Raf

Or Returns, for that matter.

One of my favorite quotes ever, and this one ought to be easy: "A good reporter doesn't get great stories, Jimmy. A good reporter makes them great."

On Golden Pond Jane Fonda Nine to Five Did we use that recently?

Stores carry Penta Water because people buy it. Bookstores also carry the Koran, and people buy it, but that doesn't mean I'm converting to Islam. Shirley McClaine's books sold millions of copies. She's spiritual bunk. Miracle hair growth! And people buy it. Lose 30 pounds in 30 hours! And people buy it.

Keep this up and I'm going to slap a 1980 and after only rule on you! :)--> Steve McQueen The Towering Inferno OJ Simpson I just HAD to. :)-->

Ahhhh, Dennis Out of Africa

And you're not a nutritionist. The facts have been cited already. Happy burping.

I knew something was wrong with the first equation. Thanks for clearing it up, Zix.

I left out Roberto Clemente Jr, son of the baseball hall of famer.

Ah. It's cumbersome, takes a lot of work, and while it accomplishes the task of killing the bird, it's far more force than necessary, right? Shakespeare didn't coin the word assassinate. Check it out. I try to save cannons for larger targets. :)-->

I don't know if you would call him a celebrity, but I did meet with Mexican President Vicente Fox about three years ago. I was having dinner at a restaurant in NYC in the early 90s. Al Pacino was about two, three tables away. My job gives me a chance to interview quite a few famous folks from time to time. Most recently, I think, was John Edwards. I was in the same room as Clay Aiken last Saturday, but didn't meet him or talk to him. I've met Geraldo Rivera, a founding member and major donor of NAHJ, several times. I don't know how many of you know Ray Suarez from Jim Lehrer's Newshour, but he helps out at NAHJ from time to time. So does Soledad O'Brien and, of course, Maria Elena Salinas. Oh, and I knew Macarena Hernandez before she became a footnote in journalism history as the person who blew the whistle on Jayson Blair. Interviews: Jerry Maren, the Lollipop Guild Munchkin. David Cassidy of the Partridge Family. Paul Sorvino (Mira's dad, and a damn good actor). Spike Lee. Danny Glover. Martin Sheen. Rudy Giuliani. Al Sharpton. Jesse Jackson. Emilio Estefan. Jon Secada. Herman Boone (Denzel Washington played him in Remember the Titans). And I interviewed James "The Amazing" Randi a couple of weeks ago. A couple of Malcolm X's children. Those are the only ones I can think of for now, but there have been others.

Galen, Ever go bird hunting with a cannon?

Excuse me, Sudo, but you knew darned well that originally read: Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger becomes Pope Joe Pesci I

"I owe my life to the ministry?" No. The Way Ministry owes itself to our lives.

Very good. Andy was in it.

Gypsy Karl Malden Fatal Vision (Fatal Vision was a great TV miniseries, for those who haven't seen it. We've used The Stand, so TV miniseries count. Big TV movies, too, but they have to be pretty well known (Angels in America, Death of a Salesman, The Day After, for example).

My pick for best comedy of the year.

The 1997 Tony Award for Best Musical went to Titanic. The 1997 Oscar for Best Picture went to Titanic. That's the only year this has ever happened (the projects were unrelated). Maggie Smith won an Oscar for her role in California Suite. In the movie, she plays an actress who loses on Oscar night.

What are the odds? My birthday and my ex-s birthday fall on the same day of the week every year. What are the odds? (Hint: there's a REAL simple answer, and a REAL complicated answer).

Explain this one please. What do you mean "odds are." The odds always are. If you put two people in the same room, odds are roughly 364:1 that they have the same birthday. If you put 367 people in a room, it's 100% certain that at least two will share the same birthday. What's special about 23 people?

Clearly Vader was kept busy for about 20 years, too busy to ever really look for his kid. The explanation above doesn't account for that 20 (or 19) year period: yeah, he'll get noticed when he applies for Academy (whatever that was), but for 19 years before that Vader never calls up ol' Owen and says "listen, lemme know if a crazed scientist or a wild eyed kid starts asking you about the Almanac." Or have I gotten my sequels mixed up. Good explanation on the pilot and the 3PO deal.

I love mine: Ian El Salvador

A short time ago, on a web site not far away... WORD WARS Episode XXXVIII: The Bunk of the Penta

How about this: I decline to read those books, and you just tell us. :)--> Luke asked Leia in Jedi if she remembered her "real mother." If a kid could race a pod, that doesn't make him "quite a pilot." It makes him quite a pod racer. That's like seeing someone fly a plane and calling him "quite an astronaut." Nooooooo... And the battle of Naboo? Dude, that was pure dumb luck with a little Force thrown in.

Nope. It came with a monitor and I decided not to play the switching game.