Saturday, December 27, 2003

3:13 PM Speaking of “Lord of the Rings,” Vox Day shows how the third installment speaks to the current world crisis. 2:47 PM Last night Mark, Nick and Caleb Fields watched “Fellowship of the Rings” on DVD. They finished at 1 AM. At this moment they are watching “The Two Towers.” Right now they are watching the battle of “Helms Deep.” Mark says it is the best battle scene ever filmed. 2:46 PM Found on the Marginal Revolution Weblog: Frankincense, $4 per oz. Myrrh, $5.60 per oz. Gold, $411.20 per oz. Value of celebrating the holidays with friends and family: priceless. 2:38 PM Radio personality Paul Harvey (who lives in River Forest) has been under attack for certain statements he made regarding Islam and terrorism. Daniel Pipes defends him, and so does Rich Tucker. 12:55 PM Christmas brought me a stack of new books, including Reagan: A Life in Letters, a fine collection of hundreds of letters by Ronald Reagan from 1922 to 1994, and “The Da Vinci Code,” currently the bestselling novel in America. I intend to read it because of its enormous popularity and its seductive attack on Christianity. Also under the tree: the DVD version of Seabiscuitand a DVD version of The Civil War by Ken Burns. My boys suggested the latter will be good preparation for our Civil War tour in June. 12:43 PM A Saturday shout-out to Gary and Kim Gromacki in Clarks Summit, PA, Tom and Kyle Renard (and the boys) in Dallas, Dean and Linda Warkentin in CO, Tom and Kim Thompson in Memphis, TN, and a special greeting to Denise, Katie and David Willhite in Rowlett, TX. Extra for Tom Renard: I’d love to come to TX and ride with you this summer.