Caught some coverage of Ready.Gov on CNN or some other novelty channel while running at the Y a couple days ago. Came across as the worst sort of fear-mongering, an Orwellian ruse to perpetuate a fearful and correspondingly docile American population - one that is otherwise gaining a measure of perspective on the events of 9/11 and questioning exactly what's being traded away in this quest for some elusive guarantee of security.

Go get 'em, Leah. And here's another for the list: the knob - as in volume, bass, treble. And not those absurd continuous turn units, either. You know, the kind that don't remember where they were set, the kind you find on Chrysler car stereos. Fact: the range of a knob has a beginning, a middle and an end, period. Taking that away is like having unlabeled buttons on a remote. Sure you'll get it work eventually, but I mean really.