On Nose-picking and Art

Two items caught my eye this week about nose pickers and, I kid you not, art. The first was an informative post by travel writer Harriet Baskas on msnbc.com about how to cope with touring school groups in museums. (How to cope if you happen to be visiting at the same time, that is, not how to herd children--I have done the latter with the under-12 crowd and here offer my best advice: Valium beforehand.) In an article full of great advice, I had to pause and laugh at at the words of an unnamed museum guide who referred to the masses of moppets as "dreaded year-end nose pickers."

The other instance of nose-picking involves Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has been in US custody since 2003 and is currently on trial at Guantánamo Bay for war crimes including the murder of 3,000 people in the 9-11 attacks. After spending much of the past five years appearing before military tribunals and in his quest to avoid the death penalty, Mohammed has raised countless objections in the court room. This week's surely has no precedent in history, however: he objected, and quite strenuously, that the sketch artist had drawn his nose too big. This legal tactic apparently brought proceedings to a screeching halt while the nose was scrutinized. Ah, yes. Should I fail to come to complete stop at an intersection, I will henceforth argue that my horrible driver's license picture is a serious mitigating factor. (Think that will fly?)