Pearl Harbor

Today is the sixty-ninth anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor: "A date which will live in infamy," according to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's radio address the following day. I had the opportunity to go to Pearl Harbor in the summer of 2000; it was a moving experience. The wreckage of the USS Arizona, a battleship whose sinking claimed the lives of 1,177 sailors, was especially poignant to see. I'd like to go back and visit again someday; if my travels ever return me to Hawaii, I will make a point of doing so.

Closer to home, my thoughts and prayers go out to the two Calex Ambulance employees who were injured when their ambulance went off a bridge in Bradford, Vermont. They were returning from a call when the driver hit a patch of ice and lost control of the vehicle. Both men are in stable condition and no bystanders were injured. Talk about a close call.

Moving on to a more upbeat topic, the Women's World Chess Championship is currently underway in Hatay, Turkey. The United States is represented by two players, International Master Anna Zatonskih and Women's Grandmaster Camilla Baginskaite, although WGM Baginskaite was eliminated in the first round. IM Zatonskih is on a roll, however, breezing through her first round match and defeating GM Marie Sebag of France in the first game of their second-round match today. Keep up the good work!

In other news, James Franco and Anne Hathaway have been selected to host this year's Academy Awards. Who cares?