Monday, August 21, 2006

A Mini-Leno Moment

This is not quite the Jay Leno effect, but it is worth noting anyway. My friend John favors me with the news of the discovery of “a new element, governmenterium (GV)”. He reports:

Governmentium (Gv) has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

I spare you the remainder. Well, har de har, but he’s pulling my chain. As John knows perfectly well, this one has been around since the McKinley Administration—another proof that the internet offers avenues for an exponential expansion of time-wasting and mindless diversion.

The interesting thing is that it is circulating now, in the sixth year of a Republican administration—the framework was a few snide cracks about Hurricane Katrina. They say that when Leno starts mocking you, you are in trouble. This doesn’t have the same heft. But if the time-wasters are circulating about a Republican administration, then I’d say we’ve got one more log on the fire.

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