Tuesday Paper Recap

Congratulations to the Chilean miners, rescued after two months trapped 2,000 feet underground:

The second miner to reach the surface, Mario Sepúlveda, left the rescue capsule in a kind of victory dance, hugging family members and officials. He embraced President Piñera three times and presented people with gifts: rocks from the mine.

Rocks? OK, it's not like they had a duty-free shop down there, but. . . rocks? We suppose it's better than a "My Daddy spent two months in a collapsed mine and all I got was this lousy t-shirt" shirt.

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A new entrant in the least-interesting-job ever competition:

The reason these grains [of ancient wheat] make good pasta, said Andrea Brondolini, an ancient-wheat specialist at the Italian Agricultural Research Council in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, can be traced to the early history of agriculture. As ancient types of wheat were hybridized into modern varieties, they were bred for a higher yield.

"Ancient wheat specialist"? That must have been an interesting dinner-table conversation:

"Ay, Papa, I'v-ah decided what I want to do with my life!"

"Whaddaya mean, 'what you're gonna do wit' your life'? You follow inna da family footsteps! You tak-ah over da harmonica shop!"

"Nah! I'ma not-ah gonna take-ah over da harmonica shop! I'ma gonna be an ancient-ah wheat especialist at the university!"

"Ancient-ah wheat?!?"

"Yeah, ancient-ah wheat!"

"Fuggedaboutit! Whatta you gonna learn about ancient-ah wheat?"

"Dere's lots ta learn about ancient-ah wheat! Farro! Spelt! Einkorn!"

"Whadda ya talkin' about 'einhorn'? Who's-a gonna give-ah you money to tell 'em about einhorn?"

"Ah, fuggedaboutit!"

"YOU fuggedaboutit!"

"NO! YOU FUGGEDABOUTIT!"

And so on into the night.

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Hmmm. . . . WOS says we have a message from the Italian-American Anti-Defamation League. . . . We'll get back to them.

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Finally, this tidbit from the world of infant and child development:

"Babble is increasingly being understood as an essential precursor to speech, and as a key predictor of both cognitive and emotional development."

Looks like there's hope for Sarah Palin after all!

GOOD NIGHT, EVERYBODY! WE'RE HERE ALL WEEK! DON'T FORGET TO TIP YOUR WAITRESS!