Odds and Ends

Just a few unrelated things to share this morning, as I can't find the mental jumper cables to get my brain started.

1. James Holmes, the 24-year-old former doctoral student who exercised his Second Amendment rights to kill 24 people in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater, has been charged with 24 counts of first-degree murder, 116 counts of attempted murder (two for each of the 58 people wounded in the attack), one count of felony possession of explosive devices and one count related to the use of an assault weapon, a shotgun and a handgun during his murderous spree. The indictment is 40 pages long, and you can read it here. The last sentence, a masterpiece of understatement, points out that the murderous rampage constituted "offenses against the peace and dignity of the people of the state of Colorado." No sh ... uh ... kidding.

2. Hyundai has announced it is recalling some 220,000 of its popular Sonata and Santa Fe models because of problems with their air bags. I have a problem with 535 defective air bags in Congress ... I wonder if there's a way we can get them recalled.

3. As both parties play political chicken with the economy and the lives of Real People, massive cuts to government programs known as sequestration could result in the layoffs of many thousands of government employees and contractors (including yours truly) just in time for the election. Well, that will certainly help the economy recover. Perhaps a better move might be to lay off 535 useless public employees in DC who don't appear to be doing anything to earn their paychecks.

4. The Olympics are underway in London. It is not a good idea for grandparents to play Olympic gymnastics with their four-year-old granddaughters who try to copy what they see on TV and suggest, "Now you do it, Opa!"*

5. Director Peter Jackson has announced that his upcoming film version of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic story The Hobbit will be produced as a trilogy, rather than as two films, as previously announced. The first film will appear on December 14^th of this year, and the second on December 13^th of 2013. There's no word yet on when the third will appear. I can't wait.

That's all.

Have a good day. More ... and more coherent ... thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

* It's okay ... I have another knee on the other side.