While I was away

Nothing happened, right?

Well, other than:

1. Jeff Goldstein "live-blogging" the launch of the festivities for Pajamas Media (a/k/a Open Source Media) in New York -- from Denver. Here's the start:

My cab pulled up outside the W a little before 9 PM New York time, and after checking in and dropping my suitcase on the bed, I immediately made my way to the hotel bar, where I found Tim Blair, Roger Simon, and Ed Driscoll bunched around a small table near the restrooms. Ed and Roger were nursing Gibsons, while Tim (who at 5’1” is much shorter than I thought he’d be) was drinking what looked to be IPA out of a pilsner glass inscribed with the legend, “Bloggers Do It In Their Pajamas."

Anyone who's spent any time at Protein Wisdom would have understood that Jeff was being, well, Jeff. It's an amusing read.

Not, however, some guy named Daniel Rubin from the Philadelphia Inquirer, who at first thought Jeff was really there. He later issued a correction after this amusing exchange in the comments:

Any bets on Dan's response when he figures out that Jeff @ Protein Wisdom was writing a 'fake, but accurate' version of events from his compound in Denver, Colorado.

Which is to say - Jeff isn't in NYC at the moment.

Will Dan issue a clarification?

A correction?

Respond with hearty blog-based good cheer and say 'Well, ya got me' or issue a claim that he knew it was fake (but meshably accurate) all along.

Time will tell.

.

Posted by: Credulity Nov 16, 2005 10:42:35 AM

bite me.

Posted by: Daniel Rubin Nov 16, 2005 10:47:38 AM

I'm not even going to discuss the whole Ann Althouse thing, which isn't nearly as funny.

2. The New York Times running a piece entitled "Sex Ed for the Stroller Set" about teaching toddlers about sex. Here's the lead paragraph:

THIS September 3-year-old Halley Vollmar of Bellmore, N.Y., was having her annual checkup when her pediatrician paused. "I'm going to check your peepee now," he warned, and tugged down her underwear. But Halley protested. "Mommy, why he call my vagina a peepee?" she scolded, telling the startled physician he was a "silly doctor" before allowing him to proceed.

Letters to the editor are here, at least until the link expires.

There's a lot to be said for truthful answers to kids' questions, and I always tried to give them, but the answers need to be age-appropriate. Sometimes minimal information can do the trick.

The Times article reminds me of the old joke about the 5-year-old kid who asks his mother, "Where did I come from?" His mother panics, then decides she's got to give him a truthful response. So she explains the birds and the bees, with all the technically correct terminology. After about five minutes, she breathes deeply and sighs. Her son looks at her and says, "Johnny says he came from Chicago."