Monday Morning friends report

The latest report on what some of our friends are saying or doing.
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Here under the Birches,we watched the Michigan-Florida game with the sound off (to avoid the incessant babble of the over-paid mouths) and were delighted with the outcome. After very very extensive consideration and debate, the experts- who are paid for these kinds of insights - predicted that Florida would beat Michigan by about a kajillion-and-a-half points. There are quite a few happy people around here, pleased that the experts were wrong. (Of course, some of us amateurs were wrong also.)

We have heard that some people are not Wolverine fans, and Marsha sent this picture to prove it. It was taken in Ohio. There's good reason to think some of those Ohio people are nuts.


TRASE - has written a nice piece about Coach Carr over at ARBORETUM: click It's very good.

SPARTY - whose loyalties are definitely not with Michigan, sent a note of congratulations on the game's outcome. Good sportsmanship. Now I have to accept the disaster which is Michigan Basketball, and when State wins there, I'll congratulate Spartans for their very classy B-ball program and coach.
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In other sporting news:
IRENE - says the cricket results formerly printed here were only a part of an on-going series between India and Australia. So I looked it up and here's the latest.

India vs Australia Second Test at Sydney
IND vs AUS, Second Test, Sydney: Australia beat India by 122 runs, equals record (2:0)

Here it is explained in part. This IS in English, by the way:

"The Australian team fought to the end and ringed the remaining Indian batsmen with six fielders to get a breakthrough after Kumble and Harbhajan Singh looked likely to bat out for the draw. Earlier Ponting called a halt to Australia's second innings at 401 for seven, leaving India with 72 overs to go after the runs. Hussey remained unbeaten on 145 off 259 balls at the time of the declaration for his eighth Test hundred and boosted his average to 84.8 in 20 Tests. Kumble finished with 4-148 off 40 overs and now has 599 Test wickets, while fellow spinner Harbhajan took 2-92 off 33 overs."

SCOT and TRASE - report from down-under that the weather has been very wet in Eastern Australia. ("The rain the rain the rain continues. It's occasionally torrential, but usually just drippy.")
This is bad for their tourism, but it's great for the drought.
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PAT - goes berserk, destroys kitchen.

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JERRY - sent this awful example of what can happen if you wear Chinese made sandals purchased from Wal-Mart. I checked it out on Urban Legends Webpage and found out it's true.

On the positive side, Wal-Mart claims it's only happened to 7 people. Aren't you glad one of them wasn't you?
click
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MARSHA - sent email right out of the blue, for no good reason at all, telling me I'm losing my mind. I checked around and it's been confirmed. I AM!
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SPARTY - sent an article about the "Right-Wing Smear Machine" and some of the things it has made up about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, including the claim that his family are radical Islamists, and that she hates veterans. The big problem occurs because these stories are started by malicious people on the internet, and then they spread like wildfire before anyone can step in and refute them:

"It's a Pandora's box," says Jim Kennedy, who

served as Clinton's communications director during her first Senate

term. "Once [the charges] are out in the ether, they are very hard to

combat. It's very unlike a traditional media, newspaper or TV show, or

even a blog, which at least has a fixed point of reference. You know

they're traveling far and wide, but there's no way to rebut them with

all the people that have seen them."

DASHMANN - sent this. It's called "Hill-Billy"



Dashmann also forwarded an article about one of this state's sports favorites Brandon Inge, 3rd baseman for the Detroit Tigers. Everyone is speculating about whether or not he will stay with the Tigers this year. click

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SANDY- sent a series of pictures of polar bears. They're cute, they're funny, and polar bears are in real trouble as the ice sheets melt.

Here's a bear hug for all you Birch folk from Sandy:

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BILL from WNNCO - The Dakar Rally, held annually has been canceled due to terrorist threats. This is a subject dear to the heart of Bill and his family who are race fans and race drivers. As he says, "the cretins" have won again! click

PARIS (AP) - Al-Qaida threats against the Dakar Rally and an attack in Mauritania forced organizers to cancel the annual race on Friday, the eve of the 5,760-mile trek across North African desert scrubland and savannah.

It was the first time the automobile, motorbike and truck rally has been called off in its 30-year history. In a statement, organizers blamed "threats launched directly against the race by terrorist organizations." the Dec. 24 killings of a French family and international tensions.

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Keep BIRCHES informed of what you're thinking and seeing and doing. Believe it or not, folks read it. Happy New Year, all!