Biting the bullet points

Via Twitter, I found that "Rare it is to be born as a human" is "Raro sicut homo nascitur" in Latin. The original Pali is "kiccho manussapatilabho."
This morning, Maia (2) was singing the alphabet song, and Malkias (10 months) la-la-la’d the first four notes after her! Kids amaze me.
Maia put in a pitch for getting an iPhone. Me: "When you’re older, honey." Maia: "I older right now!" Which is actually true, of course. She plays with my iPhone all the time. She loves enlarging and shrinking photos. And she uses YouTube to watch Peter, Paul & Mary.
Made good progress with my writing about the Six Element Practice today. I thought I might actually finish the chapter I’m writing, but some essential research (which involved maths) slowed me down. Maybe tomorrow. And I hope to get most of the rest of a chapter done in the remainder of the week.
I’m skipping my prison class this week so that I don’t break the flow of the writing. I hate to do that, but I have a deadline to meet, and I’m seriously worried I won’t be able to meet it.
I enjoyed this illustrated article about early computers, but was surprised there was nothing about Napier’s Bones (or Rods), which I used to use when I was a kid. (No, I am not 120 years old). Nor is there mention of the sliderule, which I also used in school having entered High School just before the advent of affordable calculators (which I still call "pocket calculators" causing confusion to people under a certain age, to whom they are just "calculators." I guess they wonder why you would want to calculate pockets, or in pockets.)
I was stunned to see the following in a letter in the New York Times this morning: "It is appropriate that Sarah Palin announced her bold decision to resign as governor of Alaska on the Fourth of July weekend. She is one of the few politicians today who still embody the same ideals and characteristics of those brave individuals who gave us this country. Our forefathers chose not to tolerate the unreasonable behavior of the English, and Ms. Palin decided that she and her family could no longer tolerate the unrelenting, vicious attacks of her enemies." Now, I never thought that George Washington’s response to being under fire from the English was to quit and go home, but conservative revisionism apparently knows no bounds. For a more considered comparison between Palin and Washington, see conservative commentator David Brooks’ column today entitled "In Search of Dignity."
And lastly, Bob Herbert — in a commentary on Robert McNamara’s death, has a very moving column on the obscenity of war.