They don't come in dribbles or drabs

That's just good timing. Deep Space Nine runs on ... one of the channels in the 300's, right after The Price is Right (two people got $1.00 on the Showcase Showdown today); today's was ``Trials and Tribble-ations,'' the marvelously self-indulgent, original-series-referential and gleefully silly crossover episode with ``The Trouble with Tribbles.'' If you are stuck home without a car and with writing to finish, it helps to get a nice little present like that.

I notice also in the Hanna-Barbera Richie Rich cartoon -- which, way back when, I hated, because I felt it an unfaithful adaptation of the comic books, which I collected (and still keep) -- two plots (of four) in two days involving bad guys (space aliens and a hobbyist) using a shrink ray to collect, respectively, cities and interesting types of people. Shrink ray abuse was rampant in 1980; it's no wonder cartoons reflected that reality. I remember thinking it was weird back then the aliens could ``shrink the transportation network'' of Washington, DC, and it's no less strange now.

You'd also think a mad collector would take more than one Rich per raid on the Rich Estate to minimize risk. But even in the comic books Estate Security was always startlingly lax. The Tea Set Gang was better once they mobilized, and could count on most crooks getting lost in the mansion or grounds and surrendering in exchange for food and water.

Oh, and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood is out on DVD. The ones I picked up came with a toy Speedy Delivery truck and a Neighborhood Trolley. This should have me insufferably happy for weeks, though I bet they don't include any of the episodes where the title was MisteRogers' Neighborhood, which were the best.

Trivia: The first poetry to appear in Mad Magazine was written by Ernie Kovacs. Source: Completely Mad, Maria Reidelbach.

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