Essentials

Much as I dislike Newsweek, they did a spread on Lord of the Rings that includes a quiz necessary for all Tolkien fans. (Note that I spelled it right, Toly!)

Cowabunga

Brian Weichel sent me something new for RC car devotees: house jumping.

A Veteran’s Day Poem

Sent to me by my sister Janice and dedicated to my cousin Brian Donlon, stationed somewhere in Asia:

It is the Soldier

It is the soldier,
not the Reporter,
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the soldier,
not the Poet,
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the soldier,
not the Campus organizer,
Who has given us the freedom
To demonstrate.

It is the soldier,
not the Lawyer,
Who has given us the right
To a fair trial.

It is the soldier who
Salutes the flag,
Who serves under the flag,
And whose coffin’s draped
By the flag,
Who allows the protester
To burn the flag.

A Nickel for Your Thoughts

The new nickel design is pretty.

Rules of the Road

CNBC published a report linking professions to accident-proneness.

Engineers are dangerous beings . . . but not as dangerous as students.

A Crappy Day

Man Stuck in Toilet Looking For Phone

The man was on a suburban train from Grand Central Station when he went to the bathroom to make a phone call, dropped the phone into the toilet bowl and then his hand and arm became stuck trying to retrieve it, officials said.

Crap.

Power To the People

Last week, exercising a couple of the Constitutional rights that make this country great, I signed my name to the CBS Boycott over their highly political, Zadan/Merson-produced portrayal of the Reagans. As of this morning, CBS pulled the miniseries. Huzzah!

I am now – interestingly enough – labelled a “conservative lobbyist” and a participant in an “extraordinary conservative furor.” Washington Post editorialist Lisa de Moraes observes that:

“Some reporters watching the CBS party taking place below marveled that the Republicans hadn’t jumped on the Reagan project a long time ago. Like last June, when CBS announced it had greenlighted the project . . . Or in July, when CBS announced that James Brolin, husband of Barbra Streisand . . . had been cast to play the former president . . . none of these facts got conservatives’ nostrils flaring until a script was leaked to the news media.

Hmm . . . so the RNC shouldn’t have waited until they knew the actual script content before objecting? Just what is the Washington Post advocating here?