Best wishes to Kris, who's going through medical hardships right now.

Also, Andy, it is indeed feasible to lay down an ukase against swearing at your party. (I'd be interested to know your reasons. Is there a particular guest who finds profanity offensive? Is that guest you?) Your guests may not perfectly follow such a directive, but your guests, I'll predict, are cool enough to try. Or to not come in the first place, once they find out.

Sorry I can't make it to your party. Blow a kazoo for me, willya? And maybe next year.

Adam, I hope you're feeling better by the time of your flight back west.

In international news, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin blew up at a French reporter at a news conference when the reporter threw him some tough questions about Chechnya. I would cut Putin a little slack, since he just lost many citizens in that botched Moscow hostage rescue attempt, but certainly he scandalized the European community with his comments, which were dark and earthy, much like Russia's staple, black bread.

He went through various categories of person, such as resident of the USA or of a US ally, Christian, atheist, and moderate Muslim, and noted that radical Muslims (as he characterized the Chechen rebels) would freely kill any of these. He ended his tirade:

"If you want to go all the way and become a Muslim radical and are ready to get circumcised, I invite you to Moscow," Putin said. "We are a multi-confessional country, we have experts in this field, too. I will recommend that they carry out the operation in such a way that nothing grows back."

The gazeta.ru (literally, gazeta means "newspaper") story, to which most other stories refer, is in Russian and in English, but the Moscow Times story linked above explains the comments, background, and repercussions more clearly and at greater length. Good reading.