Semi-random thoughts

● Burlesque shows are fun.

● It's great to see Lindsay Davenport playing and winning after leaving the tennis tour to have a baby. What really amazes me is that she now has the highest percentage of singles wins in the women's tour history. She's never dominated the tour the way Steffi Graf did (at least after one of Graf's fans stabbed Monica Seles with a knife). That's who I would have guessed has the best percentage.

● The Southern Poverty Law Center has sent me my 2008 Membership card, awarding me the status of "Lifetime Member," since I've been donating to them for more than 15 years--in fact, it's been since 1983. But I doubt I'm going to increase my donations (which are made automatically every month) any time soon. I've noticed in the fine print on the back of the contribution form that the Center's endowment is up to $175 million dollars. (The last time I looked, maybe two years ago, it was $153 million, I think.) They say that the income from the endowment is insufficient to pay for their current activities, so additional contributions are "crucial." I have no reason to think this isn't true, but if I'm going to increase my donations to any of my favored organizations it's going to be to one that's a little more hard up.

● I went to a birthday dinner party for a friend of my wife's, a former colleague from before my wife retired. Her friend is an evangelical Christian--though certainly not extremely conservative: wine was served, and most of the guests had some. A bit to my surprise (and relief), there was nothing religious at all about the evening, apart from a short grace before the meal delivered by the honoree's minister. But I did notice one small thing I thought extremely telling: the seating arrangement. There were placecards for everyone, and I noticed that no one was seated next to a person of the opposite sex except for one's spouse--which happens to be the exact opposite of the seating at a French dinner party. I guess the evangelicals want to minimize any temptations.

● Someone found my blog Googling "Mary Carillo nude." Now that's a new one.