Me: This is so great. They are going to have new technology for the Inaugural. Wolfie (Wolf Blitzer, who M:TNG-1 calls the "smartest-looking stupid person in the world") is so excited. He can't understand why everyone else is giggling and saying, "It's not another hologram, is it?"

M:TNG-2: Okay, Obama is taking a train to Washington. Good, I'm glad to know that. But what is the point of this broadcast? You can't see the train.

Me: And they're outside! There is no earthly reason for them to be outside. They could stay inside and be warm until Obama gets there. He hasn't even reached Delaware yet.

M:TNG-2: The producers of news shows are such huge sadists. Look at Anderson Cooper. He doesn't even have a coat on.

She's right. Every time there's bad weather we get to see reporters being blown away by hurricane force winds or freezing in snowstorms. Honestly, you folks in other countries have no idea how entertaining our news broadcasts are. (They're mostly useless as news anymore, of course. We have public TV and radio and the internets for that.)

David Gergen: Obama is more popular than anyone (or words to that effect)

M:TNG-2: Is he more popular than Brad Pitt? And is the train really called the Obama Express? What is this, you're president and you get your own train?

Me: Well, you get your own plane, so why not?

Much as I love CNN, I will watch MSNBC for the actual inauguration. I don't think we can hope for another moment like Keith Olbermann interrupting Joe Scarborough's pumping up of the McCain campaign to ask "Jesus, Joe, Why Don't You Get a Shovel?" We probably won't even get another one like Chris Matthews feeling dissed by KO and waving his hand in front of KO's face while yelling that he knew KO thought he talked too much but he wasn't going to shut up. But we will certainly have KO beginning one of his long speeches about the parallels between this solemn occasion and some obscure historical event only to be interrupted by Chris burbling something akin to his famous pronouncement that watching Obama sends a thrill up his leg.

Now we have live pictures from the train. We can clearly see the walls and trees that block the train tracks from a view of a bunch of people's back yards.

via Dan Savage (who else?):

Plush Uterus safety recall

The ovaries may be pulled off and become a choking hazard.

But: If your plush uterus is NOT accessible to young children, and you wish to keep your beloved uterus, you may opt-out via email.

So keep those ovaries away from the kiddies, folks!

THE HAPPINESS MEME
Rules: For eight days you have to post something that made you happy that day.

1. After a trying afternoon, settling down for a good dinner in the knowledge that everyone in the family is safe, healthy and warm.

2. The incredible silliness of Primeval, a show with what must be the stupidest protagonists of any sci fi show.