For those who’ve been wondering about the identities of the authors pictured in that last post, here they are:

1. Dan Brown
2. Mary Higgins Clark
3. Sandra Brown
4. Patricia Cornwell
5. James Patterson
6. Nora Roberts (J.D. Robb)
7. Nicholas Sparks
8. Danielle Steel
9. Harlan Coben
10. Sue Grafton
11. Janet Evanovich
12. Tess Gerritsen

How well did you do?

Here’s the 52nd edition of the Sunday Seven, which means that we’ve wrapped up a full year’s worth of questions. No, I’m not expecting any gifts on such a big occasion, but if you’ve a mind to hit the mall, anyway, you’ll be ready for this week’s question!

But first, Donna, of “My Country Life” was first to play last week! Congratulations, Donna!

On to this week’s question!

THIS WEEK’S QUESTION:
Name seven stores no good shopping mall should be without.

Either answer the question in a comment or answer it in your journal and include the link in a comment. (To be considered “first to play,” a link must be to the specific entry in which you answered the question.)

My answers:
1. Barnes & Noble
2. Brookstone
3. The Apple Store
4. Coffee Beanery
5. Williams and Sonoma
6. Crate and Barrel
7. Three-Dog Bakery

A recent book club mailing featured this brochure.

There are a few of the faces that I recognized immediately: #4, 5 and 12. I knew who #1 is, and could have guessed #7 & 9.

But I know authors by their names, not their faces.

How many can you name?

I’ll post the identities later this week.

Normally, writer Tod Goldberg is more than capable at ridiculing the ridiculous comments and questions received by Walter Scott’s Personality Parade, a regular feature of the Parade magazine inserts in most Sunday newspapers.

But this time, I’m not even going to wait for him and his use of his colorful title for such incidences.

The Personality Parade received this question:

“You said Angelina Jolie refused to be sexually intimate with Brad Pitt until he was divorced. But Brad’s divorce wasn’t final until October 2, 2005, while Shiloh was born just seven months later, on May 27, 2006. Did you check your math?”

I could suggest that I don’t know which is worse: the arrogant presumption of someone calling a celebrity gossip columnist on such unimportant facts, or that the writer of the question is actually possesses not only the knowledge of Shiloh’s birthdate but the actual date on which Pitt’s divorce from Jennifer Anniston became official.

But I do know which is worse: the latter. I couldn’t have named, on a bet, even the month in which Shiloh was born, much less the date Pitt legally became a free man so he could begin the job of creating Shiloh in the first place.

Sure, I’ll admit that as a lifelong fan of The Price is Right, I do know the birthdate of Bob Barker — 12/12/23 — and the premiere date of the current run of the series — 9/4/72. But I’d also be the first to admit that these are also unimportant facts. I’d never waste my time writing to a gossip columnist to question him about something I took as a mistake regarding either date; there are plenty of other people who would beat me to it by a mile. And then I’d sit back and wonder why it was so important to them.

Of course, it gets better: in response to the would-be chastizing, the writer who currently pretends to be Walter Scott — Scott is a penname first used by Lloyd Shearer, who retired in 1991 and died ten years later — explains that though the divorce became final in October, Pitt signed the divorce papers on August 19, just more than nine months before Shiloh came into the world.

What? He doesn’t have the exact date of conception?? The real Walter Scott would have never let such a detail slip through his fingers! But really: why would someone take the time — precious seconds of a lifetime that’s too short no matter how long it lasts — to worry about such details? Why would anyone care? Why would a person allow himself to become so absorbed in the life of someone they’ll probably never meet, and certainly never know one on one?

When some people find out that I work in the media, they can’t wait to go into a tirade, demanding to know how I can believe it’s a good idea to cover news as insignificant as celebrity gossip. I assure them that I don’t think it’s a good idea, and agree with them that there is no news value in such stories. I then explain that there is, inexplicably, a genuine interest in such “non-news” items. There is research to back it up, not limited to the longterm success of shows like Entertainment Tonight and magazines like People and Entertainment Weekly. But they never seem willing to imagine that anyone would get so wrapped up in things they couldn’t begin to care about.

The next time one of them tries to argue that point, I’m going to refer him to this post.

Earlier this week, a group calling itself the International Astronomical Union decided to wewrite history by stripping Pluto of its status as “planet.”

So what did they decide it is? A “dwarf planet.”

A dwarf planet, according to Wikipedia, has the following characteristics:

• Is in orbit around the Sun
• Has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape
• Has not “cleared the neighborhood” around its orbit
• Is not a satellite of a planet, or other nonstellar body

Pluto, discovered in 1930, had been considered a planet for all of its 76 years (though it’s safe to say that Pluto is a lot older than that). The catch that demoted it is that “clearing the neighborhood” part. No, that has nothing to do with Pluto’s oddball orbit that takes it into the path of Neptune’s, though never close enough to actually crash; the problem is that Pluto has not entirely cleared the “Kupier Belt,” an area of ateroids and similar bodies, some planetoids and other large rubble formed in various parts of our solar system and now relegated to the darkest corners.

All of us grew up learning that there were nine planets, not “eight planets and a series of Trans-Neptunian objects.” Why, even the clever little saying we used to help us remember the names of the planets — the first letter of each word corresponded, in order, with the first letter of each planet — “My very educated mother just showed us nine planets,” placed Pluto in the “planet” position.

If the IAU really wants us to stop referring to “nine planets,” they should have come up with a better alternative. As far as I’m concerned, the operative word in “dwarf planet” is planet…much like “toy poodles” or “teacup poodles” are still poodles, even if not the large, standard poodles.

And just try to tell a human dwarf, generally classified under the presumably less-offensive term, “little person,” that he’s not really a person.

Call it a “planetoid” or “super-asteroid” or “mega-rock” or something like that, and I’ll go with “eight planets.” But a planet, even a dwarf, is still a planet in my book. So there.

John Scalzi, of “Whatever” and AOL’s “By The Way,” and author of Old Man’s War, has received the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer at the Hugo Awards.

I recently picked up a copy of OMW at a local book store, but haven’t read it, yet. It’s definitely moving up higher on the book pile list.

Drop by his blog and show some love.

A Questions Meme found over at Paul’s “Aurora Walking Vacation:”

1. A month before it happens you’re told you’re going to lose your memory. How do you prepare for it and do you attempt to regain what you’ve lost?

I’d write as detailed a memoir as I could manage in a month’s time, then make copies and leave them in places I’m likely to end up so I’ll be sure to find at least one of them. Hopefully, with my memory gone, I’ll forget how difficult it is to stretch my attention span long enough to read long passages in a single sitting, and I’ll relearn myself sooner rather than later.

2. How do you describe your outlook on life?

Prepare for the worst so you’re usually pleasantly surprised.

3. You fall in love with your soulmate, decide to get married, and then find out that person is going to die soon. Do you marry them anyway?

Of course. They’re eventually going to die one way or another.

4. What are three of your favorite ice cream toppings?

Hot fudge, Chopped Nuts, Whipped Cream.

5. Is there one article of clothing you love to wear no matter how out of style it is?

Most of what I wear isn’t the most stylish anyway, so I couldn’t begin to narrow it down.

6. Is there one color you wish would go away in fashion?

There are colors I don’t wear, but that I think others look good in. I can’t pick one color that should be banned.

7. What’s the first department you head to when you go shopping in a department store?

DVDs.

8.How far away do you live from your parents?

Six hours.

9. Growing up, who was your favorite cartoon character?

Yosemite Sam from The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show. I still laugh at old cartoons in which he goes up against that “stupid idgit rabbit!”

10. You plan a romantic evening and everything goes wrong, including the fancy dinner you burned. What do you do?

Laugh at the situation, then go to a nice restaurant and have extra dessert. Behold, the power of cheesecake!

11. What’s the last thing you bought at the store?

Groceries. I’m planning my reduced-fat beef stew this weekend.

12. Have you ever walked out in the middle of a movie?

No, but then considering the fact that movies cost a small fortune to attend these days, I generally don’t go to movies I haven’t done a little amount of research on.

13. What celebrity do most people say you look like?

Hmm…”Sloth” from The Goonies?

14. Is there any piece of jewelry you always wear?

Not always, but usually, a birthstone ring.

15. Have you ever tried to pick someone up?

No, I figure I’d strain my back.

16. What’s the one thing you always manage to lose on your way out the door?

Nothing. But by the time I get to my car, I find I’ve lost the memory of having just locked the door, so I have to go back to check. (It’s always locked!) OCD, anyone?

17. Out of these creatures which one are you most afraid of:
A.) Snakes B.) Spiders or C.) Rodents

Spiders, because they’re the ones I’m most likely to run into at home and a few of them can cause serious problems.

18. What’s the last gift you bought for a friend?

Probably a CSI DVD set.

19. Do you ever buy people things for no reason?

Occasionally.

20.What’s your favorite way to spend a lazy summer afternoon?

Doing as little as possible…lounging around, watching television, trying not to think about how hot it is.

It sounded too good to be true; I should have known.

A few months back, I began pointing readers to Yutter.com, which offered free email alerts that could be sent on an hourly basis. I stated that this was a better option that a service like FeedBlitz, which feeds alerts once a day, sometime in the overnight hours, unless you pay an absolutely outrageous monthly fee for more-frequent alerts.

I know that many people prefer services like Bloglines, which keep up with new posts on favorite blogs without cluttering up your email inbox. But for those who like a little more “agressive” notice, services like Yutter and FeedBlitz have extra appeal.

Recently, I noticed that comments seemed to take a slight dip, and then I noticed the other day that I didn’t recall having gotten a Yutter alert for new posts I had made. Today, I dropped by Yutter’s home page to see whether a glitch had developed. I found, amid accusations over who is really at fault, that a glitch big enough to effectly cripple the service had occurred.

Regardless of the circumstances, the email alerts are suddenly not available. When they become available again, I will repost the sign-up. Until then, I will resume directing people to FeedBlitz and we’ll just have to deal with the less-punctual alerts.

And we’ll note the lesson learned from this and all other computer-related snafus: no matter what happens and how many hurdles you face, you can’t be better than your own Plan B.

Welcome back to the “Saturday Six.” Glad you stopped by and I hope you find some interesting blogs to visit.

But first, Donna of “My Country Life” was first to play last week. Congratulations, Donna!

Here are this week’s “Saturday Six” questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your journal…but either way, leave a link to your journal so that everyone else can visit! To be counted as “first to play,” you must be the first player to either answer the questions in a comment or to provide a complete link to the specific entry in your journal in which you answer the questions. A link to your journal in general cannot count. Enjoy!

1. Pluto has been demoted from planet to “dwarf planet.” Are you willing to give up everything you’ve been taught all these years and begin referring to our solar system as having eight planets, or will you continue thinking about it having nine?

2. Where is the last store you visited? What was your last bill there?

3. What new television show are you most looking forward to seeing this season?

4. Take the quiz: Which greek God are you? Save yourself some time and space by listing the name of the God, the description it gives you and the famous people you’re like. (Don’t worry about the graphical information and all the rest unless you just want to!)

5. Of the famous people it lists like you, which is the scariest?

6. You decide to bring candy to keep on your desk. If you could only pick one kind of candy, which would it be?

If you have a Reader’s Choice question you’d like to see asked (and answered), click the e-mail link in the Blogger profile and send it to me.

MY ANSWERS:
1. As far as I’m concerned, the operative word in “dwarf planet” is “planet.” Yeah, I’m stubborn, but you already knew that.

2. Food Lion; About $20.

3. “Jerico” or “Kidnapped”

4. Dionysus
0% Extroversion, 46% Intuition, 72% Emotiveness, 90% Perceptiveness
Although deeply emotional, you are extremely lacking in self-knowledge. You are somewhat needy, and when bored, may become very hedonistic. Your life is a quest for meaning, above all else. You are most like Dionysus. You are primarily interested in serving others, but your efforts are almost always unappreciated. You aren’t confrontational, you’re often out of tune with your own needs and unaware of the consequences of your own actions.

You are, at heart, a good person. You are very affectionate, and you are very loyal to your friends and family. You are very reluctant to burden others with your own problems, to the point that this in itself can become a problem for the people who care about you. This is a particular of a more general problem. Dionysus sends wave of ruin throughout his personal life. He is the photographer who seduces his subjects. He is the teacher who seduces a student. He is the art student who paints nonrepresentational splashes of color, he is the poet who rejects meter and content. You seek sexual partners more than anything else (this is to exploit the nurturing side of others to help fill your own void). If not sexual partners, this desire to become the object of sympathy with other people can manifest itself in other destructive ways. Stinkfist by Tool explains your condition pretty well. It’s very likely that you haven’t had many experienced mentors. You don’t want them either, because you’re the sort of person who rejects criticism and boundaries, but they’re also your only hope for reaching any kind of emotional maturity.

Famous People Like You: John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Marilyn Monroe, Hugh Hefner

5. Mr. Jackson.

6. I’d have said bite-sized Snickers, but lately, I’ve developed a taste for Wintergreen lifesavers, which also come individually wrapped, so I think I’d go for them.

This week, John Scalzi’s Weekend Assignment is all about the place you call home:

What is the most interesting thing about where you live? “Thing” in this case would be a famous landmark, a famous current celebrity or historical personage from your home town or county, a notable celebration or sports event — basically, anything that makes where you’re from interesting an unique.

Extra Credit: Are there any books that feature your home town (or someplace nearby) in any way?

Well, my regular readers will probably already know that one of the most interesting places I’ve found in Richmond is Maymont, a 100-acre estate left to the city upon the death of its last-surviving owner in the 1920s.

Here’s the grand house:

But there are lots more things to see there on the estate, including an Italian Garden, a Japanese Garden, and a wildlife exhibit with live animals.

As for books about Richmond, Patricia Cornwell’s early Kay Scarpetta novels were set in Richmond.

It’s an interesting place…both Maymont and the city it is a part of.

Sometimes, you just get into one of those little moods in which one word or phrase will just set off periods of uncontrollable laughter.

When you’re a performer standing in front of an audience, with tape rolling and cameras pointing at you, there are few things worse, because you honestly begin to believe that you’ll never compose yourself.

This week’s classic clip, found over at YouTube, is from an episode of the original Family Feud starring Richard Dawson. This is the game’s “Fast Money” bonus round, and the object of the game is to come up with the answer that the most survey participants came up with.

The hilarity begins with this contestant’s first answer, and continues right on through.

Enjoy!

At a recent campaign stop, Republican Virginia Sen. George Allen began his speech by saying that he would be running his campaign on positive, constructive ideas. He then noticed a young man he recognized as a volunteer for his opponent, and pointed him out:

“This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca, or whatever his name is. He’s with my opponent. He’s following us around everywhere. And it’s just great,” Allen said.

The crowd laughed, and Allen continued, suggesting that his opponent, Jim Webb, was out in Hollywood trying to raise money from “movie moguls,” then added this:

“We care about fact, not fiction. So, welcome, let’s give a welcome to macaca here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.”

Even before it was pointed out, with great enthusiasm, what macaca might mean, there was already a problem: that volunteer in the yellow shirt, S.R Sidarth, is a native of Virginia who happens to be of Indian descent. The “Welcome to America” comment, an obvious assumption that Sidarth must be an immigrant, (and a recent one) was itself insensitive.

There has been much effort online to explain the word macaca. Since we’re going by his spoken word, we have no idea how Allen might have spelled the word, but the spelling “macaca” is consistent with the way he pronounced it. If he had pronounced it a little differently, he might have been trying to say, “macaque,” which is considered an obscene racial slur against blacks in North Africa. It could also refer to a genus of monkey, which implies that if more than a slip of the tongue, it was a racial slur.

Allen’s camp claims that the “Welcome to America” comment had nothing to do with Sidarth’s race; instead, they say, Allen was trying to point out that he was campaigning even in rural, Western Virginia communities, not focusing all of his attention on the beltway area of Northern Virginia. Either way, since all of Virginia — last time I looked at a map — was already a part of America, that explanation seems to fall a bit short.

As for the macaca comment, Allen’s camp first explained that it sounded like “Mohawk,” a nickname that Allen’s staffers had apparently used for Sidarth. Sidarth, however, does not wear his hair in a mohawk, and if Allen was trying to use a word that “sounded like” mohawk, why not just say “mohawk?” That explanation falls more than a little short.

Then Allen said that he had no idea what macaca really meant. If he didn’t know what the word would mean, why would he use it to address someone?

Allen apologized, (if you can call it that):

“I apologize if my comments offended this young man.”

Note the classic political game-playing: he didn’t apologize for making the comments, only for them having been perceived as offensive. That’s like a child apologizing to his mother for her having seen him with his hand in the cookie jar, but not for having tried to sneak a cookie.

It is possible that Allen really wasn’t aware that a “macaca” was a kind of monkey or that “macaque” was a racial slur. But then again, those who are racist are often also accused of ignorance, and rightly so. So if you believe that this was an intentional racial slur, you have to decide for yourself where the alleged ignorance begins and where it ends.

Likewise, the same question comes up when Allen’s supporters suggest that it would have been stupid for Allen to make such a remark to a camera that he knew was recording his every move and word. Of course if the surveys tell you that you have the election all but guaranteed, perhaps you really don’t give a damn what you say because you’re convinced that no matter what, you’ll win. And even if it wasn’t surpreme confidence that clouded his judgment, and even if he really didn’t know of the word’s meaning or intend to make a racial slur, a person could be so unlucky as to have picked a word he’d never heard of out of thin air to use in reference to a dark-skinned person, to find out that the word was a racial slur, then find himself plastered all over the internet with the comment isn’t someone I’d try to buy lottery tickets with.

On Wednesday, Sen. Allen apologized directly to Sidarth for the remark.

In the early part of the last century, politicians could say whatever they wanted, and even if a print journalist was present, they could always claim that they didn’t really say what was printed. But broadcast journalism changed all that: a controversial conversation suddenly was beamed from coast to coast.

Now, thanks to the internet, those remarks can be uploaded, downloaded, emailed and viewed constantly by anyone, any time. Thanks to sites like YouTube, it’s possible to get the politicians’ remarks in their own words on demand.

Two key questions remain: how much will this hurt his re-election bid, and how much will it hurt him if he hopes to run for president in 2008?

He’s not getting my vote.

Just when you least expect it, things can pop up out of the blue and turn things upside down.

I’m having a bit of a crazy week. Everything is going well, actually, but just crazy. I can’t say much more about it at this particular moment.

A friend of mine the other day was talking about fate and how things work out. I told him that if certain things don’t work out, you have to tell yourself that there’s a good reason why they didn’t. So I’m keeping that in mind.

Sorry to be mysterious, but I guess it’s better to be slightly mysterious than completely invisible!

If you’re one of the people who thinks that the media only focuses on the bad, that there is never any “good news” to be found in any newscast or newspaper, and that the focus on “bad news” is ruining civilization, you’ll want to bookmark the webpage of a former news anchor.

TVSquad recently reported that Daryn Kagan is leaving CNN to form her own website, DarynKagan.com, which will only report “good news,” based on her belief that “the world is a good place.” Her site officially launches in mid-November.

An interesting idea. But I also think that anyone who would condemn the media for only focusing on the “bad” would be a little hypocritical if they embraced a site which does just the opposite. If their problem is balance (or the lack thereof), news consumers should be demanding sites that demonstrate what real balance really is.

Perhaps someone spiked the cyber punch? I dropped by the anniversary edition of AOL’s Journals (”J-land”) chat room and visited briefly with some old friends. It’s hard to believe that AOL’s Journals software is already three years old. Three years doesn’t seem so long when you’re looking back, but it seems a lot longer when you look into the future. Leave it to me to find a way to work that up into a question!

But first, Cdmmw, of “I’ve Got a Fever, and the Only Prescription is More Cowbell” was first to play last week and answered the questions in one of the comments! Congratulations!

On to this week’s question!

THIS WEEK’S QUESTION:
Name seven things you’d like to do in the next three years.

Either answer the question in a comment or answer it in your journal and include the link in a comment. (To be considered “first to play,” a link must be to the specific entry in which you answered the question.)

And a special note: next week, we’ll have the first anniversary of the “Sunday Seven!” Do I have a topic in mind already? Maybe, maybe not! You’ll have to stop by next week to find out for sure! Thanks for playing.

My answers:
1. Relocate.
2. Get an agent for my novel in progress.
3. Sell at least one short story.
4. Pay Off The Plastic
5. Buy a New Laptop
6. Win an Emmy (I can dream, can’t I?)
7. Be Close to Purchasing a Home