no doubt, but none with quite the combination of fire and poetry as he.
It’s a fun game to conjure up a ghost from our past and ask, “What would So-And-So think about today’s world?” I’m not foolish enough to put words into MLK’s mouth, but I’m pretty sure he would not be happy with the world today.
But the important thing is that Dr King was not a pessimist. Look at that speech again. Those are the words of someone who deeply believes that tomorrow will be better than today. If in 1963, Dr King could look at an America deeply racist and divided, and see a better future, then we here in 2005, with so many gains made since that day, should be able to see a brighter future too.
Because I’d be willing to bet his crackpot theories would be a perfect fit at this little bash:
Iran said Sunday it would sponsor a conference to examine the scientific evidence supporting the Holocaust, an apparent next step in hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s campaign against Israel and a move likely to deepen Tehran’s international isolation.
Ahmadinejad already had called the Nazis’ World War II slaughter of 6 million European Jews a myth and said the Jewish state should be wiped off the map or moved to Germany or the United States.
UPDATE: Whoops, I didn’t realize Irving was currently in prison in Austria.
The NY Rangers’ Cup-winning season of 1994 is a long time away, but the memories are still sweet.
Mark Messier, who led the New York Rangers in 1994 to their first Stanley Cup in 54 years, had his No. 11 jersey retired on Thursday in an emotional celebration at Madison Square Garden.
Surrounded by many of his teammates from that Stanley Cup winning team, members of his family and the Cup itself, Messier watched as his No. 11 banner was slowly lifted to the rafters to the strains of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.”
His was the fourth jersey ever retired by the Rangers, joining Rod Gilbert (No. 7), Eddie Giacomin (No. 1) and Mike Richter (No. 35), the goalie on the ’94 championship team.
I’m lucky enough to have seen all 4 of those excellent players at The Garden. I wonder who will be the next Ranger to join their company.
While checking my RSS feeds this morning, I noticed that Bloglines had switched languages on me. Very odd. Hopefully it will be fixed soon.
UPDATE 1:15PM: It’s back to normal.
I just can’t bring myself to care about the Alito hearings. Mostly because I’m quite sure he will be confirmed unless a massive smoking gun emerges, so why bother getting upset?