Stray Thoughts

1. Here we go again. This time, it's "Why can't the U.S. be more like Kenya?" There, a number of people have been put to death by mobs for practicing witchcraft, specifically for "making the bright children in the community dumb". You don't suppose a little bit of this tough love might work wonders for the National Education Association, do you? Just a thought...

2. The last of the "idle rich" has passed on to his reward. Huntington Hartford, A&P heir, who blew most of his $90 million inheritance on pet projects and high living, has died at age 97. (Well, at least he didn't donate anything to the U.N. -- now _that_ would have been a waste.) Apparently he lasted about six months in the family business... I think I'm starting to like this guy! How many rich people nowadays really know how to live in style? I mean, look at Bill Gates with his nerdy sweaters and even-more-nerdy haircut. Look at the Kennedys, who work their butts off, and for what? For a bunch of failed utopian schemes, by and large. The idea that "if you've got it, flaunt it" has always gone somewhat against the grain of American get-up-and-go and the Protestant ethic. But thank goodness there was at least one holdout.

3. It's happening more and more often these days. The locals -- i.e., residents of Pittsburgh and surrounding areas -- are getting stuck and killed by trains. Now, of course, one always has to read between lines in these cases. Most of the time, the person was walking along the tracks late at night, for some unknown reason, although being "shit-faced drunk" might be a possibility. In at least one recent case, the guy had been _lying_ on the railroad tracks -- again, not explained, although he might have been reprising one of those scenes in the old Western movies where the Indian puts his ear to the rail and says something like, "Iron horse come this way, carrying many white-eyes." But in any case, it's remarkable how something that has been an integral part of local life for over a century and a half has suddenly morphed into a major health hazard.

4. It's always inspiring to see the heights to which sub-Saharan Africa has risen since they shucked off the oppressive rule of European colonials. The latest is the series of not-at-all-gentle lynchings of migrant workers by the locals in South Africa. It seems like, as hardscrabble as life in the South African workers' towns is, it's still preferable to life in places like Zimbabwe, where many of the migrants hail from. It's a bit like the troubles we are having in this country with "illegals" from Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America. But I don't recall any of them getting doused with gasoline and set on fire. Still, one has to admire the progress that has been made since the, um, dark days of apartheid.

5. It seems there is now a technology whereby the ashes of a deceased loved one -- at least the portion that is carbon -- can be processed into a memorial diamond. It's already been done with a deceased cat, so how long until it's done with a deceased person? Then one can truly say, "these diamonds were a girl's best friend".