The French had a term for it. Its application in the most wealth enabling nation ever to exist on the planet could have solved all financial woes from the the Gilded Age forward, averted the the Great Depression, the Great Recession and the turmoil to come Noblesse Oblige. But nooooooo!

I'm put in mind of a scene in WATERWORLD. The old man poling a flat bottom boat around in the petrol hold in the 'DEEZ', upon seeing a wall of flame heading toward him after Kevin Costner dropped a flair down a vent, exclaims:"Oh, thank God!" Maybe seeing the light at the end of the fun house tunnel has it's own appeal. My grandmother at 97 said: "I've enjoyed about all of this i can stand."

My intelligence gathering skills inform that you are already well underway with your thriller. The protagonist is occupying the first violin chair in an East European orchestra as the story opens.

The only things that are certain still, are death and taxes. And since death is constantly being delayed, taxes are constantly accelerated. Long after you and I are dead and Cuba becomes a state and Hawaii becomes an independent nation again, the world will be a Socialist Democracy. It ain't political science or rocket science; it's evolution.

I have a netbook and a 'semi-smart' phone. The T-Mobile clerk ungraciously referred to it as a 'style-phone' I have a back up prepaid ATT phone, and an Mp3 player with video; a Sony, not an Apple. It all fits in a little Swiss Army Backpack that I can take to Glazers or the Mall. My real gadget fever is for retrograde tech. With the help of Ebay, I have reconstructed my stereo system of 1971:Pioneer SX770&1010 Dual 1019 and an AR table, and many other vintage goodies. Like a Williamsburg hipster, I scour the vinyl shops for records-Deutsche Grammophon,Seraphim, and period rock albums. since loudspeakers don't age as well as solid state, I go current there- Paradigm. (in 1971, I'd never seen a sub woofer). Speaking of conducting; would you consider conducting, on Sunrise, Frank Zappa's composition 'St. Alphonso's Pancake Breakfast'? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [If I conducted Zappa on Sunrise it would be the 7/8 section of Concerto for Electric Violin and Low-Budget Orchestra! HMD]

I have never understood how you survive your sleep schedule. Only Field Marshal Zhukov kept your hours, and he was fighting the German army.

You're wearing pants? you might try that on Sunrise.

i watched the show this morning, as i do every morning via the live stream. Grace is such a kind person. you can see that even on my little netbook screen. i spend half my year in HN and half in SF. so i guess i will not be dis-Graced. i tweeted CBS5 the other day, telling them to treat her right. they tweeted right back: 'we're looking forward to working with Grace' of my Honolulu memories of Grace, besides forever trying to entice her to do the 'mini-buffalo-ranch-chicken-sandwich dance, on the air, was one day, as i biked up Kapiolani past the old studio. Grace was on the sidewalk, marshaling the kids for the day's field trip. they were all gathered around her like little ducks, you could see they thought the world of her. and even from across the street i could see she felt the same about them.