Extra!
May 21, 2006 

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        Diogenes, lantern in hand, went forth in search of a true man. I am not astonished that he did not find one. The real way to meet a true man is to become one youself. (If it is not the only way, it is surely the shortest.)
        ... Denis de Rougemont

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        Before judging a man by his associates, remember that Judas Iscariot traveled in the best of company.
        ... John Munro Woolsey

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One Day on a Cell Phone
        Ring...ring...ring
        "Hullo?"
        "Hi, can I talk to Jerry?"
        "(aside) Turn left here. Hit the gas. (on the phone) Who you want?"
        "Jerry, tell him it's Mike."
        "(aside) When you get through gate, I hit switch. (on the phone) Who?"
        "Come on, guys, quit playing around. Just get Jerry."
        "You crazy, man. (aside) All right, NOW! (multiple voices) ALLAH AKBAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!"
        "Wow, sorry, wrong number, I guess." (disconnected)

        [It was recently revealed that the NSA has acquired the pen register data from four big telephone companies. This contains the number dialed, the number of the originator, time of the call, length of the call, etc., but not the content.
        Opinions differ, but this may have been part of the NSA's highly secret project to test the "six degrees of separation" hypothesis, though some suggest that the sleuthy agency may be spying on its own citizens. The scenario possibilities abound.
        Don't dial any wrong numbers.]

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DaVeni, DaVidi, DaVinci
        Aside from the patrons who collapsed of excessive hype, and the pocketbooks of people looking for excuses to disbelieve in Christianity, there have been no casualties in the DaVinci Code nonsense. Not even the critics were much wounded. Probably this is a result of the basic silliness of the premise. As with all mystery/suspense tales, the suspension of disbelief is an essential precondition to enjoyment of the presentation. Of course, the degree of suspension required varies. The grassy knoll in this case was host to a whole convention, as crowded as the 50-yard-line seats at the Super Bowl.
        In the DaVinci Code, one has to accept one of the worst premises I ever heard, that a highly incendiary secret has been preserved for two thousand years by hundreds, possibly thousands of people. On the face of it, this is just ridiculous, regardless the secret. It would seem a little hard to ignore this absurdity for 149 minutes of the film version, let alone 454 pages of the book.
        OK, I won't ruin it for you, but as a thoroughly agnostic friend of mine put it, "If you can believe the DaVinci Code hypothesis, then you should have no problem at all believing in the resurrection of Jesus."
        The hypothesis is preposterous, but that is beside the point. This phenomenon is not about truth, or even plausibility; it is about money. Truth, evidence, fact, sincere belief, political correctness (but of course Christianity, and the Roman Catholic Church in particular, are singularly exempt from the protections of political correctness), hesitancy to blaspheme, and even concern for the heart-felt views of one's fellow human beings--all that stuff is out the window when it comes to money. Profit never needs an explanation, after all.
        Ah, well, they have their reward. Let the madness continue. Just spell Jesus' name right.

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        Here's something Leonardo actually did say:

        He who does not punish evil, commands it to be done.
        ... Leonardo da Vinci

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