The Thinker: Rich Galen
The definition of the word mull.
Mullings by Rich Galen
A Political Cyber-Column By Rich Galen
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Can We Agree It's the End of a Year?
Friday, December 31, 1999

    The next new "Mullings" will be Wednesday. Most of the e-mail servers which were shut down over the weekend will be back on line by Wednesday.

  • Seattle Mayor Paul Schell cancelled the big events for tonight citing, among other things, the events of last month at the World Trade Organization riots. We should remember that Mayor Schell assured us that the demonstrations at the WTO meetings would be a throwback to the peaceful, flower-power days of the 60's. It was more like a flashback to the "don't take the brown acid" days.

  • Maybe we can appoint Seattle to be the center of activities for the REAL millennium celebration - 12 months from now.

  • Two newspapers, the Knoxville News-Sentinel and the Louisville Courier & Press led their editorial pages, Monday, with a reference to last week's Mullings dealing with birthdays divisible by 10. Go to the Secret Decoder Ring page to see the editorials.

  • Speaking of long division, there is rampant, RAMPANT confusion as to whether 2000 will be a Leap Year. Leap years, as we know, occur in every year which is exactly divisible by four - 1996 being the last example. However, years which are sort of at the end of a century (to avoid that argument again) - 1700, 1800, 1900 - are NOT leap years. Unless, guess what? Unless that year is exactly divisible by 400. So, 2000 WILL be a leap year whether it ends the millennium or not. Whew.

  • I finally succumbed to the Y2K hype. I put gas in the SUV, got some cash out of the bank, and went to the store to buy the usual consumables: peanut butter, fat-free bologna, four cans of tuna packed in water. I also bought the necessities of life: Oreos with double stuff, chips and salsa; and, for reasons which now escape me, a quart jar of maraschino cherries.

  • When the world comes to an end tonight, if I can't be in Manhattan, I can put a Manhattan in me.

  • We decided to skip our planned visit to the national Mall for the big celebration in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Instead we are accepting the kind offer of some friends to have dinner at their house and then walk down to the river to watch the fireworks at the Washington Monument from there.

  • This is especially appealing because he happens to be an Admiral, and their house happens to be located at the Washington Navy Yard. If there are going to be guys with guns, I want them to be around me, facing out.

  • The tumor which was excised from Tipper Gore's thyroid gland has been determined to be benign. That is very, very good news.

  • As regular readers know, I have been in some odd places trying to urge democracy on sometimes reluctant audiences in Eastern Europe and Asia over the past decade. So, yesterday I celebrated the more-or-less end of the 20th Century by standing in the intersection of East Capitol Street and First Street, SE. in Washington, DC.

  • At that exact spot, the Library of Congress - the pillar of culture in America - stands on your left. The Supreme Court - the pillar of justice in America - stands on your right. And the Capitol - the pillar of Democracy for the entire planet - stands majestically directly in front of you.

  • There is no better place to pay homage to the gifts we have, all of us, been given. Happy New Year.

    (No Mullings on Monday. Let's see if any pesky Y2K computer viruses actually show up.)

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