What it is ain't exactly clear

All right, I've been out of town, so there are various things I'm not clear about and could use a quick update on. First, what's with these Runaway Bride jokes, and why did the news radio mention somebody selling out of a Runaway Bride action figure/doll?

Next, Wendy's claims to have found the explanation of one of those fingers which turned up in food, the one found in some chili, I believe. They tracked it to a finger lost in an industrial accident in Nevada several months earlier. The news report said Wendy's found the link by someone who called the ``Wendy's Tip Line.'' What does Wendy's have a Tip Line for? Were too many customers in need of help ordering a ``Biggie Frostie'' without giggling?

The USA Weekend Sunday supplement has a sidebar, ``Four Things You Should Know About Randy Quaid.'' I have no objection to learning things about Randy Quaid, as I have no objection to learning things about tangent bundle spaces, or the Byzantine Empire, but I don't feel the imperative. Why is this urgent? (The first Elvis song Randy Quaid remembers is Hound Dog.)

The New York Times Magazine, Architecture Issue, has a cover feature on the historical preservation of Modernism in architecture; as an example they put a white model of a generic Modern public building, if that's not redundant, under a bell jar. Never mind historical preservation of Modern architecture; why does this look like the design for the next Macintosh tower computer?

Trivia: The only science instrument on the Magellan probe was the radar sensor. Source: Magellan: The Unveiling of Venus, JPL 400-345 3/89. I don't see an author or editor.

Currently Reading: Discoveries: The Voyages of Captain Cook, Nicholas Thomas.