Also still to be read

There's still a backlog of Consumer Reports that was left out of yesterday's accounting. There's no rush, though. Cameras reviewed are expensive ones only; lawn and garden stuff is all powered, and excessively; there's no bothering with 13-inch televisions these days. Half the gear reviewed seems to involve placing something in or near the ears. It's a wonderful publication, nonetheless, because of its distinctive house style, if for no other reason. The sections in which the test designs are explained have no peer. Only the purist Organic Gardening magazine of the old days ('Sixties? at any rate, when old man Rodale himself was still at the helm) would rival it for peculiarity in the earlier sense of individuality. By the way, it was just this morning that I read that 13-inch televisions will not be subject to the high-definition requirements that will up the price of all other televisions. And who can fail to be amused by the fact that today's Wall Street Journal, of all publications, had a column illustrated by a depiction of GWB as one Alfred E. Neuman, complete with the traditional caption: "What - Me Worry?" WSJ and Mad Magazine sharing the same cultural references? Here's a little disquisition on the origins of AEN.