I have no idea how to celebrate Glenn Reynolds’ birthday, because he’s taking the day off and his blog contains no instructions.
So here’s what I did. Not long ago, some silly leftists mounted an absolutely ridiculous attack against the InstaPundit because they didn’t like his taste in T shirts, of all things! Seems his tastes in diversity were too diverse for theirs, and they had absolutely no sense of humor.
I immediately ordered one of the shirts, and I’m wearing it today to celebrate Glenn’s Diverse Birthday!
The crossed swords symbolize combat readiness and teamwork, harmony and balance, and of course always honor high rank. That’s a genuine California Redwood behind me (Sequoia sempervirens); must be some symbology there, although I can’t imagine how it came to be planted in my yard in Pennsylvania.
No more interpretation!
Happy birthday Glenn!
UPDATE: I just learned that Glenn Reynolds has linked to this post, and I want to thank him for his generosity and welcome all InstaPundit readers. And I do mean generosity — not only to me but to my blogfather, Jeff Soyer. Jeff is in dire need of financial assistance right now, and I see that Glenn has hit his tipjar, and helped spread the word. I’ll more than second that! Please, if anyone can spare a few bucks, please go over to Alphecca and help Jeff! He got me started blogging, and he’s more than a rugged individualist; he’s the Blogosphere’s Original Gay Gun Nut! Any of you readers who believe in libertarianism, the Second Amendment, and inspired writing owe it to yourselves to give Jeff a much needed tip. Other bloggers have turned their tipjars into a big money maker, but Jeff hasn’t. He just needs help right now, and as Jay Solo explains, Jeff’s cause is worthier:
I’d rather keep Jeff’s blog going, thankyouverymuch. He’s not whining that he’ll quit if you don’t donate fifty big ones just before he takes a month off at his second home. He’s short the basic chunk of change simply to pay a year’s real blogging bandwidth.
Hop on over there and click the shiny rounds in the upper right. Help a great blogger and amazingly nice guy out.
I helped, and I hope you will too!
Thanks for coming, and please browse around. (I like to think between the three bloggers here, there’ll be something to whet your whistle.)
Comments
9 responses to “InstaVersity rules!”
Happy Birthday, Glenn Reynolds!
Dear Eric:
That’s another great picture of you. What a hero you are. And — what a MAN you are! I wish I looked like you, I’d have women all over me.
What Steven said, except for that part about the women.
Now I’m blushing — at least twice!
😉
Your genuine California Redwood is most likely a genuine Chinese Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), making the “symbology” especially interesting. More on the Chinese, or Dawn, Redwood here: http://www.icogitate.com/~tree/dawn.redwood.intro.ac09.htm
Wow, I hope that’s what I have, and you’re certainly right about the symbology!
“Finding a living dawn redwood is at least as remarkable as discovering a living dinosaur.”
— Dr. Ralph Chaney.
Now that’s diversity!
(Via this fascinating review I found at the link you supplied: http://www.icogitate.com/~tree/bookreview/review.gittlen.dawn.redwood.htm)
Thanks!
Okay, the sword in your right hand is a cavalry sword, but what’s that in your left hand? A guardless antique? Do tell.
And yeah, that does look like a dawn redwood more than a coastal redwood or sequoia (there’s two varieties of California redwoods, the coastal “tall” and the mountain “big”.) I don’t know how yours got to Pennsylvania, but dawn redwood saplings have been handed out at the California State Fair in the past, so they’re obviously available…
Very perceptive, but they’re both cavalry swords; one Argentine, the other (in my left hand) Cossack!
As to the tree, I am not sure about its age, and I guess if it’s native to China then it’s irrelevant whether it sprang from California stock. A professional gardener resided here in the 1940s, so it makes sense he would have wanted to experiment. I’m delighted to learn the true identity of the tree, because the previous resident told me emphatically that it was a California Redwood. (I was really worried when it lost its needles the first winter I was here.)
*grin* If it lost its needles, it’s definitely a dawn redwood.
My dad has a cavalry sword from England; my mom considers it one of the most entertaining anniversary gifts she’s ever given him. He went out and started beheading the flowers…
Couldn’t be a coastal redwood; those don’t survive the freezing winters….butCaltrans (California Dept of Transportation) plants them alongside all the freeways in northern California because ts the fastest growing conifer in the world. Heh, sawlogs in 30 years, and twenty more grow where one is cut down.
NitroNora
USA