File this story from the New York Times under Only in New York.  A group of eighteen grandmothers who have termed themselves the Granny Peace Brigade are on trial in Manhattan for protesting the war in Iraq by blocking the entrance to the Times Square military recruiting center.  The grannies claim they were simply at the recruiting center to enlist themselves in order to give their lives to save the lives of young soldiers (and they were promptly turned away, or so they claim).  The defense strategy has been to run each of the eighteen grannies up to the witness stand, one by one, to tell her life story (although one Granny did plead the fifth when asked for her age).

This all really leads to the question of, regardless of guilt or innocence, what judge could possibly ever send eighteen sweet little old grandmas to the slammer?

UPDATE: The grannies were aquitted of all charges! 

I went to the New York Auto Show this past weekend and discovered my new favorite car, the 2007 BMW Z4M Coupe, a real bargain starting at just under $50,000.  I want it, I want it, I want it!

This is a witty article from The Morning News about loopholes and those who invariably exploit them.

When the world was going crazy for The Da Vinci Code I sat idly by, too stubborn (or cheap, depending upon how you look at it) to shell out twenty bucks for a hard cover copy of the book.  When it finally came out in paperback last month, a full three years after its release, I picked up a copy and finally found out what all the fuss was about.

The Da Vinci Code is near-perfect pop-fiction.  The kind of book you read when you don’t want to think, but then before you know it the book has you thinking more than you ever thought you’d think, or at least it has you thinking you are thinking, or so you thought.  In any case, it grabbed me right from the first chapter and even though the payoff at the end can’t quite match the buildup throughout the book, it’s really all about the journey and not the destination.  I think.

Having grown up on Roosevelt Island, their was a time in my life when I took the Roosevelt Island Tramway back and forth into Manhattan every day.  While waiting for the Tram to depart the Roosevelt Island station I would often look at the red rescue cages that always sat untouched just beyond the passenger waiting area and imagine how they might be used in an actual rescue.  Now I know. Crazy!

Here is a photoset of a cat looking very unhappy getting its first bath.  This rates a 10 out of 10 on the cuteness meter.

More images of the new Mets ballpark can be seen here.  I’m excited.

Here is the latest image of the new stadium the Mets are planning to build in Queens to replace Shea stadium.  I find it really amusing that even in a computer model of the new stadium you can clearly see advertising for Subway and Pepsi.  Sheesh!