By popular demand, little-known facts about Prof. T.:

His favorite dog breed is the English Bull Terrier.

What he actually has:

A little ragamuffin named Freckles

Professor T. stays in the boat.

Prof. T.: The Early Years

Prof. T. grew up in the wilds of Omaha, Nebraska. Here is a photo of the savage saber-toothed Nebraskan deer he had to fight off while walking to school.

Our neighborhood also abounded with fearsome Dundee death-worms

Prof. T. needs to be restrained if there are many potsherds lying around.

He is one of the administration's favorite faculty members. Here, Prof. T. and administrator share a reflective moment.  Which is which, though?

Prof. T. himself once gave 537 milliseconds of thought to a career in academic administration, but at least at present, the training regimen is too tough for him.

Here Prof. T. contemplates how to handle some slackers who skipped exams.

Through his great-grandmother, Clara Bell Storrs, Prof. T. is related to some significant figures from US History, assuming his and others' genealogical research is correct:

Rutherford Birchard Hayes

James Garfield

William Howard Taft (especially strong similarity in waistline)

Gerald Ford

George H. W. Bush

George W. Bush

Sarah Palin (a level 50 mage of New England ancestry, by the way, with 10 Mayflower ancestors)

(No pic) Henry Randolph Storrs, New York Congressman (1817-1821, 1823-1831), a vehement opponent of Andrew Jackson, and especially Jackson 's policy of treaty-breaking and forced removals of Indians.

Prof. T.'s 7th great-grandfather and grandmother, Sergeant Thomas Putnam and Anne Carr Putnam were principals in the Salem Witch Trials, along with his 6th great-great aunt, Anne Putnam Jr.

His 9th great-grandfather, John Putnam, was a Puritan immigrant to America, and one of those charged with making sure that the residents of Salem Village went to church on Sunday, the ironic point being that he could hardly be in church himself if he were out patrolling the roads.

The maternal side of Prof. T.'s family is entirely Irish Catholic, however, and John Putnam would undoubtedly be horrified that Prof. T. and others of his descendants are papists. He might have approved of St. Patrick expelling the serpents from Ireland, though.