Friday Cow Blogging
"Kathy found a sad lonely calf on Farmville...err, the real farm."This morning I had just finished playing Farmville on Facebook (you know, that annoying Facebook application that causes your friends to post annoying "Just found a lonely pink cow/sad turtle/homeless kitten on my farm" notices). I went to let the dog out before heading off to class and noticed one of the cows near the fence. She looked so bedraggled and lonely out in the rain,

London: It's a Small, Small Victorian World
Mr. and Mrs. Charles DickensLondon is such a small town, I keep running into the same Victorians.Yesterday we went to Charles Dickens' house on Doughty Street. I don't have much to say about it, except that there's a nice collection of Dickens memorabilia, including his desk and some fine portraits and photographs. Dickens didn't even live there very long—he moved to posher digs after he became a successful author. And if it's a typical

A Modest Proposal Regarding Those Who Voted No
While I was sleeping, a health care reform bill passed the House. That's nice. Now if it passes the Senate and becomes law, about a million people a year who would otherwise declare bankruptcy when faced with mounting bills for medicine and other medical expenses probably won't have to. And around 40,000 people a year will get to keep on living instead of dying from a preventable illness or medical complication. It's hard to believe, but 215 Representatives, mostly Republicans, voted against the measure. I have a modest proposal: Each of those no-voting Representatives should have to attend the funerals of those who die for lack of health care. Since the new

Friday Horse Blogging
More horses on our hike this week, this time around West Wycombe. They're starting to get a shaggy coat for winter. Some horses already have their winter coats out, but this was a fine sunny day, so these horses were enjoying the feel of a naked roll in the grass.  The one in th

Highgate Cemetery: Pompous Victorian Ghosts
Last week seemed like a good time to visit a Victorian cemetery, so we trained into London to see Highgate Cemetery. It was the first private cemetery to be built outside of London, to bury the growing number of dead Londoners. It opened in 1839 and although it is still occasionally used, it's mostly fallen to ruin as the families of the inhabitants have died out. Victorians were pompous in death, as in life. Gothic monuments, now crumbling and grown over with vines, are crowded in the cemetery. Stone angels, draped urns, and Egyptian obelisks line pebbled paths. Once fashionable mausoleums are now covered with cobwebs. Sentimental statues depicting the pets (including a pet