Some time ago I got this catalog in the mail called Gadget Universe from TopiX. It was packed with knockoffs and look-alike gear: $99 PDAs, a no-name pair of binoculars that claims that it will zoom to 52-power (you need a tripod to stabilize the image at that power), cheap clock radios tricked out like iMacs, prism glasses for watching TV lying down. I think their target consumer was the guy who sent away for X-ray glasses from the ads in the back of a comic book.

posted: 8:49:53 PM  

Daniel Patrick Moynihan has died. He was one of the very few Senators with the intellectual courage worthy of the office. WAMU-FM plans an appreciation tonight.

Senator Moynihan is one of the very few local celebrities that I have seen in person: I was driving down 7th Street N.W., and there he was in the window of Jaleo, having lunch.

posted: 10:08:53 AM