A year ago Maher Arar, a citizen of Canada, was arrested at a New York airport on his way home, and deported to Syria. I suspected he’d never be seen again, but he is now back in Canada, much the worse for wear.

Nov.15: a longer story (New York Times)

Rainy season has begun.

U.S. Surname Distribution. (Link from James Grimmelmann.)

Most of the names I tried show an anomaly in some part of the Deep South (Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana); for example, Sherwood is rarest in Alabama. Exceptions include Wheeler, about equally common in every State, and Manlove, almost unknown outside Delaware.

One useful 404 notice:

The requested URL /~bthomas/vamp/vampecology.htm was not found on this server.

bthomas is not a current Leland user.

That saves me the trouble of climbing down the directory tree.

Oo, if I’m very good will Santa bring me a replica of King Arthur’s helmet (as worn by Graham Chapman)? (link from Jo.)

Jim Henley wrote a year ago:

Sadly, Unqualified Offerings changed its mind about drug prohibition well after it was too old to benefit personally.

That’s odd. Jim is a couple of mere weeks older than the Ogre, who remains convinced that a change in drug policy (particularly an amendment by shredder) would do him some good.

I dreamed of designing a trebuchet to toss obnoxious cats over the back fence (of a yard wholly unlike any where I’ve ever dwelt). It would be calibrated to minimize energy of impact; I may be an ogre but I’m no monster.

Ironically, I was awakened by the protests of a cat who had somehow been shut into my bedroom.