200 years ago the forces of the Austrian empire defeated Napoleon at Aspern-Essling. Archduke Charles (pictured here) was in command, and after supervising the destruction of 50,000 French lives, retired from military life.

New Hampshire is about to become another state to pass a marriage equality bill. This leaves Rhode Island
as the only New England state where same-sex couples cannot marry; an irony which is probably not lost on Providence's openly gay mayor.

Three days ago I bought a Nintendo DSi, along with two games. One of them is "Final Fantasy III," which is an homage to the SNES game of 15 years ago. It's fun, although I am always slightly appalled at the default character names (e.g. "Luneth," "Refia", "Ingus").