An awesome photo by Steve Coleman

The National Spelling Bee is on now, and there are protesters outside the competition who want our spelling rules changed.

Roberta Mahoney, 81, a former Fairfax County, Va. elementary school principal, said the current language obstructs 40 percent of the population from learning how to read, write and spell.

“Our alphabet has 425-plus ways of putting words together in illogical ways,” Mahoney said.

The protesting cohort distributed pins to willing passers-by with their logo, “Enuf is enuf. Enough is too much.”

Thanks to Peter Sokolowski for this link. He is a lexicographer with Merriam-Webster and claims, “English spelling is arbitrary, but it is the key to the rich history of the language. Normalize the spelling, and we lose touch with history.”

Ken Blackwell suggests, “Maher says what liberals think.” So, don’t ask for outrage, cause it ain’t comin.

I’m kind of excited about this. Thanks to Grim’s Hall for putting me onto it.

This is a painting I’ve loved for years. It’s included in Osprey Publishing’s volume, Elite 3: The Vikings. Osprey publishes many, many fine books on military history, replete with illustrations. By far their best artist was the late Angus McBride, who painted this one. It illustrates a moment just prior to the death of King Olaf Trygvesson, an event that happens (offstage) in my novel, The Year of the Warrior.

I have a couple quibbles. The saga says that Olaf was wearing a red kirtle (or cloak, translations differ) over his mail that day. And anyone who wears mail knows that—especially with a shirt as long as that one—you wear it with a belt, to take some of the weight off your shoulders.

But I consider it probably the best Viking painting ever done, and I’ve got one coming. Osprey has made a limited number of prints available, and my order is in, my copy in the mail. They only announced it yesterday, so if you’re interested you might e-mail them yourself and try your luck, but I wouldn’t count on any being left by now. I think this is a print a lot of people will want.

Which reminds me of the funniest thing I heard during the Viking fighting in Elk Horn last weekend— “There’s no laughing in combat!”

And speaking of Vikings, I’m going to be representing the Viking Age Club and Society in Story City, Iowa tomorrow and Saturday at the Scandinavian Festival. Then I’ll be with the other Vikings for Danish Day at Danebo Hall in Minneapolis, on Sunday.

If I live.

As always, my renter will be protecting my house. He recently contracted rabies.