Barry's Life in Napa Blog

I ran across these Maps of War when I was checking out Acute Politics (where you will find some actually encouraging reports about Iraq now and then, including this for example.) These Flash animated maps are an excellent visual learning opportunity. Click on the "play" button.

I am a fan of the old time movies, the really old time movies. (Now and then I run across someone who admits they haven't seen Citizen Kane , or Casablanca , which leaves me full of The Sorrow and the Pity .) Since they "just don't make them like that anymore," it can be a little sad sometimes to think that you've seen all the classics, and if you're in the mood for an old time movie you'll just have to watch one you've watched before. That is why I am pleased to report today my personal discovery of The Miracle of Morgan's Creek . I can't hardly say this is a little-known gem - most critics call it a Preston Sturges classic - but not having delved far into the Sturges library, this one came as a real unexpected joy. Especially since I have never found the greatness in Sturges' best-known film, Sullivan's Travels , though I have tried it more than once. After watching The Miracle of Morgan's Creek , I may have to try it again, becau...

Today's most intriguing news: Full swimming pool stolen, not a drop spilled Superman putting out a grass fire? PGA TOUR Notebook: One golfer is on steroids, but they're legal Like golf doesn't generate enough rage as it is? Grim reapurr: The cat that can predict death What's the deal here? Does this cat read the tracks in the litter box like tea leaves? Does this cat have a cable TV show? (If not, why not?) Producers: `Cavemen' Not Racial Metaphor Has this been cleared with Al Sharpton? Is it true the first episode features a cameo by Don Imus and Michael Richards?

It looks like the Napa PD has caught the punks who robbed our house. I'm glad to see them busted, but all my delicious thirst for vengeance was squelched when I read that one of the perps is only 15, and the apparent master-mind (Mr. Big, The Brain, The Big Boss of this outfit) is just 18. I guess now I am glad I didn't catch them inside the house with their arms full of our consumer electronics, or I might be living with the knowledge that I knee-capped a child to protect an iPod. Strangely enough, I just had a dream last night (and yes, I know people mostly don't want to hear what follows that opening) where I had an encounter with an 18 year old kid who was high on something and wanted to pick a fight with me. It was a kid that I knew, and he knocked my cuff links and high blood pressure pills out of my hand. (There's some symbolism for you.) He was really spoiling for a fight. But instead of head-butting him, I picked him up in my arms and carried him down the stree...

I laughed out loud when I saw this headline. France needs to quit thinking and 'get to work' PARIS (Reuters) -- France's love affair with ideas has gone too far and it is time for the country to quit thinking and get to work, Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said Tuesday as she plugged a tax plan aimed at boosting the economy.... "France is a country that thinks. There is hardly an ideology we don't have a theory on," she told parliament... "That's why I would like to tell you: that's enough thinking, enough prevaricating. Let's just roll up our sleeves." There's a picture for you, a frenchman with his sleeves rolled up, getting down to work. Somehow I keep seeing Yves Montand in a perfectly tailored suit, pulling up to a chateau in his Audi, lighting a Gitane, and getting down to work is not what's on his mind. Most stereotypes have some kernel of truth, hence the image of the cafe-bound French who are more interested in livi...

Let's begin with this snippet (thank you Scotty) from Thomas L. Friedman's 6/27/07 op ed piece: Three years ago, I was catching a plane at Boston’s Logan airport and went to buy some magazines for the flight. As I approached the cash register, a woman coming from another direction got there just behind me — I thought. But when I put my money down to pay, the woman said in a very loud voice: “Excuse me! I was here first!” And then she fixed me with a piercing stare that said: “I know who you are.” I said I was very sorry, but I was clearly there first. If that happened today, I would have had a very different reaction. I would have said: “Miss, I’m so sorry. I am entirely in the wrong. Please, go ahead. And can I buy your magazines for you? May I buy your lunch? Can I shine your shoes?” Why? Because I’d be thinking there is some chance this woman has a blog or a camera in her cellphone and could, if she so chose, tell the whole world about our encounter — entirely...

Harrison Ford is making me depressed. There is no bigger fan of "Han Solo" and "Indiana Jones" than me. Well, in the sense that I really like all those movies, not in the sense that I dress up like Star Wars characters and go out in public. OK, there was that one time in the Princess Leia outfit. But I digress. Harrison Ford is making me depressed for at least three reasons. 1. He's not aging well. Still lean, and can probably run from jungle pygmies and do battle with stormtroopers and all that, but that face! Yikes! He just looks sad and tired. Maybe he looks sad because 2. He keeps making the same movie over and over. We're flipping channels last night and there's this movie called Firewall . He's a bank security expert and his family is held hostage by some bank robbers who force him to help them rob a bank. I did not need to watch it all to know he would act all scared for awhile, then come up with some clever ploys, and in the end there'...

It never ceases to amaze me that so many people will happily take part in perpetuating crap email. There may be a better term for it - not spam exactly, but in the family - but crap email works for me. I refer not to worn out lists of "you know you're getting older when..." or "today's high school graduates never owned an 8-track." (In the pre email days, these things went around by fax. In earlier times, I suppose they were copied longhand by monks, or incised on wax tablets.) These hackneyed jokes may be boring, or annoying, or even a diversion now and then. The crap I'm talking about are the emails that are to intended to deceive, either with an altered photo or some lengthy text that is utterly wrong. The latest of these making the rounds is a list of supposed new traffic laws that went into effect on July 1. For example: Carpool lane - 1st time $1068.50 starting 7/1/07 (The $271 posted on the highway is old). Don't do it again because 2nd time ...

This is post #104 on this blog. If this were a weekly newspaper column that would be two years worth, with no vacations. Since I've only been writing here for about 5 months, you could say I'm on a torrid pace. (Those are two words- "torrid" and "pace" - that almost always show up side by side. Comforting, isn't it?) These facts, along with the fact that this is a holiday week (because it's no longer enough to just have a holiday anymore, we all tack on our vacation days and such and turn any week with a holiday in it into a "holiday week") and all I can really focus on is the impending visit of the kids and the grandson, leads me to declare that I will take a few days off from this blog. My goal will be to not write anything through the remainder of the holiday week, and get back to it July 9. I have to make a deal with myself because I feel sort of guilty when I skip a day or two, like I am violating an unspoken pact with you, the read...