Tuesday, January 11, 2005
NEWSPAPER INTACT FOLLOWING TSUNAMI
“What did you think of when you considered the horrid human toll of the tsunami?” asks James Lileks. “Well, if you’re like WaPo cartoonist Tom Toles, you immediately thought of a man standing on a battered beach reading a newspaper story forecasting increases in CO2 emissions.”
Perhaps Toles was insane with the morning fevers. Lileks himself has been suffering:
This was almost the Lost Weekend. Friday morning around 4 AM I awoke with fever deliriums. I would have preferred to remain awake, staring at the ceiling, sweating it out, but no: back into the maelstrom. I dreamed I was in Australia, and a tidal wave of historic proportions was en route - it would not only swamp the coastal area, it would sink the entire continent. So I went to Tim Blair’s house, and was not at all surprised to find he was holding a rather large party. He gave me a drink; I wandered around, finding people enjoying their last moments on earth with cheer and pluck.
I’ve long planned such a party. Guests would compete to win ownership of a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle. They float, you know.