Sweet. The National Park Service is continuing to sell a book which explains the Grand Canyon as a result of Noah's Flood. At this point I'm hoping either Kerry wins, or someday the United States gets invaded and conquered by an intelligent nation. Otherwise we seem determined to bring ourselves back to the 1700s.

We did get a rare taste of sanity from the courts a few days ago.

I can scarcely imagine how lame the New York Yankees must feel right now. To lose the pennant, not just blowing your lead of the first three games, but to the Red Sox of all people. And getting hammered in the last game, 10-3. When you were ahead 0-3 runs. Ouch.

I almost broke my foot in aikido tonight! An advanced beginner attacked really fast, and instead of slowing him down I threw him just as fast, which is great, but I didn't move out of the way, which is not so good, and his knee came down on the top of my foot. Nowhere near as bad as when I did a similar thing with a bigger guy's elbow and my little toe, but there was still a little bit of shock, and the feedback I'm getting from it now indicates that it's definitely not 100% okay. On the other hand there's not the sharp stabbing pain I know from other fractures, particularly in the metatarsals--apparently the overall structure of the foot just compressed very suddenly, then sprang back into shape. I'll see how it feels tomorrow, and if it still feels goofy I'll try and find some kind of non-emergency service that has an X-ray machine. I mean, hell, I kept training afterward, I can walk just fine. And on some level, maybe it's best to get injured doing something you love.