Jonathan's blog

On Thursday we went to see Charlotte's Web (2006,G) (Screen It! review). It was cute, and I was glad it stayed true to the familiar story. The familiar voices were also a nice touch, and some (like Steve Buscemi and John Cleese) really fit the characters well. I give it 4 out of 5.

Via Slate's Today's Blogs column, Matthew Hill (a correspondent for the BBC) recently made the disturbing report that:

Healthy new-born babies may have been killed in Ukraine to feed a flourishing international trade in stem cells, evidence obtained by the BBC suggests.

Ukraine has become the self-styled stem cell capital of the world. There is a trade in stem cells from aborted foetuses, amid unproven claims they can help fight many diseases. But now there are claims that stem cells are also being harvested from live babies.

On the afternoon of Saturday Dec 23rd, we toured Fort Pulaski. From Wikipedia:

Fort Pulaski National Monument is located between Savannah and Tybee Island, Georgia. It preserves Fort Pulaski, notable as the place where, during the American Civil War, in 1862, the Union Army successfully tested a rifled cannon. The success of the test rendered brick fortifications obsolete. The fort was also used as a prisoner-of-war camp. The National Monument includes most of Cockspur Island (containing the fort) and all of adjacent McQueens Island.

One of the highlights was the canon demonstration. Also, there were a few guys playing baseball with old-timey gear. From the National Park Service's web site for Fort Pulaski:

Members of the 48th New York Volunteers occupying Fort Pulaski played baseball to pass the time. One of the first photographs taken of the game of baseball was captured at Fort Pulaski in 1863.

Here are some photos:

Via Slate's Today's Papers column, a recent article of the same title in the Washington Post by Candace Rondeaux reports on individuals who volunteer to serve as witnesses of prisoner executions:

It's been 70 years since executions in the United States were open to the public. But in Virginia, there is always someone watching, turning what is for most people a distinctly private moment into a very public end. One of more than a dozen death penalty states that require ordinary citizens to witness executions, Virginia has enlisted hundreds of volunteers for the task. They come from every corner and every quarter: A Richmond school bus driver, a South Hill bookkeeper, a Prince William County police officer, an Ashburn computer specialist, a Lynchburg brass works fabricator. All have visited the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt.

We arrived at the Birdwell's place on Tybee Island the evening of the 22nd. The next morning we went out on the beach. It was comfortable in short sleeves, but of course the water was cold. Regardless, the boys stripped down to their skivvies and waded in. Here are some photos and videos: