"The Family Business"

My parents went to Ireland last month ("and all I got was a lousy pretty cool T-shirt"), and they just sent me a picture of a charming little place they ran across while they were there:



Sure, there's one extra letter in the name, but my folks found out during their trip that a lot of McNerneys were originally McInerneys. At any rate, it's a cool little memento of their trip (not to mention a place I need to visit--and have my picture taken in front of--whenever I go over there).

The Machine wins a small victory: Those of you who follow the Supremes (that's the Court, not Diana Ross and company) know that a lot of opinions were handed down today, including the one in the MGM v. Grokster case. Though the Court came down 9-0 in favor of the content companies (i.e. Hollywood and Big Music), it may not be as much of a slam-dunk victory as it appears on the surface. There's lots of discussion over at SCOTUSblog, and InstaPundit has a clearinghouse of links on the subject.

No joy in the Hundred Aker Wood today: A few weeks ago I noted the passing of Thurl Ravenscroft, the voice behind Tony the Tiger. And now comes word that the actors who voiced Tigger and Piglet (Paul Winchell and John Fiedler respectively), have died within days of each other.

These guys did other things as well: Winchell was also a ventriloquist who had a well-known kids' TV show with his dummy sidekick, Jerry Mahoney (I saw it in reruns as a kid in California) and an inventor who patented an early artificial heart. Fiedler also played the role of the meek Mr. Peterson in the original Bob Newhart Show. (Oh, and a little bird told me that a noted Twin Citian will be "bleating" about this in a few days, with emphasis on Fiedler/Piglet; I'll link to it when it goes up.)