Rainy Saturday Reading Time.
It is yet another rain-soaked Saturday here. Other than getting an all-too-brief peek at the sun a day or so ago, we have had rain for days and days. It, therefore, is a good day for reading and poking around on the internet. Accordingly, here are a couple things that I passed some time with, and I trust that they may interest some of you as well.

FBI Files on Famous Persons and Events
This site offers the reader a wealth of documents assembled by the Department of Justice in response Freedom of Information Act requests. The opening page provides background, but the links are where the interesting stuff is. Some of the people who were of interest to the FBI are Abbie Hoffman (more than 4,000 pages), Hell’s Angels (233 pages), John F. Kennedy (178 pages), .Aristotle Onassis (4,296 pages), Frank Sinatra (2,403 pages), and Mickey Mantle (29 pages – relating to threatening letters the “Mick” had received). Interesting stuff.

Hallowed Ground.
Anyone with even a passing interest in history will enjoy a visit to Arlington National Cemetery. The site contains a wealth of information about the national cemetery, including a great collection of historic photos and current images of the burial sites of American Heroes. When I first came upon the site, I did not pay attention to the URL, and I had assumed that it was a government site. It is, in fact, privately run by a person who clearly has spent a good deal of time on it. Definitely worth a bookmark.

Guaranteed Laughs.
Several months ago, I linked to The Emails of Donald Lancow. (I tried to find my original post, but BlogSpot is in a particularly bad state of disrepair today.) Mr. Lancow writes absolutely hilarious prank e-mails to various companies and governmental entities. The e-mails and the replies he receives are posted on the site. There have been a few added since my last post. I also have a feeling that many current readers may not have seen the original post and this will be your first exposure to Mr. Lancow’s e-mails. There is NO WAY you can read these things without laughing out loud. Here is a sample from his letter to the Rembrandt Toothpaste manufacturer:

“I’ve been searching for a new toothpaste recently, and I decided to try your whitening toothpaste. I bought a tube on the way home from work Friday. Loved the taste and it gave my mouth a happy little feeling. I had one problem, however, that I am quite concerned about. Friday night as I laid down to sleep I noticed my teeth had a “glow” to them. This was not a trick of light or my imagination. My teeth are actually glowing. The darker it got the brighter the glow got. It got so bad I could not sleep ( I have very sensitive eyes). I work twelve hour shifts in a chemical repository. Is it possible I’ve been exposed to something that would react with your toothpaste? We’ve had some pretty big spills lately, but the haz-mat team assured me that none were dangerous to my health. I don’t know what to do. …”

You can also read the reply he received to that one.

Enjoy – particularly if it is raining where you are.