My Excellent House

Here's the view from my back porch. I have the label on the black maple because I get sick of everyone asking me what kind of tree it is. When I designed the back yard I worried that it was too ostentatious, that the Greco-Roman classicism would have too much of a whiff of This Is Spinal Tap. I wish I could have scaled up a bit -- same concept, but spread over 1000 acres, with free-roaming giant cats (tigers, lions, pumas, etc.) adding some excitement to any casual stroll down a footpath.

Frontal view of the house. Place desperately needs a moat and drawbridge (to be raised when editors try to give me an assignment). I write in the turret on the left, and, when news breaks, slide down a pole to a cave where my rocket-car is always ready to roll. Every second counts in this business.

The guest house. Desperately needs renovation and pest control.

Random photo of James Buchanan (a bonus for all you aficionados of America's 15th president).

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Penguins can fly! (Via Memeorandum.)

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Here's a New Yorker story on the future of newspapers. Or lack thereof. I printed it out to read at lunch. I hope it's not the equivalent of a pink slip.

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Wonderful essay on longevity and disease by Michael Kinsley.

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Hitchens in a rage. Via Drudge.