Manchester Utd. 3, Millwall 0: Tim Howard became the first American ever to play for the winning side in the world's oldest soccer tournament, England's F.A. Cup, when he started in goal this afternoon for Man U. If I might use the logic of Quentin Tarantino, this means that all sports in the United States are a joke, since great soccer players always "get the hell out of the country" once they become stars.

Yet another high school classmate of mine does something noteworthy. Steven Brindle, then an exchange student who graduated with the rest of us in 1981, and now an historian employed by English Heritage, recently discovered a hitherto forgotten iron bridge over the Thames, encased within a rather shabby cement and brick overpass that was about to be demolished. As a result, a one-of-a-kind design by legendary engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel (well, if you are really into 19th Century English architecture, he would be legendary) was preserved, and has been transported to a new location for restoration. Or to put it another way, it would be similar to one of Shakespeare's better plays being forgotten for several centuries, only to turn up in the back of some long-deceased Oxford don's linen closet. The BBC report on Dr. Brindle and the detective work leading up to his discovery, which is fascinating in its own right, can be found here.

Sherry Palmer, requiescat in pacem....

I guess three years of mediocre ratings weren't enough to keep Alias on ABC's schedule next year. The fourth season will be deferred until January, 2005, so next week's season finale will have to tide us over for awhile.

For your amusement, the ten worst album covers of all time...numbers 5 and 6, in particular, would make a perfect X-mas purchase via E-Bay. [link via The Hamster]

From today's Kausfiles: "I guess Kerry really is writing off the South!... Hello? Do Americans want a first daughter who parades around in a dress Paris Hilton would be embarrassed to wear ? And shouldn't she have, you know, thought of that? Even if she looks good in it."

Short answer: Yes !!!!! Has Kaus completely lost his mind? Why do I have the impression that his screensaver is a fish tank or a da Vinci drawing? If seeing Alexandra Kerry for the next four years is the price we have to pay, then screw the crackers. As well as any other NASCAR-loving, Iraqi-torturing, "Left Behind"-reading, sponging-off-the-Blue-State-taxpayer-while-whining-about-federal-government-spending, Toby Keith-and-The Judds-listening redneck. If we allow some special interest or regional bloc to determine whether a Presidential candidate is allowed to have an attractive daughter, then the terrorists will have won.

What he said.

Conservative pundit Rich Lowry has some choice words for those who believe that Abu Ghraib is merely an aberration: take a look at our own prisons. [link via Cecile duBois] And Jonathan Last of the Weekly Standard writes that using the flip-flop issue against John Kerry is a case of the pot calling the kettle black.