11:53:44 PM    

One of life's recurrent frustrations is the misspending of leisure time.  It is particularly easy, particularly when one is fatigued, to descend into an aimless unfocused daze, only to realize hours later that you have spent several hours that have resulted in neither accomplishment nor pleasure.

Granted, in the past several hours I have had a very good dinner at the local Persian kabob restaurant, and I bought Christmas presents on-line for the godchildren.  The rest of the time, however, I've spent in idle surfing, without the concentration to really extract anything from what I have read.  If I don't have the concenration for chess or Arabic, then I would be better off with a book, or in bed.

O.K., I did run across Andrew Sullivan's Blogger Manifesto.  I did not read it, but it looked good enough to revisit and reread later.

11:50:47 PM    

TSA Issues Tips For Checked Bags (washingtonpost.com) 

"Packing a suitcase for travel around the holidays has never been easy, with extra care needed for things like gifts, chocolates and fragile items. But yesterday airport regulators made things even more complicated."

Among the recommendations: don't lock bags because the locks will be cut off; pack toiletries in plastic bags so inspectors can see them easily; don't pack film in checked luggage because it will be ruined, and avoid carrying dense foods like peanut butter, which might be mistaken for plastic explosives!

7:55:50 AM    

Google It!