Misc.

Even after reviewing the definitions and reading the paper about it, I'm still not exactly clear on what this means or how it's calculated. Nevertheless, I'm sort of pleased to be as highly ranked as I am.

Things I didn't need to see: April Patterson talking in today's For Better or For Worse about the size of her breasts.

I have a good story about my co-worker E. On Saturday, I was trying to decide what book I should read next, so I picked three non-fiction titles and had various co-workers pick which one they would read. E picked The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion by Douglas Brinkley. That wasn't a surprise, because I knew he was a big World War II buff, but I was a little surprised when he said, "it's really good," because, by his own admission, he's not much of a reader. Another co-worker later picked the same book, so that was the one I checked out. When I saw E again, I told him I had taken his advice, and he reiterated that it was really good. I went on to say that I was interested to find out what Ronald Reagan had to do with the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion, since I knew that Reagan had spend the duration of WWI in California making propaganda films. To which E replied, "Yeah, I'm kind of curious about that myself."

"Couldn't you tell me?" I asked.

"Oh, I haven't read it."

The book did turn out to be pretty good. As it turned out, Reagan's only connection to the Boys of Pointe du Hoc is that he gave a speech about them at Pointe du Hoc on the 40th anniversary of D-Day. He cited them as the apotheosis of American triumphalism, and linked their particular battle against the Germans occupying France to the then-ongoing Cold War against the Soviet Union. Apparently, it's widely regarded as one of the best speeches Reagan ever gave, though I myself had never heard it. (My general antipathy toward Ronald Reagan led me (and continues to lead me) to ignore most of what he ever said.) The text of the speech is included as an appendix, though, and I have to agree that it's a very well-crafted speech.