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Mouth-Drying Imagery

An advertising consultant tells The Wall Street Journal that the death of Wendy's founder, Dave Thomas, could have negative repercussions: "It may prove that any reminder of a man that recently passed away is not exactly an appetite-builder."

Are They Recession-Proof?

From the franchising section of The Wall Street Journal: "Bail Bond Franchises Available Now." Ownership benefits include substantial return on investment, exclusive territories, and innovative marketing strategies.

Were We Reading the Same Book, Louis?

Louis Menand, writing in The New York Review of Books, about the film adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring: "I don't remember The Lord of the Rings as a loud or violent book. I remember it as an eleven-year-old's Proust."

What They Don't Teach at Med School

A hospital regulatory agency, alarmed at the increasing number of doctors operating on the wrong body parts of patients, offers this solution: "Such errors are preventable with measures as simple as using a marker to scrawl messages like `Operate Here' on the patient's body."

File Under "Hmmm"

Ronald Reagan in a recent Forbes ASAP reprint from a 1980 speech, prior to his Administration's decision to ship arms to Iran: "For a nation such as ours, arms are important only to prevent others from conquering us or our allies."

Can't Wait for the Appeal

Evelyn Djoumessi was sentenced to do her own housework for three years by an Oakland County, Michigan, judge for having kept a teenage African as an unpaid servant and nanny. The sentence infuriated prosecutor Cheryl Matthews, who was seeking two years' prison time for Djoumessi: "It's not a sentence. It's a choice. What kind of message does that send about child abuse?"

Conserving Compassion

Rudolph Giuliani tells New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd his thoughts on John Walker, whom President Bush has referred to as "poor soul": "I could feel sorry for someone and still string 'em up."

Now You Tell Us

In a recent interview in Esquire, Edward Teller says he has one regret about his work on the atomic bomb: "We should have dropped the bombs not on Hiroshima but in Tokyo Bay. Ten million Japanese people would have seen the blast, and nobody would have been hurt."

We Hope There's No Video

"They felt me up and down like a prize steer," Representative John Dingell, Democrat of Michigan, told the Associated Press. Dingell was asked to strip down to his undies and socks by security personnel at Washington's Reagan National Airport after his steel hip and implanted ankle pins set off alarms.

Whose Law Is He Upholding?

A wire service report quotes Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore at a Chattanooga rally in support of displaying the Ten Commandments in public buildings: "For forty years, we have wandered in the wilderness like the children of Israel."

A House Unsettled

For the second time in seven years, the city of Sacramento has moved the historic Llewellyn Williams mansion to its original location--back across the street--for a mere $4.5 million. The house was moved in 1994 to make way for a development project that eventually fell apart. The Sacramento Bee says city officials hope this is the last time the building needs to be moved.

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