I’m pleased to report that this week is off to a more normal start: whereas this time 168 hours ago I was (oh geez) feeling kinship with Steve Jobs, today I’m shoulder-to-shoulder with Bill Gates, certainly a more natural if not less troubling location. I’m with Bill: Don’t apologize if you don’t mean it. You’ll annoy your friends, you won’t placate your enemies, and you’ll give dangerous encouragement to the stupid. (A matter of keeping your job, you say? In that case your ethicist gives you permission to lie, but suggests that you should try to get away from people like your employers ASAP. God knows what they’ll have you doing next.)