An interesting article.   Seems a little bit like manufacturing the results one needs.  Tsk, tsk!

The scandal we see and the scandal we don’t.   Why it matters

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/30/crugate_analysis/

When does a Liberal become a Conservative?  When he or she gets mugged.

When does a Conservative become a Liberal?  When he or she loses their job & health insurance.

A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it. -William Styron, novelist (1925-2006)

It was this way for me when I first read The Lord of the Rings!  Exhausted, been to places new to me, and sad it was over.

I return to Middle-earth once every year or two.

When I travel, I often wonder: Where in Middle-earth am I?

ALBACON, www.albacon.org , has its hotel for 2010: Best Western Sovereign Hotel – Albany, 1228 Western Ave., Albany, NY 12203; +1-518-489-2981; http://www.sovereignhotels.com/ .

We hope to have on-line registration up and running real soon now.  Y’all come.  We give good con!  Allen Steele is our Literary Guest of Honor.

For the past couple days I’ve been scanning in papers from the Tolkien conferences I ran in 1969 and 1971: The 1^st & 2^nd Conferences On Middle-earth.  I may add a couple more that I have which are contemporary with them.  It is very interesting to go thru these papers which were based solely on The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings.

These are the papers which didn’t make the cut for “A Tolkien Compass” edited by Jared Lobdell.

One idea is to publish them under the title: “A Tolkien Lodestone.”  They being sort of not quite ready for accurate directions in Middle-earth.

It might be fun to hold another Conference On Middle-earth for fans of Professor Tolkien, the books, music, art, films, etc.  A small get together in the “Green Dragon” for a nosh & a natter.

To all the service members past, present, and future:  Welcome home and thank you for your service to our wonderful country.

I wonder if this film will be released in the US.  It looks interesting.

Film director Roman Polanski, who fled sentencing in California on child sex charges in 1977, after being convicted, should be extradited to the US from Switzerland and do his hard time for drugging and having unlawful sex with a girl aged 13.  –  So he is a brilliant director.  This does not allow him to break the law and get away with it.  –  He is a sicko!

It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument. -William G. McAdoo, lawyer and politician (1863-1941)

I am bemused by the total lack of any sort of sense of humor when Target is attached for the “Illegal Alien” costume.  Maybe not completely in the best of taste, but no where near as bad as some of the so-called costumes I’ve seen shown for sale.  — Then again, an illegal alien is just that: ILLEGAL.  Go to jail & deport.  –  Yes, they are seeking to better themselves.  However, so are all those folk in line for legal immigration.  –  Hmm, maybe the US should review its immigration policy.  However, being able to speak English is obligatory.  How else can someone from Korea communicate with someone from Russia?  ETC.