Just a Couple....

...of thoughts that were rattling around my brain.

I wonder what the instant experts who always pop up when a new issue arises -- cardiovascular health, the source of the oil price surge, the effects of subprime mortgages -- do for information when they need to sound au courant and up to speed? I'm guessing they have pocket experts that they call, and I seem to remember reading that there are actual directories of experts for hire on various subjects, but I wonder how current they are. I'm always tickled when I'm listening to NPR and they dredge up some guy who's never been heard of before to give his opinion on this, that, and the other. Where did these guys come from? What process knighted them?

Why are brownies so good? Our neighbor just gifted us with some to thank us for putting up with the cable provider -- the physical cable to their house somehow failed, and they had to dig up part of our lawn to get at it. Our meticulously cared-for lawn! Yeah, right -- barely mown, turning brown in the sun, except for the crabgrass and weeds, more like. But they gave us cookies and brownies! And the cookies were good, but the brownies! Reminds me of the time we needed to make brownies, and I told my wife that I was going to do something unusual -- I was going to make them from a mix. When I was done, I observed with some surprise that they were very easy to make, quick, and tasted just as good as mine! So this is why people buy them!

Why did McCains advisor get beaten up for his remark about the effect of a new terrorist attack on the election? What he said was exactly true. It isn't desirable, but its true.

I don't often like seeing news articles that say (deep breath) that this event is of major importance and will forever change the way things are in this particular area except that maybe they won't and even if they do it won't really matter though it might in some cases but maybe not... but when I saw that most major cities didn't think the Supreme Court ruling would have much effect on them, since it related to home ownership, not in general, I thought Oh, good...I think. Guns are such a volatile subject (no pun intended). I like having reasonable discussions about them, but its like the Paris Peace Accords of years gone by, where they'd spend weeks discussing what the table ought to look like -- you can spend days just discussing what 'reasonable' means. Why, its whatever I think, of course!

About halfway through Solar Eclipse, a third of the way through Seeker (scifi). Starting to look for something else to read. I still have not gotten that interlibrary loan of the baking book, nor have I bought that excellent one that I borrowed, a few weeks back. I really need to do that.

Tomorrow we're going down to Bawlmer for the day -- down around 1, back around noon on Saturday. We just had to get out of this area for a while. The hotel's one of the many, many ones in the Inner Harbor area -- pretty nice. And its near Little Italy, which means: pastry shops!