A friend and I were idly chatting when we suddenly hit upon an idea that seemed certain to make us a senseless amount of Internetbux™ - why not develop a web portal that combines what we imagined to be the two most popular idle-time internet destinations of most guys: sports and porn.

Think about it! Devise a site that just acts as a collection of great pr0n and sports links around the web, set up some sort of revenue-producing ad stream on the page and sit back and count the money as it rolls in.

We even came up with a clever name: 'sp0rn'.

Then my dreams burst like a glass snow globe falling to the pavement: we're not the first to come up with the term.

Sure, maybe we could still make money with this, but if we can't have the fun of coming up with a clever name, it just seems kind of hollow.

Mark Piepkorn writes me:

If I had a working blog, I'd put this there. But you two (Ed. note: He's referring to his brother, whose comment is the title of this post) would probably be the only people to read it, so I'll just send it directly.

"He is the first President to hate the American people and all they stand for. He believes so vibrantly in his own purity, although he has committed crimes which are hideous, that I am bound to conclude that someone told him when he was very young that all serious crime was sexual, that no one could be a criminal who did not commit adultery or masturbate.

"He is a useful man in that he has shown us that our Constitution is a defective document, which makes a childlike assumption that we would never elect a President who disliked us so. So we must amend the Constitution in order that we can more easily eject such a person from office and even put him in jail."

That was Kurt Vonnegut. He was writing about Richard Nixon. Over 30 years ago, in the preface to Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons.

It had to happen. We had a warming trend this afternoon and the temperature finally crept past the depressing singular digit it was - hey, we got to 3° by 2pm! - and the advice of many of my readers. I was feeling much better by the time I was ready to go home this afternoon.

It's an odd thing about the windowless cubicle I work in: there are windows to the outside in my office, but it's pretty easy for me to pass them by during the day and only get to see what it's like out there on my return to the car for the drive home at the end of the day.

You can imagine my surprise when I discovered the fine misting of snow that was falling and had already covered everything.

But the reminders that pals Neil, Steve and Dane gave me (ironically, all barleycentric) lent me made me realize that, hey, ho, Wisconsin's the place for me.

You've gotta like a place where, like my friend, expatriate Dan says, "The weather tries to kill you now and again".

I just emailed this to a pal who is reluctantly about to purchase an XMas gift at Wal-Mart.

At this juncture, I'm not so sure I can hate Wal-Mart - until they start laying off their serfs. They may prove to be saviors in these economic times - both as an employer (albeit a crappy one) and a merchant (of low-cost goods for the struggling masses).

I suppose I'll have to turn in my membership card at the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy office now.

Today, like I often do, I saw someone from a distance and thought it was a friend of mine.

Then I remembered that said friend died a while back.