Xlibris's Shameful Miami Book Fair Promotion

The Curmudgeon will soon be in Miami (Nov. 13-15) to promote his novel, Landstrike, at the Miami Book Fair International. The Miami fair is one of the largest in the world, so it will be a great opportunity to meet readers, not to mention bookstore owners, publishers and the rest of the industry.




We'll have a half-booth all to ourselves at the fair. The cost for the booth is modest--less than $500--plus we'll invest in a few marketing materials to liven the place up.



Pity, then, the poor self-published authors who are shelling out between $4000 and $10,000 to Xlibris Press (with whom we self-published) for the opportunity to "optimize" their book's "exposure to the multi-ethnic community of Miami." The gory details are HERE.

This has got to be the biggest rip-off in the self-publishing industry, and book fair officials aren't too happy about it either.

Xlibris, which can get an entire booth for $650, is charging an outrageous sum to self-published authors who simply don't know better. Our experience with Xlibris is that it is a lot better at promoting itself than promoting its authors.



For $10,000, an Xlibris author will get the privilege of a 2-hour book signing slot at the Xlibris booth. (The Curmudgeon will get three whole days at his little booth.)



For that $10,000, the Xlibris author will have to give away his/her books. They're not allowed to sign them. Fortunately, 150 paperback books come with the package--but those books would cost the author $1500, and cost Xlibris even less. And the author could sell them--for a profit--if he had his own booth, instead of giving them away at the Xlibris booth.



The rest of the package isn't worth much. There's an email marketing campaign that Xlibris normally charges $599 for--and that's pretty inflated as it is (and largely worthless). Xlibris also promises a few bookmarks and posters, as well as an "author video" and press releases before and after the event. None of that is worth much.



For about $3000, the author could easily get his/her own booth, print up some very nice posters and other handouts, shoot a video and then sell his/her books at a profit to offset those costs. The author would still have plenty of money to fly down to Miami and stay in a very nice hotel.



Of course, for Xlibris, this is the deal of the century. They're making several grand on each author they can dupe into signing up for this boondoggle. Maybe they should change their motto to "Xlibris: YOU Write OUR Own Success!"

Arlington's Stance on I-66 Is Killing Democrats

One issue that's killing Democrats in Virginia is Arlington's steadfast opposition to widening I-66.

Because Arlington is a Democratic stronghold, statewide candidates who want to court Arlington voters are required to adhere to the I-66 orthodoxy here. That, in turn, hurts them in the larger--and Democratic leaning--counties outside the beltway (Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun). Folks in those counties want better roads, and none is more inadequate than I-66.

Our friend Ben at NLS recently posted his reasoning on why widening I-66 would do no good (it's in the context of a rebuttal to the Washington Post's inexplicable endorsement of Arlington delegate Bob Brink's Republican opponent).

We disagree. Ben's reasoning is that putting more people on I-66 will just add to congestion in Tyson's Corner. That ignores the two fundamental bottlenecks on I-66.

Heading westbound, traffic gets jammed where the double lane Glebe Road on-ramp meets double-lane I-66. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that having a two-lane on-ramp merge into two lanes of interstate highway will quickly jam things up. Adding an additional lane from Glebe Rd. to the Dulles Access Rd. (267) would greatly ameliorate the daily traffic tie-up on I-66 in Arlington. The sad thing is that Arlington's elected officials oppose this fix, even though it is mostly people living and working in ARLINGTON (those getting on at Glebe Rd.) who are hurt by the current abysmal design.

On the eastbound side, there is a similar problem, where the Sycamore Street ramp meets I-66. Too much traffic is coming in from this ramp, causing traffic to slow to a crawl. A little over a mile later, much of that traffic gets off at Glebe Rd. (again proving that much of I-66 traffic is people living and working in Arlington, not just pass-through traffic from the outer suburbs). After Glebe Rd. the traffic clears up. An easy solution to this problem is to extend the ramp from Sycamore St. all the way to the Glebe exit ramp.

These fixes won't solve all of I-66's problems, but they would at least resolve most of the particularly aggravating traffic jams that occur outside of rush hours or against rush hour traffic.

Arlington officials are doing no good for the majority of Arlingtonians by opposing these fixes. While we intend to vote for Bob Brink--because we don't think he's really part of that problem--we do think the Post has a point: it may take getting rid of a few Arlington Democrats to save the rest of Northern Virginia's Democrats, and to bring some sanity to the transportation issue.

Grim Time For Deeds and Dems

A final spate of polls is out in advance of next week's election here in the Commonwealth and there's nothing but bad news for Creigh Deeds and Democrats, as Bob McDonnell has a double-digit lead heading down the stretch.

Here's the data:

Survey USA:
McDonnell 58%
Deeds 41%

Public Policy Polling:
McDonnell 55%
Deeds 40%

Washington Post:
McDonnell 55%
Deeds 44%

There was on tidbit in the polls that we thought was quite interesting--and telling. Survey USA broke out voters who had already voted. The percentage was small--8% of the sample said they'd already voted (presumably via absentee ballot).

Of those, a significant number split their votes. McDonnell leads among early voters by 52%-45%, close to his overall poll numbers. But for Democrats Jody Wagner (Lt. Gov.) and Steve Shannon (Attorney General) the numbers were flipped: both lead their opponents among early voters, Wagner by 53%-44% and Shannon by 56%-44%.

Although none of the polls show Wagner or Shannon beating their opponents, we'll hold out some hope that ticket splitting will give one or both of them a chance to eke out a win.

The biggest problem appears to be turnout, however. Democrats simply have no enthusiasm for Deeds, so many say they don't intend to vote.

This is a tragedy for the entire Democratic ticket, including legislative seats. It looks like the Deeds drag is going to wipe out several years of steady Democratic gains in Virginia, with losses likely in the House of Delegates.

All of which is really too bad for Northern Virginians, who will continue to suffer from lack of transportation funds at the hands of skinflint Republicans, and who will see little progress on other fronts as well.

We'll close with this plea: if you're a Democrat, or an independent, and not enthused about Deeds, please, still go out and vote. You can still make a difference in the other statewide and local races, even if you don't vote for Deeds.

No Subsidy For New News Reporting

Today's Washington Post devotes a large story and a central op-ed piece to a proposal to have the federal government, via the FCC, subsidize a "new model for news reporting."

Sorry, bad idea. Really bad idea.

The reason the Post is giving so much press to this is that former Post Executive Editor Len Downie is one of the figures behind the effort.

Downie argues that the type of journalism that "holds accountable those with power and influence" is now "at risk" due to the decline of the profitable daily newspaper. Accordingly, "American society must now take some collective responsibility for supporting news reporting--as society has, at much greater expense, for public education, health care, scientific advancement, and cultural preservation, through varying combinations of philanthropy, subsidy and government policy."

One problem with the argument is that the news industry is already re-inventing itself quite nicely WITHOUT any government subsidy. That's the word from a report authored by Downie and other journalism professors, and featured in the Post's news story today.

Another problem is that the report in any event appears to focus primarily on print media. It is certainly true that traditional print media is in big trouble financially. But the news media in the U.S. is a little bigger than traditional daily newspapers. It includes television and the internet, which have steadily supplanted newspapers and magazines as the primary sources of Americans' "news."

If anything, it appears we are suffering not from too little news, but too much. Just witness how a family in Colorado allegedly manipulated and duped the entire nation's media over the "balloon boy" incident last week. (Even if the story wasn't a hoax, it wasn't really a story in the end.)

We think there's a vital role for newspapers to play, and Downie and company outline a number of steps that would be useful in supporting that role, including encouraging more non-profit news organizations and supporting print media via philanthropies and universities.

What we don't agree with, however, are two proposals. One is to "reform" public radio and television to be more oriented to local news. Why do we need that? In Washington, we have four private local news stations on the air, some of which have several hours per day of "local" "news" (mostly puff pieces). We also have a cable oriented 24-hour per day local news station, along with local cable weather. We're saturated with local "news" already, much of it irrelevant. Why should taxpayers pay for a "public" incarnation of the same?

A better "reform" of public radio and television would be to finish the conversion of them to what they primarily are now: non-profit organizations, relying on viewer/listener contributions to support themselves. There's no need for a continued government subsidy. Indeed, many programs on public radio and television could easily support themselves on advertising, probably using no more air time than they do now for their periodic fund appeals.

The other proposal, which is far worse, is creation of a "national fund for Local News" from "fees the Federal Communications Commission collects from or could impose on telecom users, broadcast licensees or Internet service providers." The resulting fund would issue grants to "local new organizations for innovations in local news reporting and ways to support it."

This, of course, would be a terrific source of funds for journalism professors such as Downie, but other than that it's hard to see any benefit. Local print media can and will re-invent itself--indeed is re-inventing itself now--without such a fund.

More importantly, we're wary of getting the government involved in the news gathering business. Nothing good ever comes of that, even in the most well-intentioned democracy. As Downie points out, one of the major responsibilities of local news organizations is to hold government accountable. Hard to do when the government is holding the purse strings.

We hope that locals news does successfully re-invent itself. We think it will. Just like politics, we think all news is, fundamentally, local, and there will always be a demand for such. Just keep the government out of it. Please.

Raise The Threat Level

The sillier our media get, the more ill at ease we are that something really bad is about to happen.

On that basis, we should raise the threat level.

Yesterday, and today, the media went crazy over a total non-story. For awhile, everyone thought a 5-year-old kid, aptly named Falcon, was up in a crazy helium balloon. Turned out, he was taking a nap in the attic of his home. About as thrilling as "police arrest wrong man, then promptly let him go." No news.

Now, in the old days of once a day 7:00 pm news, this story would've been over before it had time to get reported. We never would've even heard about it--appropriately.

But now, having mistakenly gone crazy over the story yesterday, the media can't let it go.

Meanwhile, we get the distinct impression it was all a publicity stunt by the family, which, it turns out, has a healthy history of self-promotion.

Can we get back to the real news.

Jody Wagner for Lt. Gov.

As we just posted, it looks like Bob McDonnell is going to capture the governor's mansion.

We hope independent minded voters will take a hard look at the Lt. Governor's race, however. Virginians are famous for splitting their tickets in statewide races. While the Lt. Gov's race hasn't gotten all that much attention, the dynamics between Democrat Jody Wagner and Republican Bill Bolling are much different than in the governor's race.

Although Bolling has been Lt. Governor for the past four years, many Virginians have no idea who he is. He hasn't made much of a mark. He didn't challenge McDonnell for the GOP nomination as governor, and that tells you a lot. Really, who in their right mind wants to run for RE-ELECTION as Lt. Governor? That tells you a lot about Bolling right there.

Whatever you think of McDonnell's political and social views, he is charismatic. Bolling isn't. And he's just as conservative--maybe more so--than McDonnell.

In contrast, Jody Wagner is a dynamic candidate, with much more personality than Deeds. She has demonstrated her service to the Commonwealth as state treasurer under governor Warner, and Secretary of Finance under governor Kaine. These are low profile, but very important, administrative posts, which Wagner has filled in a non-partisan professional manner.

The interesting thing when you hear Jody speak, or talk with her, is that you don't get a sense that's she particularly ideological. She's most comfortable talking about the nuts and bolts of government. That's good. Although the Lt. Gov. job is largely ceremonial, it should be a stepping stone for nomination to run for governor, and Wagner would be a good one.

We hope she won't be lost in Deeds' shadow, or tarred for his campaign's lapses. Independent voters gave Tim Kaine a lackluster GOP Lt. Gov. If we have to have McDonnell as governor, let's at least pair him with a dynamic Democratic Lt. Gov. in Jody Wagner.

Deeds Making No Headway

For awhile, it looked like Creigh Deeds had some momentum as voters acquainted themselves with the real Bob McDonnell via his thesis.

But that momentum appears to have evaporated. A spate of recent polls show Deeds stalled about 6-9 percentage points behind McDonnell, who's done a good job of ignoring the jabs, and successfully tagged Deeds for "going negative" in the campaign. Virginia independents have shown a clear penchant in recent years to punish the candidate who goes most negative, so it looks like some of Deeds' recent work is backfiring.

An interesting contrast to Virginia is New Jersey, where incumbent Democratic governor Jon Corzine has steadily closed what had been a huge gap against his challenger, Republican Christopher Christie. The charts below, from Pollster.com, tell the story pretty well:





We said all along that Deeds was going to have to do more than just paint McDonnell as the super-conservative that he is. So far, Deeds hasn't managed to convince some Democrats, and many independents, that there are good reasons to vote FOR him.

Barring some major development in the next couple weeks, it looks like the Governor's mansion in Virginia will switch parties.

It's too bad--we thought all along that both Brian Moran and Terry McAuliffe were more attractive candidates than Deeds. Unfortunately, they beat the crap out of each other in the Democratic primary, making way for Deeds. We hope something will change in the final days of the campaign, but we're not too optimistic.

Smoke From The Health Care Lobby

Someone should put up a "no smoking" sign in front of the health care lobby.

In a last ditch effort to scare Americans from health insurance reform, they've released a "study" purporting to show that universal healthcare will increase premiums for private insurance by $4000, on average, over what they would have been.

Talk about blowing smoke. We got a notice TODAY--note that health reform is not law, yet--telling us that our nanny's health insurance with Blue Cross is going up $100 a month. That's a 27% increase in ONE YEAR. And nothing's changed about her health over the past year or two.

We got news for you. Health insurance premiums are going up no matter what.

We're fortunate that we can afford this outrageous increase for her. But if our nanny was on her own, there's no way she could fork over an additional $1200 in one year. She'd be just another of the tens of millions of Americans literally forced off the rolls of healthcare insurance and required to fend for herself.

Facebook: To Friend or Not To Friend

The other day, we had dinner with one of our "real" friends, who also happens to be a Facebook friend. We got into a discussion about the do's and don't's of "friending."

It is quite a minefield. For example, what about friending your children? Some children don't want their parents friending them, as it makes them feel like they're being spied on. Others don't mind--but please, please don't try to act like a real friend by making comments, etc. on their FB pages! All that does is expose them to ridicule from their adolescent FB friends.

(The Curmudgeon's children have allowed us "in"--we try to be respectful. We can't understand most of the lingo in the comments on their pages anyway.)

Clear taboo: don't friend friends of your children. They'll think it's creepy, and maybe it is.

Other categories get even dicier. Our friend--the real one--is a senior faculty member at a medical university, and he also treats patients. He's gotten friend requests from both students and patients, both of which make him uncomfortable. We agreed that patients are a pretty clear no-no. Students are a closer question--probably depends on what you feel comfortable with. At a minimun, he shouldn't initiate either form of such contact!

What about co-workers? Co-workers fall into all kinds of different categories, the most awkward of which are those you directly supervise. Can you be "friends"? Again, probably depends on what you're comfortable with. (Since the Curmudgeon no longer has co-workers, it's a purely theoretical issue for us; but, we probably would've been ok with FB friending co-workers in the past.)

Of course, there's old boy and girlfriends. But if you can't friend them on FB, then what's the fun? Just make sure you keep them as FB friends only.

Our general rule is that we'll accept a friend request from anyone we actually know. Sometimes it's someone we've met fairly recently, but that's an opportunity to test out a potential new "real" friendship.

We have gotten friend requests--on the rare occasion--from people we don't know. We generally turn those down, unless we can find some valid connection. Sometimes, it's just a case of mistaken identity. Other times, who knows--FB is a friendly place, but there are always a few bad apples out there, FB stalkers.

You can also--with some time and trouble--work out your FB privacy settings to give some friends more access than others. We kind of wish there was a way to subcategorize (maybe there is, for all we know) your FB friends. Like "true friends," "family," "acquaintances," "co-workers," and other.

With a little effort, we've gotten most of our family to join FB, and it's proven a good way to keep up with each other, share photos and exchange information. Still, there are times when we wonder--what does mom think about all this!

McDonnell Should Apologize

At a recent McDonnell rally, one of his supporters, Sheila Johnson, mocked Creigh Deeds by imitating his mild stutter while addressing the McDonnell faithful.

Courtesy of Not Larry Sabato, the video is now widely available:


So far, the McDonnell campaign has refused to apologize. They should.

And Sheila Johnson especially should apologize. An African-American, Johnson is worth several hundred million dollars as the co-founder of the Black Entertainment Network and other business enterprises. She should know better. Imagine if a prominent Deeds supporter had mocked her heritage!!

Deeds Continues To Close

The latest PPP poll, released today, shows Deeds continuing to close on McDonnell, but the gap remains significant.

McDonnell leads by 48%-43%, which is considerably narrower than his 51%-37% lead two months ago, and tighter than his seven point lead a month ago. The question is whether Deeds can close the gap in the time remaining.

We talked briefly with Deeds by phone today. He's been riding Metro in NoVa the past couple of days, which is a good way for a slice of NoVa voters to see him. We get the sense that Deeds--a notoriously slow starter, but strong finisher--is starting to hit his stride in what remains an uphill battle for him.

The best news in the PPP poll was that a large majority of the undecided voters are Democrats. That gives Deeds an excellent opportunity to pick up additional ground, if he can connect.

Deeds has a fundamentally sound record as a legislator from the standpoint of most Democrats, and we urge him to help voters get to know him better.

Recently, Deeds penned an op-ed in the Washington Post specifically aimed at Northern Virginia voters. While it may not be what some wanted to hear, we applaud him for not pandering to NoVa voters. He is also uncharacteristically realistic--let's face it, the Governor in Virginia is a weak position, with power residing in the decidedly divided legislature. To get anything done, Deeds will have to persuade at least some GOP members of the House of Delegates to go along.

We hope those Democrats still sitting on the fence will give Deeds a good look, ultimately opting to come out and vote for him. If the undecideds break his way, he has a good chance of winning--a win that would give Obama a boost as well.

A Good Month For Low Carbon Emissions

Too bad not every month in Washington can be September! With near perfect weather, we've run the air conditioning for just a half day (it got up to about 88 degrees and upstairs was pretty toasty) and haven't yet turned on the heat (that could change tonight).

Good for the bottom line, too (unless you're a utility company!).

Read It For Yourself

McDonnell's real blueprint for Virginia:

http://www.bobmcdonnellblueprint.com/?sc=sem-ba-nls-thesis

Brainwashed By Fox

Recently, one of the Curmudgeon's aunts asked for an intervention with her son, who she says has been brainwashed by Fox News.

We don't watch Fox ourselves because it's obviously anything but fair and balanced. Indeed, if Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels were still around, he'd love Fox News. On Fox, everyone marches in right-footed sync.

Just to get an idea of what's going on, however, we did watch a bit of Fox News. Yep, if that were your only source of information, you'd be as brainwashed as if you got all your news from your church (churches, synagogues, temples and mosques being poor sources of balanced news).

Unfortunately, we have to rely on a fake comedy news show, the Daily Show, to do the most effective job debunking Fox, a frequent target of Jon Stewart's barbs. One story we'd seen on Fox was about an elementary school in New Jersey that was supposedly spreading socialist propaganda of President Obama by having a class of students sing a song about him.

Fox had gotten hold of a youtube video of the students singing and was milking it for all it was worth--indeed, the propaganda network was likening it to Hitler's Germany or "pure Khmer Rouge stuff." Well, it does take one to know one.

So here's what we got from the Daily Show later on: the video was made shortly after Obama's inauguration, Obama had nothing to do with it, it was during black history month, the parents were notified in advance of the lyrics to the song, no one complained beforehand, or afterwards (until, many months later, Fox rounded a local white lady who decided she was, after all, upset about it). And really, the song was pretty innocuous.

But what we liked best was the clip Jon Stewart's people found of an elementary school group near New Orleans singing a song about President Bush, FEMA and the hurricane recovery efforts. In this particular video, First Lady Laura Bush was right in the middle of the students, singing along. Well, so much for hypocrisy.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
America: Target America
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

As for our cousin, we're hoping we can give him a half hour dose, per day, of the Daily Show, just to give him a bit of perspective.

Obama Opposition Not Racist

How soon we forget.

Some on the left are now saying that opposition to President Obama's policy proposals is fueled by racism. We don't doubt for a second that there are still plenty of out and out racists in the land whose hatred is inflamed by having an African-American President.

But opposition to Obama's policy proposals, particularly on healthcare, while sometimes vehement, can't be ascribed to race.

Indeed, the GOP's reaction to Obama--so far--has been far more respectful than to Bill Clinton when he was President. Yes, we forget easily. During the Clinton years, the right wing hate machine was in full gear, churning out despiccable lies and falsehoods about both Clintons. With Republicans in control of Congress, they launched "investigation" after "investigation," going after the Clintons and their allies on the weakest of claims, fanning the flames whenever possible.

Fortunately, Republicans don't control Congress now. Furthermore, whenever the right wing's attacks on Obama go over the line, the public reacts negatively. Many voters who disagree with Obama on certain policies still like and respect him, and won't stand for personal attacks.

(This is, in part, a reflection on the contrasting personalities of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. You always got the feeling that Clinton was a bit of a rascal, whereas Obama comes across as serious and somber, with stronger family values and a stronger family than most GOP'ers, who've been rocked by adulterous scandals.)

Today, we recall Franklin D. Roosevelt fondly, as one of our most popular Presidents. And he was popular. But that didn't mean everyone liked him. To be sure, there was a hard core group of right wingers who despised him, and their attacks on him were as hard-hitting as many of those on Obama.

Obama is right to reject the racism card. He's pushing for change--it's what he campaigned on. Problem is, a lot of people are scared by change. That doesn't mean you don't keep pushing!

Yes Virginia, We Have A Race!

The polls are in and they clearly show a much tighter race for the Commonwealth's next governor. Voters, especially women in Northern Virginia, are bothered by the social conservatism of Bob McDonnell reflected in his master's thesis; at the same time, they're wary of Creigh Deeds, who is still much an unknown quantity.

On the polling front, we have three recent ones. McDonnell leads in all three, but his lead is much smaller than a month ago, with a lot of voters undecided.

Rasmussen has it the closest, with McDonnell leading by a statistically insignificant 48%-46% margin. Daily Kos gives McDonnell the biggest margin, at 50%-43%. In between, we have the Washington Post, where Deeds had the most movement from the prior poll, closing the gap from 54%-39% to 51%-47%.

So where are we? McDonnell's master's thesis, in which he laid out a conservative "family values" political agenda intended to undercut working women, has clearly hit home with working women in populous Northern Virginia.

McDonnell says the thesis is old news and his views have "changed," but he has not been specific. He says "judge me on my record," but his record is in many ways consistent with his master's thesis, so we urge voters to do just that.

On the other hand, Deeds is having trouble convincing voters to vote FOR him. He is a weaker candidate than Tim Kaine and much weaker than Mark Warner when he ran for governor. He still hasn't taken on transportation, and has largely failed to connect with NoVa voters. (We feared this back during the Democratic primary.)

To win this race, Deeds is going to have to come on strong. We're waiting and watching!

Is Deeds On The Move?

There are some signs of life in the Creigh Deeds campaign.

A poll released this week has Deeds just five points behind his opponent, Bob "Women Should Stay In The Home" McDonnell, Deeds best showing since shortly after he won the Democratic primary in June. Deeds also outraised McDonnell in funds in the most recent reporting period, by a pretty good margin. And, with less than two months to go to the election, voters are starting to get a little interested in the race, with the Deeds campaign showing some uncharacteristic energy.

That's the good news. The bad news is that the new poll, from Clarus Research, comes from an organization that we haven't seen poll in the Commonwealth before, so we're still a bit skeptical. We're waiting to see numbers from Public Policy Polling and Survey USA, both of whom have been surveying the state every few weeks, to see if there are any real trends. We would expect Deeds to improve his standing after the Washington Post pulled back the mask on Bob McDonnell and revealed the scaly lizard skin underneath.

Likewise, on the money front, while Deeds is raising some big bucks, McDonnell still have about a million dollars more in the bank. That's a big delta with less than two months to go.

And while the Deeds campaign appears to have come alive, McDonnell's campaign continues to operate as a well-oiled machine.

Historically, the governor's mansion in Virginia goes to the party out of power in the White House. That alone makes Deeds an underdog. It's still McDonnell's race to lose. We hope Deeds has the momentum to pull off the upset.

What Tune Will Your Car Sing?

One of the great things about our Prius is just how quiet it is when in electric mode.

Cars of the future, especially the all electric ones, will be stealthy, especially at speeds under 20 mph, where road friction and aerodynamic drag don't really come into play.

Quiet cars is a good thing, right? (Boats, too--electric boats are coming!) Well, yes, unless you're blind, or you're the type of pedestrian (child, elderly) whose attention to his/her surroundings is less than it should be.

One solution, being batted around in industry circles and safety regulatory agencies these days, is to require electric cars to emit some kind of sound, at least at low speeds. Of course, that sound needn't necessarily be that of engine noise.

Indeed, cars of the future may emit unique "drive tones" (the term is already copyrighted) like your cell phone's ring tone. An interesting proposition. Will our little Prius's successor be rolling down the highway emitting the guttural guitar sounds of Jimi Hendrix, or bouncing to the rap tunes the kids favor?

And how will that sound when it's all mixed together?

The next generation of autos will be interesting. Along with drive tones, expect all kinds of light variations as manufacturers begin to embed colorful LED lights both inside and out. Car shapes may change radically as well, as an electric engine is a lot smaller than today's gas powered models, eliminating the need for a lot of the gear under the hood. Eventually, these cars will drive themselves, as well.

What will we do, while the car's driving itself? Why, we'll blog, download new drivetunes, Facebook, etc. The same things we do at home now!

Remembering 9/11

Although it's been 8 years, the memory of 9/11 still burns raw in our heart and soul. Sadly, we're still at war in Afghanistan, and the murderer behind 9/11 is still at large.

September 11, 2001 was a much different type of day than today: it started as a classic beautiful fall day, with crystal clear blue sky and warm sunshine, unlike today's rainy, overcast and chilly weather.

It didn't take long for it turn into one of the ugliest days in history. The Curmudgeon, arriving at work early, was in his office overlooking the White House, working on a legal brief that needed to be filed later in the week.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Curmudgeon was taking our youngest, Aidan, to his first day of Montessori pre-school at Key Elementary School. Decked out in his new clothes and a nearly empty backpack, Aidan smiled proudly for the camera as his photo was taken with mom kneeling by his side on this momentous new day. The time was 9:02 a.m.

Not too long before that, one of the associates working with the Curmudgeon had come by with news that a plane--presumably a smaller one--had struck one of the World Trade Center towers, which was now in flames. We watched briefly on a little television in the next office over. It seemed like a bizarre accident--how could a plane hit a skyscraper on such a clear day?

After getting back to work, more urgent word came through: a second plane, clearly a large passenger jet, had just struck the other tower. Clearly, this was some horrific act of terrorism. After watching the replay a few times, we couldn't bear any more. Back to work, struggling to concentrate. It seemed to be a major problem for people in NY--nothing we could do.

But then the quiet in the Curmudgeon's office was disturbed by the slightest of sounds--a little whiff on the window, like a small gust of wind had struck it. But there was no wind that day; the sound was out of place. With his concentration shot anyway, the Curmudgeon got out of his chair and walked over to the large window, with its expansive view to the west, from Rosslyn all the way down to Crystal City.

Something was clearly wrong. A huge column of thick black smoke was expanding into the air over the Pentagon. The Curmudgeon raced into the adjacent office, where 3-4 other attorneys were glued to the television. "Forget the television, look out the window," the Curmudgeon screamed. The others in the room looked at him like he was crazy, then turned their heads to the window, letting out a collective "oh shit."

Just then, Mrs. Curmudgeon was crossing the Roosevelt Bridge on her way to work. She still had her camera and snapped some shots out the window of the dark cloud of smoke billowing ominously above the Pentagon.

In the Curmudgeon's office, we finally realized all of America was under attack. We looked anxiously out at the White House, a block away, and the Treasury Building, just across the street. Would they be targets? Were we safe?

Rumors were rife. The phone was ringing. The Capitol had been struck; no, a colleague could see the Capitol from his office. Another caller said she heard the State Dept. had been truck bombed; no, we could see Foggy Bottom, no smoke coming from there. Other cities had been hit--the Sears Tower in Chicago was in flames; no, a partner in our Chicago office said no such thing had occurred.

Then there was a rumble from a secondary explosion at the Pentagon. Time to get out. The street was a madhouse. Secret service agents were expanding a cordon around the White House; cars jammed the street while others tried to get out of parking garages; a mass of people was moving in both directions.

As we headed for home, believing we would have to walk back to Arlington, we noticed people going into a Metro station. Surprised to find it running, we endured a short, but intensely quiet, trip home. As we walked the final four blocks home, we could see the black smoke from the other side of Arlington, and hear the emergency vehicles racing up and down Lee Highway. Suddenly, a military fighter jet roared overhead, causing many to instinctively drop to the sidewalk. No--it's ours. Too little, too late.

The rest of the day, of course, was spent in front of the television reliving the horrible spectacle as the two towers came crashing down and the shock sank in. We had to retrieve our two boys, then ages 6 and 3, early from school. So much for Aidan's big first day! We wanted to shield them from the horror, but it was impossible. Still, they didn't really fully grasp what was going on. Thankfully, they eventually went off and lost themselves in play, as only children can do.

It's sad that the Bush administration used 9/11 as an excuse to go after Iraq, rather than focusing on the real target, Bin Laden in Afghanistan. We could've gotten him back then, and we could've avoided a trillion dollar mistake.

Are we safer today? We doubt it. We can never forget 9/11.

SC Rep. Wilson's "You Lie"--Mild By Historical Standards

It's no wonder South Carolina is Jon Stewart's favorite state--it's politicians continue to give unlimited fodder for comedic relief.

All we can say is that Joe Wilson's "you lie" outburst is mild by SC standards. At least he didn't get up and nearly cane someone to death like SC Rep. Preston Brooks did to Massachusetts' Charles Sumner on the House floor before the Civil War.