~ If I read an article about Brittney Spear's latest hookup/meltdown/rehab stint/pantie-less escapade, am I personally to blame for her complete collapse into a quivering mass of embarrassment and pathos?  Yeah, I think so.  As I was perusing CNN.com on Friday, I saw the article about her admission to the hospital for some kind of drunken row with her Baby Daddy, I was suddenly struck by the idea that if I clicked on that article and read it, I would become a part of the herd that has to know everything about her life and her downfall.  The media frenzy surrounding her every move is fed by people like me who whisper "Ooooh!  What's she done now?"  I couldn't care one whit about what she does or doesn't do, but my curiosity about that circus around her only helps add to what everyone else is doing.  What's that saying about each drop of rain being responsible for the flood?  Or is there even a saying about that?  In any case, I've decided to stay away from reading or watching stuff like that because none of us should take glee in another human being's descent into madness.  My absence won't make a bit of difference to what's happening, but I really don't need to witness it or be involved at all.  The whole thing is sad, not interesting.  I pity her, like I would pity anyone whose life is collapsing, regardless of it being self-induced or not.  This whole revelation was triggered specifically by Brittney's incident, but really the totality of celebrity culture suddenly came into focus for me, and I felt really dirty.  Why don't we hear more about stuff like this?  It's way more relevant than Katie Holmes' haircut.

~ I love Wikipedia.  Yes, I know it's edited by pretty much anyone who wants to contribute.  And I understand that each bit of information in Wikipedia could have been entered by an idiot, a corporation trying to influence public opinion to buy more gasoline or Twinkies or capri pants, a government or religious body attempting to sway public opinon in favor or against any number of issues, a team of nerds who get a kick out of manipulating information about some random factoid, or a housewife in Des Moines who truly believes that the sun revolves around the earth.  I get it.  But I still think it's a great place to turn when I want some general information about practically anything.  The other day I read an article about the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, because the city name came up in a book I was reading and I realized I'd never even heard of the place and wondered what it looked like and what the people do there.  Not much, it seems, but they do have the only metro system in Central Asia.  Assuming or course that bit of information wasn't entered by an office drone in Tashkent who wants bragging rights over those snobs in Bishkek and their Mercedes buses.

~ This picture cracks me up.  Every.  Single.  Time.   I know it's dumb and cutesy and low-brow and I don't much care.  It's just funny.

~ Dave Matthew's song #41 is just one of my most favorite things in the world.  I have probably 20 different versions from live and studio albums and I never really get tired of it.  The title came from the band's early days when they would just play music together and sometimes a song would grow from this.  Dave Matthews would write some words to the tune and give it a temporary name until they figured out something better.  Thus, #41 is the 41st song they wrote and a better name never materialized.  That's how the song "The Song That Jane Likes" was also named, after Dave's sister Jane.  I just love that.