I picked up a CD version of one of the greatest rock albums of all time, "Who's Next" by The Who. I have carefully preserved the vinyl version for years, but by comparison it's aural muck. But when you play this reprocessed CD on the big old power stereo that takes back to the 70's, it's near Nirvana, and not the Cobain version. The CD version does justice to the lead riffs in the bass lines, rattles the house to the timbers and sends the kid scampering to her room as if I were playing the best hits of the Mamas and Papas. Particularly driving were the opening keyboard bars of Barbara O'Reilly that build into crashing bass. You can't play this stuff properly on an IPod. Maybe I should save my allowance for 'Tommy.'

Al Gore is turning into a new type of American hero. He has beating the American political system by working “off the grid,” becoming a more potent political force than the dozen or so dwarves running for president. And he is driving the country’s media nuts because he is taking his case for global climate change directly to the public and American opinion leaders. Who needs Maureen Dowd? They are doing all they can to suck him back into the political system, so they can hammer him. In turn his newest book is about the decline of the American media. Gotcha!