This is an outrage, and it must not stand. It's always a little dangerous for a writer to go up against his editor, but sometimes it must be done, and it looks as if I must be the one to do it.

In case you were wondering, as I'm sure you were, I spent the weekend replacing my mailbox. It seems that some local genius passed by the other night and visited a baseball bat or something similar upon it.

The alley was dark, illuminated by a single street light at the far end that reflected off the oily puddles of rainwater and alley effluvia. In the shadows you could almost make out the dim figures of two men.

Have you ever stopped to watch – really watch – cereal commercials on television? My favorites are those aimed at children. The punchline is always "part of this complete breakfast," which is accompanied by a picture of a breakfast setting that would be no less complete if the cereal disappeared entirely.

The sun rose gloriously over the hill. A few wisps of fog floated down by the creek and there was just the tiniest bit of fog on the tulips. What a good day, I thought, to consider Google.

With remarkable gaiety, more than a little hucksterism, and the now-traditional confusion of entertainment and reality, the history and entertainment communities (to the extent that they remain separate) over the weekend marked the centenary of the icy drowning of 1,514 people.

Persons of sufficient age will remember how, 50 or so years ago, we looked forward with excitement to a truly remarkable future.

A few years ago a lady of my acquaintance, the wife of a colleague, suffered terribly from arthritis. The only thing that was effective at relieving her pain was a product called Vioxx.

Last week was the second anniversary of the Obama administration’s exciting National Broadband Plan which, the president said, would bring high-speed internet service to 98 percent of the country.

Til, we hardly knew ye. Actually, we didn't know ye at all, and now we never will.