How stupid does Dubya think you are? This stupid: He’s now claiming he’s not worried about bin Laden, no concern about that guy really, the problem is actually Saddam Hussein. War is peace, freedom is slavery, Bush is President.

Okay, so the woman now writing Dear Abby — a forum with a decades-long illusion of confidentiality, if not the weight of the usual journalistic traditions entirely behind it — turns in one of her correspondents to the cops, and now she’s upset that they betrayed her confidence? It’s an interesting ethical question, but the ethical interest doesn’t detract from the fact that the woman’s an idiot.

If you’re a guy, skip this. If you’re female, four words: ONE YEAR FOUR PERIODS. Life is beautiful.

More unusual and interesting women today: I would have like to have met this fascinating cake biographer.

Behold these memos from the desk of Diana Vreeland, the iconic fashion-mag editor. They’re fun to read, but I can’t imagine actually working in this regime. Can you?

They’re rioting in Mexico when the government tries to enforce copyright laws. What do you think — could it happen here?

America doesn’t have enough first-class eccentrics (I aspire at this point to no better than an ensign ranking), but this most charming woman in Minneapolis may raise the bar.

Okay, get the Sherry out of your head with this wonderful and far-seeing essay from Andy Oram, who suggests that the best way to really piss off the RIAA and MPAA is to develop some culture of our own. This raises some deep issues re branding and consumer culture; you might grab some coffee or a snack before you settle in with this, not to mention someone with whom you can chew over these ideas. Bracing.

I’m not wild about tech sociologist Sherry Turkle under the best of circumstances, but her Times opinion piece positing Tolkien’s violent imagery as resonant with computer culture is remarkably stupid. Or maybe we read different versions of The Lord Of The Rings? Hers is about “mastery through violence,” whereas the copy on my shelf tells about a problem that is explicitly NOT capable of being solved by violence. (It’s suggested that the forces of good simply send troops to deal with Sauron; that idea is rejected since the forces of good are hopelessly outnumbered.) A truly embarrassing piece of writing.

Soon — baseball! Of course, there’s lots of nasty owner subterfuge afoot; this Salon essay explains what it is the owners are trying to screw the players out of. Naturally the Speed City Velocitors don’t have these problems; no, there’s nothing but amity between management and players as we enter the 2002 season. (Pay no attention to that shouting in the front office.)