Tuesday, January 20, 2004

You might be interested in this interview with Andrew Sullivan from Front Page. Speaking of Sullivan, he links to this hilarious story from the Daily Mirror. Seems Winston Churchill's parrot, Charlie, is still alive; it's over 100 years old. The photo sure looks like a damn old parrot. Anyway, Churchill taught it to say "Fuck the Nazis!", which the bird still constantly repeats.

I'd love to be able to interview that bird. Well, no, I guess I wouldn't; rather than enlightening us on Churchill's conversations with Roosevelt or his memories of Dunkirk or the negotiations leading up to D-Day, all it'd probably say is "Bawk! Bawk! Brawk! Fuck the Nazis! Braawk! Braaawk!" You know, that parrot quote right there isn't a bad three-word summary of most reasonable political opinions. Charlie the parrot's smarter than a lot of 1940s French intellectuals. Including Drieu la Rochelle, Celine, Brusillach, and Vichy official Francois Mitterrand.

Here's a fascinating story from the Atlantic about the life of a pro football center, the least glamourous position on the team. Football fans ought to read Football Outsiders, the best independent pro football site so far. Peter King, King Kaufman, and Gregg Easterbrook all read FO. If you can't get enough football this Super Bowl week, read Easterbrook's Tuesday Morning Quarterback every Tuesday afternoon at NFL.com.

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