It's all about me

You probably already knew this, but editorial page editors are a sexy and exciting lot:

How do you know when there is a bandwagon? When everyone jumps on, of course:

Early in the first Bush administration, I said to Nancy Nall, "Is it just me, or is Laura kinda hot?" She replied, letting me gently know I was having one of those dangerous and inexplicable moments, "Leo, you need to get out more."

Newsweek has an article in the March 16 issue to the effect that many people trying to get a handle on productivity and manage their ever-accumulating to-do lists are reverting to low-tech solutions such as Post-it notes and paper planners:

Is there a song that's so affected you that it's always stayed with you? "The Dutchman" by Chicago songwriter Michael Smith is that song for me. I first heard it performed by one of those traveling, semi-professional folksingers at a small place in Michigan City. It seemed to me the one of the saddest, most moving things I had ever heard. Every time I went out and heard a new singer, and request time came, I'd ask for that song. I've since heard it covered by any number of artists, and I have a few of them in my collection.

Check out this list of the 51 best magazines ever. As always with such lists, it's highly subjective, and we are invited to agree or disagree with the choices, but it's a fun read. The top 10: Esquire, The New Yorker, Life, Playboy, The New York Times Magazine, Mad, Spy, Wired, Andy Warhol's Interview and Colors. Some are listed just for specific time frames. Mad, for example, is said to have been one of the best only from 1955 through 1992.

Got problems with stray dogs? Perhaps your neighborhood has a noisy squirrel or a pesky racoon. Well, count your lucky stars. My brother took this photo at a neighbor's just a few miles from where he lives in Hill Country, Texas. He notes that the stray cat was on the deck, watching the children play on the kitchen floor.

I know Scooter Libby was found guilty. We should talk more about that. And I know we've been overindulging in look-at-the-celebrity-fall-apart vicariousness. Let's cut back on that a little.

But I surely do love the Lisa Nowak story, which just keeps getting more and more interesting:

Here's a fun way to feel bad about yourself. Enter your age and find out what other people accomplished when they were the same age.

Thank God it still tastes so good: 

Garlic may be good for a lot of things -- spicing up your diet, for sure -- but it seems to be no good at all at lowering your cholesterol.