Tuesday, December 09, 2003

Pipe down, hen-house!Rhode Island was in a mean mindset today... clucking and barking at everyone. I think she's annoyed that big kahuna is back in town, so she's not as big a fish in the pond anymore. (how many animal cliches can I fit in one sentence?) She made Newbie cry at one point, and it seems like all of the hens were in prime noise making form. Being home tonight is a blessing... quiet, and no meanies or petty stuff happening. There's something in the air outside, and I'm perfectly happy to be walled up like Fortunato in a catacomb, gibbering about a cask of Amontillado. (as long as Ol' Newt and my Sweetie come to visit now and again.)

Good side of today.. a bit of synchronicity. I got some foil-wrapped chocolate coins from Kahuna... she brought them back, in a cardboard box shaped like a slot machine. They're pretty high quality dark chocolate, too! (They'd better be... 6 coins are 5 ww points, by my reckoning.)Site Meter

Also, Bird Poop Art.Morning again, the dawn of a new day. Tuesday. Howdy, Journal!

Sammy's father came by, and emptied the rest of number two. I'm now alone in this collection of apartments... this is the last populated cell of a formerly busy little hive. I've seen people come and go in all of the homes in miniature here. It must've had some effect on my dreams last night... I thought Frankie was outside my door, talking loudly to some visitors.. they were waiting for a ride, and I guess that they gave his old home address for a pickup. It was like three in the morning, and I dreamt that I called the police on them for trespassing and disturbing the peace. The recurring theme of Newt getting out then I opened the door occurred, too, but he was retrieved quickly.



feel free to elaborate in the comments!Site Meter

Newt attacks a plastic spoon, as I prepare to brush his teeth. 11/14/02
Random Newt Pic! The rarely-captured "fierce-look."


A naked, samurai sword-wielding martial arts expert screaming, "I'm God! I'm immortal" hacked his wife to death yesterday in a blood-soaked Bronx rampage, police said.

When the madman lunged at police, one cop fired 14 shots - bringing down the suspect but also hitting her partner twice. The cop's vest stopped one bullet from hitting his chest, though another slug penetrated his knee.

The wounded cop and suspect were in stable condition last night as relatives mourned 24-year-old Kisha Denton - and wondered what caused her husband almost to decapitate his wife of one year.

"She's like the other half of my heart, she wasn't just my sister-in-law," said Nicole Forbes, 27, sister of suspect Ivor Forbes, an unemployed computer technician. "I loved her very much."

The bloodshed erupted around 5 a.m., when Ivor Forbes, 32, allegedly butchered his wife in their Pelham Parkway apartment, using two ceremonial Japanese swords.

The stocky martial-arts black belt swung so hard, he bent one sword on her head - and also nearly sliced through her neck and cut off her left hand, cops said.

"I noticed his wife was on the floor covered in blood," said a neighbor who went to the first-floor apartment at 2199 Holland Ave. after the noise woke him up. "He was naked."

"She was still alive, she looked at me like she wanted help but at the time I could not do nothing," said the neighbor, who didn't want his name used. "I was just terrified and afraid for her and afraid for my life, too."

The neighbor ran back to his apartment and called 911. About 5:15 a.m., the two cops knocked on the door and were greeted by the blood-stained, naked swordsman, police said.

"I heard him screaming, 'I'm God! I'm immortal! I can't die!'" said neighbor Liz Zacuto.

She then heard the cops order him to surrender.

"Get down! ... Put your hands behind your back," one of the cops yelled, according to Zacuto.

But Forbes lunged at the cops, and one of the officers squeezed off 14 shots - hitting her partner twice and wounding Forbes multiple times, police said.

One of the shots hit the 27-year-old cop in the chest but the bullet was stopped by his vest - the 83rd time a vest likely saved a cop's life. The other bullet struck his knee.

"The officer's vest saved his life so he's going to be okay," said Mayor Bloomberg.

The officer, on the force for sevens years, was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center, where he had surgery to remove the bullet from his knee.

Forbes was hit in both legs but "we're not certain how many entrance and exit wounds he has," said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

According to an initial investigation, Kelly added, "It looks like the shooting was justified."

Forbes was in stable condition at St. Barnabas Hospital.

The 46-year-old cop who fired the shots was also taken to Jacobi, where she was treated for trauma. The names of the 17-year NYPD veteran and her wounded partner were not released.

Neighbors said Forbes and Denton seemed happy and often were spotted smiling when walking together. Police had no prior domestic incident reports from the couple and Forbes had no criminal record.

He apparently wasn't on drugs and no one is sure what sparked his rage, a police source said. He was charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

"My brother was a wonderful person; he just had some emotional problems that we're still trying to sort out," Nicole Forbes said.


Newly declassified US State Department documents show Henry Kissinger not only supported the Argentine junta's human rights abuses(including the killing of around 10,000 leftists); he actually urged the Generals to step up the pace of the repression so as to beat an upcoming sanctions vote in Congress.

The Hello World Project - Send in your message, and see how it is projected by a laser beam onto a mountain overlooking Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro, onto the UN building in New York City, onto the most prominent building in downtown Mumbai or onto a 140 meter tall water fountain in Geneva.

Medicare Information:
President Bush signed the new Medicare bill into law yesterday. Here are some links to find out more about how this will affect you:
  • President Bush’s speech on signing Medicare Bill
  • White house information page on Medicare
  • Medicare’s official site has questions and answers on how the new law will affect customers, including a Personal Plan Finder.
  • The Kaiser Family Foundation has a site devoted to understanding the Medicare bill and its effects. This page includes a ‘Benefits at a glance’ chart, a drug benefit calculator, and Medicare fact sheets. There’s also a report on ‘Talking with your parents about Medicare and health coverage’ and news summaries.
  • The Kaiser Network has news on health issues, including lots of information on the Medicare bill signing, and links to analysis and coverage by various news media and organizations.
  • Families USA (The Voice for Health Care Consumers) also has a site with Medicare information. It discusses he drawbacks to the plan, has calculators, and links to reports from other organizations concerned about Medicare.
  • AARP also has a site about Medicare and prescription drug coverage.
  • National Council on the Aging has a Benefits Checkup site that will help you to find the best plans available.
  • Gov Benefits.gov is a U.S. government site designed to help you find available benefit programs.

    Ok, on a lighter note, the Electric Company MP3 archive. (a nice set.. very nostalgic to me...especially Sweep ) Random Factoid.. Gene Wilder was the voice of Letterman.