Osler's Razor

I loved this haiku last week by Neil Alan Willard, who followed the theme (unlike some others... cough cough... Tyd) and wrote about Chief Justice Roberts. His haiku was wonderfully subtle:

Roberts, back in black,
knows Gilbert & Sullivan
is operetta.

The reference is to Chief Justice Roberts' predecessor, William Rehnquist, who added stripes to the sleeve of his robe based on costuming for Iolanthe, an operetta.

Neil Alan Willard knows operetta, too! Or, should I say, operetta knows him. The famous work "HMS Pinafore" is based on his early days as a sailor in the British Navy. Willard, of course, is not British-- he is a child of North Carolina, a graduate of Wake Forest, and the nephew of Fred Willard, who starred in the hit movie Spinal Tap. However, NAW thought that the first step towards Anglicanism would be a stint in the British Navy, so off he went.

Once aboard his assigned vessel, the Pinafore, NAW was entranced with the daughter of the ship's captain (a native of Wisconsin). As one might expect, there were many pratfalls and fisticuffs. They wrote a whole musical about it, in fact, including a scene at the North Pole, and another one in a hockey rink in Sauk Prairie. It's really good, and it is TOTALLY based on NAW's life. You should see it!