Funny thing about meat thermometers and ballpeen hammers. You pound one into your ear and you get the worst infection ever. Man, I hate it when that happens. Thank goodness for really powerful antibiotics. After a couple of days worth of bedrest, I feel pretty good. My hearing in the left ear is a little bit like a blown-out speaker in a '72 Chevy Impala, but it's improving.

Everybody who has ever worked for a magazine or a newspaper knows the oldest gimmick in the world to get people talking about you: Make a list. But now there's a new wrinkle: Stephen Colbert.

Gentlemen, please. Last month, it was "bromances." Here, under protest, we have "mantuaries" and man caves. What kind of lameness is this?

UPDATE: The pig lives! (Photo below...)

We've got this featured on the redblue links, but it's still worth noting today's Washington Post op-ed arguing that Dallas -- yes, J.R. Ewing -- helped bring about the end of the Cold War: