Keith Academy reunion
An "all classes" reunion of Keith Academy (Lowell, MA) graduates will be held in Naples, FL, March 8-10. A number of KA graduates have retired to FL and are arranging this reunion. I graduated from KA (it was a Xavierian Brothers high school) in the 20th class - 1949 - and have not been to a reunion of any sort since. The closest I came was in 1994 when a reunion was held in Lowell, MA, but an opportunity to live and teach in China for a year came up. My wife and I are looking forward to this reunion. We also hope to stop by and see some friends from our early Air Force days who live in Ft. Walton Beach.

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#34

The Comcast switch over
Much of February has been devoted to switching over to Comcast.net from the failed @Home.com. The switchover has not been without its hazzles, but all things considered, it has been successful. The Web page Archibald99.com is again active. My E-mail address is now archinsc@comcast.net .

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#33

Kitchen project moving along.
Expect a man in Monday to sand and finish the floors. About 52 years ago, when I got out of high school and was knocking around before my serious life's work began, I had a job on a maintenance gang in a textile mill. One project we worked on was laying a hardwood floor in a mill that was about 300 feet (or more) long and about 60 feet wide. I can tell you that you do when you are 20 cannot be duplicated when you are 70. I laid down a hardwood floor and it took two days to do about 110 square feet. It is hard work.
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#32

Kitchen renovation
My wife and I are renovating the kitchen in our home, doing some of the work ourselves and contracting out some heavy cabinet painting and the installation of kitchen counters, sink and electric glasstop range. The sweat work should save us about $10,000 over a general contractor bid to do a turnkey job. We the ripping out, carpenter modifications, and are doing some wall painting and paper hanging. The floor is still in question. We may try to do it, or contract it out. We have to get the old floor vinyl roll tile up first.

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#31

Who says Enron is a lost cause?

Some lawyers working on the Enron debacle are billing $200 to $700 an hour, according to The Wall Street Journal.

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#30

The New Year
Sliced bread has been around only since 1928. I did not know that prior to 1928 bread was sliced in the home with a knife. I find this interesting because the design of the slicer preceded my birth by only about three years. In an age when men have walked on the moon, it seems so mundane that machine sliced bread is also an invention of the 20th Century. What will be the big "invention" or "feat" of the 21st Century? Will it occur this year? Stay tuned.

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#29

Their lost youth
Old men lament their lost youth, none more so than those who never had one.

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#28

The incredible vanishing book review...
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Kevin Berger

July 19, 2001 | "Wait, I think the stairwell is over there," said a San Francisco Chronicle editor, accompanying me to the paper's book-review department. "I've actually never been down there."

The wry editor and I were leaving the newsroom, a fluorescent hive of conversing reporters and editors. Down we descended into the basement and into a scene right out of "Norma Rae." We stood in a windowless lunchroom, a grim assembly of colored-plastic tables and vending machines. The few folks eating their sandwiches here were clearly not the Chronicle's executive staff. A sign on a far wall said "Book Review," followed by an arrow.

We headed down a dimly lit hallway, past a janitor's office, a storage space with extension cords on the floor and an abandoned copy-machine room, and finally arrived at a stockroom. Inside, pressboard shelves sagged with books. The floor was piled with padded envelopes stuffed with a lot more.


Well, you get the point. This lengthy article was about book reviews being a disappearing breed and was published in Salon.com back on July 23, 2001. Are books reviews becoming a vanishing breed?

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#27

God is not on my side, or yours
Roger Rosenblatt in an essay (Time, December 17, 2001) asked, "Where has God been since 1973 regarding the New York Knicks?"

I would like to know where he has been since 1918 regarding the Boston Red Sox.

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#26

Executioner:...a line of work routinely ignored by career counselors...
Paul Festa, book review entitled Executioner's Song, salon.com (12/04/01)

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#25

Packers Win Over Chicago...Take lead in NFC Central
The Green Bay Packers (9-3) defeated the Chicago Bears (also 9-3) 17-7 Sunday to take the lead in the NFC Central Division. The Packers have games remaining at Tennessee, at home against Cleveland and Minnesota and at New York Giants.

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#24

When America entered the war
"It is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning."
Winston Churchill
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#23

Remember Pearl Harbor

People are given to calling September 11 "another Pearl Harbor." This is especially so among young people who were not even born when the Japanese attacked the American base in the Hawaiian Islands. That war ended three and a half years later as two mushroom clouds ascended over Japan. Sixty years ago on December 7, 1941, I was ten years old and returning home from an afternoon at one of the local movie theatres. I don't recall what I saw that day, but when I entered the house my mother and some neighbors were listening to radio reports on the attack. Everyone was scared. I'm sure I was also but don't recall it specifically. Over the next few months nothing much seemed to happen, although we know it did. Our men and women in service fought their way into Africa, Sicily and Europe and across the Pacific. At home, life went on as it does for a ten year old child, and his two brothers and two sisters. We went to school, saved tin cans, played ball, were introduced to margarine, attended church, moved on up and finally, the war was over.

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#22

Packers Win in JAX Last Night

Last night's game, which ended about 12:25 a.m. this morning, was a thriller. Bret Favre showed why he is the number one quarterback in professional football. He threw three TD passes and ran for a fourth in the 28-21 victory. The Jaguars were on top for the first half and had sparks flying at times in the second half, but in the end it was the Packers defense and the Favre driven offense that prevailed. A great game leading into next Sunday's contest against the Chicago Bears. A win by the Packers will earn them first place in the division, since they would have two wins against Chicago this season.

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#21

CIA Officer Killed in Afghanistan, Termed "Hero" by CIA Director

From the MSN news today (Wednesday, November 28, 2001)

The Times of London reported Wednesday that a CIA officer, John Micheal Spann, and another called David had on their own confronted a foreign Taliban fighter at the (Mazor-E-Sharif) prison, asking why he was in Afghanistan. The soldier replied, “We are here to kill you,” and jumped at Spann, who then shot him and several other fighters to death, the newspaper said.
After the confrontation, The Times said, a group of Taliban supporters attacked Spann, kicking, beating and biting him to death. The other officer managed to escape.
CIA Director George Tenet addressed agency employees Wednesday, calling Spann a hero. The death occurred during several days of rioting at the prison beginning around November 24-25.
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#20

Prime Minister Tony Blair's statement to Parliament Updated November 14, 2001
On November 14, British PM Tony Blair updated the statement he made to Parliament on October 4, 2001, on responsibility for the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. This statement can be accessed via the LINKS connection at my (this) web site.

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#19

Crisis brings out best (Letters to the Editor, the Post & Courier, Charleston, SC, November 21, 2001)

A Monday letter to the editor asks where are the liberals and decided that neither Bill Clinton nor Al Gore would have risen to the occasion like President Bush.

The liberals are where the conservatives were on Dec. 8, 1941, in the summer of 1950 and the spring of 1965. They are united with their country and the leadership, irrespective of personal or party affiliations.

This is what all Americans do when confronted with foreign enemies.

We will never know how Mr. Clinton and Mr. Gore would have responded, but I believe either man would have done us proud.

A crisis brings out the best in Americans (three liberals come to mind: Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy). I believe this is what has happened to President Bush, who was not expecting the challenge but has risen to meet it.

Liberals are still around as the voices against permanent curtailment of our freedoms.

Some of the security legislation recently passed by the Congress has a termination date, as well it should.

Legal advocates and scholars are challenging extended detention of suspects without the right to be brought before an open court and judge. The president signed an order authorizing secret trials before military tribunals, but we are a long way from conducting such proceedings.

It is necessary to remember that agreement by everyone with every little facet of government is not essential to our survival, nor is disagreement with one thing or another a sign of disloyalty. This is America, land of the liberals, conservatives and everyone in between.

FRANCIS X. ARCHIBALD
1128 John Rutledge Ave.
Hanahan
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#18

An apt analogy
Automobile dealers believe the General Motors decision to extend zero financing through January 2 will compel other manufacturers to do the same. A "Ford dealer has confidently predicted that Ford will continue to 'fold like a cheap lawn chair' and match GM's offers." (The Wall Street Journal, November 13, 2001, pg. A-2.)
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A fresh anecdote about Churchill. In his new book, Churchill, author Roy Jenkins tells that churchill's grandson Nicholas Soames told Jenkins that when he was six he once sneaked past the guardians into the old man's study and, starry-eyed, asked: "Grandpapa, is it true you are the greatest man in the world?" "Yes," replied Churchill, "and now bugger off."
Review South Carolina Commentary

Fighting on Ramadan: There was an article on the Slate Magazine website today (November 1, 2001) advocating that America stop bombing Afghanistan during Ramadan, to which I posted this reply:

I say, "Fight, fight day and night, fight during Ramandan, fight on Thanksgiving and fight on Christmas. Fight tooth and nail, hammer and tong. And bring back them damn flamethrowers. Go to the Army-Navy Surplus stores in the South and buy them back for the Army."

The reference to flamethrowers relates to an article yesterday (October 31, 2001) on the Slate website to the effect that the U.S. no longer has flame throwers in its arsenal. The fuel for these is napalm, which the author said fell into disrepute during the Vietnam War; after making a great showing during WW II in the Pacific where the Marines had to burn the Japs out of their caves and tunnels. Afghanistan is full of caves and tunnels and this is where Osama Bin Laden, and his commanders, are believed to be hiding.
See an earlier posting below on fighting during Ramadan dated 10/29/2001.
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