Well, there he goes. The World’s oldest man has died at age 114.

It occurs to me that now any of us can take the record. Keep breathing. And don’t forget the tomatoes, fish and olive oil.

Well, it was a slow day here in Lake Wobeg … Ooops, I had delusions of stature there. But it was a quiet day in my hometown. Nice and warm.

I spent most of the morning reading blogs and messing with the newly resurfaced blog-city stuff. I don’t know about that; to go to all that trouble to upgrade, but the bells and whistles are no more intuitive than they were, and there’s still no spell check.

My brother and his family arrived this evening from northern california. It’s great to see them and have them here for a few days’ visit.

That’s it. There were some sirens nearby a little while ago, but they went past; I don’t think they stopped on my block. No dogs escaped today. I don’t really care about Martha Stewart. … it’s life in the slow lane here, as it should be.

Weak isn’t the word that jumps to mind for me. How about crappy? Pathetic?

21000 jobs in February. And if you read the stats, you see that the government added 21000 jobs in February. Which means the net increase in private sector jobs is zero, zip, zilch. Thanks Mr. President! We’re all just loving this dark, damp Pirates of the Carribean ride you’ve got us on.

Yahoo! News – Job Growth Weak With 21,000 Feb. Hires

Hoping for a pop in jobs in a few hours? Don’t bet on it.

A writer and teacher in Newtown CN gives advice on the life and craft, in The Newtown Bee

And like a poet, a writer just seems to know it simply because he or she simply must do it.

“You have the urge, the compulsion. There are so many different kinds of writing, you might start writing poetry, an essay or a memoir,” Ms Basch said. …

“Workshops can be instructive and supportive. Writing is so lonely, you need colleagues every step of the way.”

I had a big scare this evening. I was over at my folks’ place. They were out; in fact, they were 20 miles away. I went out in the back yard to clean up dog poop. Our two dogs went with me, and ran off to enjoy the grass and bushes and check the fence line for velociraptors.

Happy usually goes around the west side of the house to use the bathroom, and I headed that way too, but stopped in Dad’s tool shed to answer the phone. I patiently gave a man my Mom’s mobile number, twice, then got the pooper scoopers, and headed around the west side of the house. Then I saw that the gate was wide open to the front yard — to the neighborhood, the street, to oblivion for a little dog.

I was sure that Happy — a little Pomeranian who looks like Piper, below — was out and gone. I ran through the gate, slammed it, ran to the street and looked around. She was nowhere. I went back to the house, trying to reach my Mom with my cell, but of course she was talking to the Man I’d just given her number to. I went through the front door, yelling for Happy, trying to whistle which isn’t easy when you’re winded and upset. She came running into the hallway to meet me. I picked her up and hugged her, and thanked God.

I guess she never went around that side of the house, and trotted back inside like a good little dog. Both dogs seemed concerned with my frantic state, my furious relief. Listen, folks, be careful with your little ones, OK? For dogssake, shut the friggin gate.

An article about Kerry at The Nation. Some interesting insights into his Senate career.

What’s Right With Kerry

Piper’s message board | Piper’s Web page

Some of you who know me best know that I do volunteer work for IMOM.org, a charity that helps finance urgent veterinary care for pets whose families can’t afford it. Stating today, you will occasionally see some of those needy pets here on my blog. Gotta get the word out, right? Right.

Eme is a chocolate lab with luxating patellas. A very painful condition.

Eme’s page | Eme’s message board

Blogger Billmon has posted this call for a Popular Front — a progressive movement united to deafeat Bush and stem the conservative tide.

Well, I don’t know kids. That could be the end for blog-city.com. They sent out a message yesterday that they were down for upgrading. Now there’s nothing. 404 from the home page, and every blog is blank. Not so much as an oil slick on the water, and bubbles have stopped breaking on the surface.

I’m glad I had a duplicate blog on blogspot, or I’d be bummed. So it goes. Somebody throw over a wreath, and we’re outta here.

OK, we’ve all heard the hubbub in the foreground about who might run with Kerry. Edwards, Richardson, maybe Dean. How’s this for an idea: Bill Clinton. The constitutionality of it is being discussed on blogs like The Volokh Conspiracy.

If the premise is that the constitution doesn’t prevent Clinton from being elected VP, because he’s only ineligible to be elected president but it’s OK for him to be president if not elected again. See? Well, that’s all fine and good, though I can’t imagine why he’d want to play second fiddle. But for me this raises a scary question, and maybe somebody knows the answer with me having to research it:

Does the constitution preclude someone from being elected VP if they aren’t a natural born citizen?

I couldn’t help myself. I looked it up. Whew. I don’t think Ahhnold Schwartzengroper can be elected VP. Can you imagine him as president of the US? Eeesh. You think Bush has got a big head, you ain’t seen nuthin’.