Small thoughts

I went and saw a sneak preview of The Aviator last night. The movie was pretty long, almost 3 hours, but like all Scorsese films, it was a thing of beauty. I don't care for Leonardo DiCaprio but his portrayal of Howard Hughes was amazing. Cate Blanchett was brilliant (of course) as Katherine Hepburn. The movie portrayed Hughes as a tortured and driven genius. The movie didn't follow Hughes to his insane end but he definitely was on the road by the time the movie ended. I really have to say that I'm glad I don't have to live in his head.

The Salvation Army in Chicago has received about 10 gold coins this year. The tradition started in Crystal Lake in 1982 and coins have been discovered in buckets in 12 states every year since then. The coins are dropped anonymously and are usually wrapped in paper money to hide them. Many theories abound as to who the donors are but in my opinion, it really doesn't matter. This is a good thing especially since it is anonymous. The PR thats created helps drive giving for the Salvation Army, and this year they need it as they have been forbidden to set up buckets in several places.

I said on Monday that the deaths in Iraq seemed to have slowed somewhat. I shouldn't have said anything because today was an especially bad day. 19 people were killed and more than 60 were wounded when a there was a huge explosion in a mess tent in Baghdad. The cause of the explosion is under investigation. 64 Americans have been killed in December and 1325 have been killed in total. These numbers will undoubtedly go up as a result of this explosion. There were also four civilians and three foreign troops that were killed. Details can be found at Iraq Coalition Casualties.