Steel Kaleidoscopes

I'm Only Sleeping

Not sure what to make of this recent dream.

I'm in a bookstore, perhaps a Borders, and I'm standing along a circular reading area that spirals from the third floor to the first floor.

Everyone is reading Beatles songs out loud from a songbook, and John Lennon is leading the reading.

I find an empty slot and start reading aloud.

One of the clerks, a woman, comes up and I realize that the reading is probably not free.

I ask her how much it costs to participate and she says something about bringing back some strawberries.

Setting the Record Straight

So I go to check my traffic last night and see a spike in traffic. A big spike.

Turns out that Stephen J. Dubner, the co-author of "Freakonomics," picked up on my post about the debate over wine corks vs. screw caps.

In my post, I mention that Steve Levitt's wife gave me a "strange look" when I unscrewed a bottle of South African Sauvignon Blanc. This was one of three examples I used while making a point that unscrewing a cap off a bottle of wine can be "uncomfortable" for the host because it's relatively new and messes with tradition.

Dubner interpreted this by making some silly comments about Jeannette, a great friend of my wife's and someone we have known for 20 years.

For the record, Jeannette is anything but a wine snob. She's one of the most engaging, thoughtful, caring, sensitive and personable friends we've ever known. My wife worked side by side with her for many years. We attended their beautiful outdoor wedding. For Dubner to take a shot at his co-author's wife is simply irresponsible.

Should I have used her as one of my examples? Probably not, considering her connection to one of the most talked-about books in the last 20 years. But I often write about what's going on in my life, and she just happened to visiting last weekend. It was a fresh thought.

Jeannette and Steve — if you're reading this — you know my musings are innocent snippets of life and all intentions are good.

As for Mr. Dubner, well, you should know better.

Amusing Ourselves to Death

With everything in the "news" these days, it's hard not to think about Neil Postman's 1985 book "Amusing Ourselves to Death."

Postman writes that television has transformed meaningful conversations into entertainment, where the power of the sound bite has more of an effect than thoughtful dialogue.

He also writes that a good looks trump talent, which is why you rarely seeing a female newscaster over 40.

Indeed, the fact that John Kennedy beat out Richard Nixon largely based on the televised 1960 debate aligns with this theory. And the 300-pound Howard Taft would have never been elected president had TV been a medium to promote campaign efforts.

When we study history, the famous Lincoln-Douglas debate played out for hours. Think that would translate well to TV? It's all about sound bites. Give us your elevator pitch. Tell us how you'll defend the country, balance the budget and save the world in two minutes or less.

So is it any surprise that Anna Nicole Smith clogs the TV news? And why should we care about who Tom Brady slept with? And why is Britney Spears' shears news?

Without television, these events would not have nearly the impact they do. Never has a communications medium had the power to create and manipulate content.

It's not that the current state is appalling. We all have our guilty pleasures. We just need to admit what's happening.

Clearly, Postman is right. We are amusing ourselves to death.

Steve Levitt

In the '90s, my wife worked closely with Jeannette.

Jeannette met this guy, a Harvard and MIT intellect, who seemed shy but had a creative thinking process that made you take pause.

I remember having beers with Steve and he starts talking about some of the projects he's working on as part of his graduate thesis. He says he's analyzing how people who play football pools contribute to society. Or something like that. I'm nodding my head, but I'm thinking "huh?"

We're invited to Jeannette and Steve's wedding, an outdoor ceremony in Belmont, Mass. Nice summery day. I spend some more time with Steve. And the football pools come up again.

I say to my wife that Jeannette's new husband is a nice guy, clearly smart as hell, but what is he talking about?

It's not until years later that I find some validity in what he's saying. And he's doing quite well.

Steve Leavitt, the co-author and brains behind "Freakonomics," found his niche. And some fame. Just goes to show, you never know.

We're happy for Jeannette and Steve, good folks now living in the Windy City.

Barry Bonds

The evidence is damning. And overwhelming.

After reading the excerpt from the forthcoming book "Game of Shadows" in Sports Illustrated, it's clear that Barry Bonds has been taking steroids since 1999.

I was 13 when Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home run record with his 715th career homer off the Dodgers' Al Downing. I remember the night perfectly. The next day, I cut out the article in the newspaper and put it in a scrapbook.

When Bonds passes Ruth, probably next month, it will be a non-event.  Ditto for when he passes Aaron. The scissors will stay in the drawer.

I'm not that naive to believe that all baseball players are on the up and up. Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro are equally as guilty. We just don't know to what extent. In hindsight, the 1998 home run derby between McGwire and Sosa was a sham. And that's a shame.

What I do know is that one of the most sacred records in baseball is about to be broken by a cheater. What Bonds is doing is way more damaging to the game than what Pete Rose did.

The sad part about Bonds is that he's a gifted athlete. He didn't need to take steroids. He was already an elite player. Taking the juice just transitioned him into a freak of nature, adding synthetic power to natural talent.

And that's just not fair.

Here's to Hammerin' Hank Aaron, baseball's all-time home run leader.

Robert Frost

Forty-two years ago today, poet Robert Frost died in Boston.

"The Road Not Taken" is perhaps his best-known poem, but it is "The Armful" that best exemplifies the fact that we all have bad days now and then:

For every parcel I stoop down to seize
I lose some other off my arms and knees,
And the whole pile is slipping, bottles, buns,
Extremes too hard to comprehend at once.
Yet nothing I should care to leave behind.
With all I have to hold with hand and mind
And heart, if need be, I will do my best.
To keep their building balanced at my breast.
I crouch down to prevent them as they fall;
Then sit down in the middle of them all.
I had to drop the armful in the road
And try to stack them in a better load.

Hemingway Rises Again

In Rome, an unpublished Ernest Hemingway manuscript appears.

The Pamplona prose, a bullfight parody, won't be enjoyed by millions.

Instead, it will be sold at auction.

Hemingway wrote the piece in 1924 and sent it to his friend, Donald Ogden Stewart, to consider for publication in Vanity Fair. Stewart never obliged; instead, he held onto it. Stewart achieve his own fame, most notably winning an Academy Award for writing "The Philadelphia Story" screenplay.

In 1980, Stewart died. His son acquired his dad's belongings and only recently found the manuscript. The Hemingway estate does not want it published. So though the documents can't be printed, they can be sold as artifacts, a literary loophole. Weird, huh?

On Dec. 16, Christie's will auction the manuscript, which is expected to sell for between $12,000 and $18,000.

Perhaps the prose will appear on a blog in a clean, well-lighted place.

You're Younger Than You Think

Did you realize that if you're 79, you're really middle-aged? And if you're in your late 30s, life is just beginning? Baloney, you say.

But according to Walter M. Bortz' excellent book, "We Live Too Short and Die Too Long," it's true.

Bortz, a practicing physician and past president of the American Geriatric Society, argues that there are many things that "age us," and that if we carefully minimize our exposure to Father Time's assistants, we should live a long, fulfilling life.

Some are obvious: You'll likely live longer if you don't drink, don't smoke and don't contract an illness. Duh. But some are not so obvious, like letting yourself age gracefully by avoiding hair-coloring and hair-growth products. In other words, the inherent stress caused by spending money on products to keep you looking young can in fact spur aging.

One of the best points Bortz makes is that our government and society have picked a random number -- 65 -- to tell us it's time to log off forever at work, sleep in and get our names on the shuffleboard committee at Pleasant Palms, USA. Because we're told we no longer need to work at 65, the mind can become complacent while atrophy ravages our muscles and bones. This isn't because we're 65, it's because we're avoiding problem-solving and exercise. Bortz contends that if you're going to retire, keep your mind sharp and body buff.

According to Bortz, youth is 0-39, middle age is 41-79, and old age is 81-120.

Living to 120 may be a lofty goal for most of us, but it's worth thinking about giving it your blue-ribbon effort. An inquisitive mind and active body may take you farther than you think.

Robert Frost

Forty-one years ago today, poet Robert Frost died.

"The Road Not Taken" is perhaps his best-known poem, and is also one of the classic, inspirational poems of the 20th century.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Top 100 Novels of All Time

If you're into lists, here's one for the literati. Thanks to our friends at Stare at Us.