Don't go to Italy ....

OK, I'd read several accounts of the Knox case, and while I obviously don't know what really happened, I'd also read a book on a very famous crime in Italy (don't have the link now), written by an American who lived there for several years that said there's a 0% chance that Amanda Knox was guilty, but, because of the absurd way the Italian legal system works, a huge chance she'd be convicted anyway. And she was. I'm never going to Italy.

Need to dig up the aforementioned book (it was about the famous serial killer in Italy); it describes in great detail how many innocent people were stalked by Italian prosecutors not with the goal of reaching the truth, but to further their own careers. Certainly that goes on here, but usually those prosecutions have to at least wear the guise of attempting to reach the truth, so that it's hard to tell the difference. From the description in the book I read, it's not clear that "truth" is even a value that many in the Italian criminal system even recognize.

Huh?

My auto/home insurance company (who I am very happy with, btw) gave me a discount for moving to a new neighborhood recently. They do not have discounts for giving birth. I'm sure there's a specific reason for this, but it's surprising to me: if there was anything that would really change my behavior on the roads, this is it.

Isabella!

Our new daughter Isabella was born last night! She's amazing!

Little things ...

I was immensely pleased today by something very minor. I was working pretty hard at work today, and I think I managed to wrap up a couple of really hard pmrs. I wanted "something" but wasn't sure what it was, and went to the beverage fridge, even though I was pretty tired of Diet Coke. Then, suddenly, realized we'd just bought Diet Barq's that that was what I wanted! Glorious!

Absurdly funny tweet ...

(Or whatever they're called these days.)

Find it here.

I'm always the last person to hear about anything

I'm sure I'm the last person to see this, but I laughed pretty hard. This is my kind of "bit" and I can't believe I didn't think of it first:

Linus does 25 things about me.

Holy Cow!

Old Barney Miller episodes on Hulu! This is like the greatest sitcom of all time!