| The Complete Bushisms
I can hold hands when there needs to be—hold hands."—on how he can contribute to the Middle East peace process, Washington, D.C., Jan. 4, 2008 "I welcome you all to say a few comments to the TV, if you care to do so."—Inviting visiting Irish dignitaries to address the media, Washington, D.C., Dec. 7, 2007 Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 1:08. "If you've got somebody in harm's way, you want the president being—making advice, not—be given advice by the military, and not making decisions based upon the latest Gallup poll or focus group."—New Albany, Ind., Nov. 13, 2007 Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 23:36. "And I will explain the need to reform a confirmation process that is making it more difficult to persuade decent and intelligence people to accept the call to public service."—Washington, D.C., Nov.
Misfits on a mission to delete us all
Methodically stalking the corridors and politely knocking on doors, he shot dead eight students and teachers, then killed himself. A gratuitous act, mad because motiveless? No, Auvinen was acting out a scenario he had publicised earlier that day on YouTube. Here he wrote, directed and starred in the film of his brief life; he even predicted his death, announcing that he was 'the dictator and god' of his own existence and refusing to remain in a world overrun by 'weak-minded masses'. He described himself as a mass murderer and political terrorist whose ultimate target, if only he had the ammo, was 'the human race'. .
Tea glorious tea
After 1200 years, the CHA CHING remains an important reference book and master work on the subject, right up to modern times. The power and superiority of the more modern Maritime Silk Road lay in the greatly increased speed, safety and economy achieved by transporting merchandise by ship compared with the centuries old, slow and hazardous, overland routes. As China's traders realized the huge appetite of world markets' for tea, as well as silk and porcelain… they built impressive fleets of advanced, expertly designed merchant ships and set sail from important and rich east China ports like Quangzhou and Ningbo. Then in 1405 to 1433, famed Chinese Admiral “Zhang He" made the first of 7 historic trading voyages, navigating his giant commercial fleets to South East Asia, Africa, Arabia and India.
Ringside seat
We are in a banqueting suite at Old Trafford and a punk version of Blue Moon, the theme song of both Manchester City and Ricky Hatton, is being blasted over the PA system. Half the crowd boo before remembering they are here to pay tribute to Hatton. They start to cheer. It's a typical boxing gathering. Some of the hardest men in Manchester, with their huge necks and jingle-jangle jewellery, stand up for Hatton, who is sitting next to Wayne Rooney on the top table. They look so sweet together, genuinely good friends. It's the normal running order: food, charity raffle, Ricky and the unfortunate professional comic. This time it's Jimmy Carr, and he dies an even more painful death than the last one. I'm chatting to Hatton's mum, Carol, and I ask if she's really as hard as he makes out. She laughs.
Leaking tanker car stalls train in Oakland
An employee of NRC Environmental Services suits up to begin clean-up of a ferric flouride spill at the Union Pacific rail yard on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008, in Oakland, Calif. No injuries were reported and evacuations were not necessary. (Jane Tyska/The Oakland Tribune) .
Just put it in my shopping basket
We can't help ourselves. We know as soon as we walk through the front door of the store that there's one item we'll definitely wind up buying. Maybe it's as unglam as the Kirkland diapers by the 200 pack at Costco or an extravagant eyebrow pencil from Neiman Marcus.
The notion is that every store has a certain something that will make its way into our shopping carts. I'm so devoted to this concept of the uniquely irresistible that I write a column every week in the Tribune Sunday Magazine called "Just One Thing."
But my thing is ... mine. What's yours? Here's a list of the single things that friends and co-workers always buy at certain stores. How about you? Tell us your Just One Things and the stores where you buy them in an e-mail to atplay@tribune.com, with "ONE THING" in the subject line
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One Woman's World
And as the Christmases dropped from her single-woman-raising-children-alone calendar, she slowly took on a kind of soft wisdom and self-acceptance missing in her earlier identity as Mrs. Somebody Important. The Debbies in our towns are the town's backbone and its heart - there for their children, there for their church, there for their community. If I were mayor of Anywhere, U.S.A., I would declare one day a year Debbie Day. I would read aloud a statement that says there are no perfect streets, no perfect homes, and no perfect families. I would declare loudly that we can, and we should, celebrate the Debbies everywhere who have found their wings, not in the exterior world of life as we dreamed it would be, but in the inner strength of the individual soul. That's where the perfect gardens grow.
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