The Prime Minister of Italy was hit with a camera tripod today. Both camera attachment and world leader were reportedly ok.

With cheap laser pointers available at the local drugstore counter (not to mention online), a lot of kids try pointing them at helicopters. Sometimes they get in a little trouble, too.

But since Christmas, there have been at least seven incidents of a serious, powerful, high-tech laser being aimed at airliners -- something your average inebriated teenager on Winter Break would be hard-pressed to do.

The FBI warned earlier about a possible terrorist attack just like this, and is investigating now.

Score one for maintaining the decentralized Internet and keeping your privacy: Microsoft Passport is dead.

As concern grows among comfortable spies, nostalgic ex-spooks, and outsiders who usually don't care, Porter Goss continues to clean house.

Mr. Goss has the spine to try and mold the CIA into the one thing that may save us from future 9/11's: an intelligence agency that actually knows what our enemies are thinking.

Quite frankly, that's a goal not viewed favorably by everyone -- particularly cult-leftists who now throw molotov cocktails at 'the establishment' from the safety of their press rooms. After all, didn't the late Susan Sontag explain that 9/11 was caused by that arm of US hegemony, the CIA, oppressing poor Mr. bin Laden?

Incidentally, now would be a good time to become a spy! Sign up here.

Death has become a prevalent theme of late, has it not?

Here's someone we'll truly miss. Broadway star, Law & Order anchor, and Pax TV staple Jerry Orbach has died of prostate cancer, which he announced he had earlier this month.

Everybody knows his craggy, seen-it-all face from Law & Order, but did you know he was the voice of Lumiere the candlestick in Disney's Beauty and the Beast? Mai, oui!

See his vast list of credits here.

The military's rule for the press has always been you do not expose the identities of Special Forces members in your stories. But earlier this month the AP published scores of photos of Navy Seals in action -- some with names -- that they found on a supposedly private internet site (you'll notice Gnomon is not linking to that story...).

The pictures may or may not have shown the Special-Ops soldiers roughing up prisoners, you see.

Now, the press group is being sued in San Diego Superior Court by six very angry Navy Seals and two of their wives for jeopardizing their lives and lying about their actions.

Go get 'em, ladies and gents!

Over 55,000 human beings, it's now thought, were killed by Sunday's apocalyptic sumatran tsunami. Southeast Asia's losses are dominating the news, but it should not be forgot that the pitiless wall of water engulfed east Africa as well.

Meanwhile, as US aid donations began at $15 million and soared from there, whinypants UN officials who apparently did not get their naps complained the nation that has given more aid to more people than any other in history was being "stingy."

We thought an asteroid was going to hit us (in 2029), but we were wrong. Sorry about that.

In the interest of noticing things like that, we record the passing, due to cancer, in New York, of writer Susan Sontag.

Don't get us wrong: Gnomon feels a great deal of compassion for anyone dying of cancer.

And she was pretty big among the intellectual classes, we admit.

But despite the view of some that Ms. Sontag was "one of the most powerful intellects of her generation," we will register here our opinion that in 50 years she will be a footnote to a footnote -- the footnote she is appended to being the transitory historical aberration currently seen in fashionable circles as "liberalism" and "progress."

Mr. Bin Laden, his finger on the pulse of the world from the depths of his cave, no doubt, continues to dispense political advice.

It never hurts to try and blow up the opposition, either.

Yow! Didn't we just have a huge quake in this quadrant of the globe? That one fortunately didn't hurt anybody, but now an even bigger one (tied with a 1952 quake as the fourth largest in the past 100 years!) has struck off Sumatra.

Killer tsunamis raged throughout the Bay of Bengal, leaving over 23,000 bodies strewn from Sri Lanka to Thailand -- and counting.

You can help by donating here or here, among other worthy sites.

Gnomon wishes all our readers a blessed Christmastide, and Jesus Christ a very happy birthday.

In the first of a long, sinuous string of things that have to go right for this to work, the Huygens part of the Cassini-Huygens Saturn probe detached successfully tonight.

20 days from now, on January 14th, the flying saucer-shaped intruder will parachute onto the surface of Titan, the orange, methane-shrouded Saturnian moon.

What happens after that is anyone's guess. Titan is thought by some scientists to be covered in oceans of liquid methane, so the brave little probe may just sink beneath the waves.

In point of fact, Huygens really has no landing gear to speak of, so getting any data from the surface at all is dicey. It's more suited to sample the air up there. The dauntless machine comes equipped with plenty of sensors and cameras though, so assuming its frozen parachutes open, we should learn quite alot about one of our solar system's most interesting destinations.

Oil executives and redneck women frolicked exuberantly this afternoon as snow fell in Houston, Texas, world headquarters for The Gnomon.

Houston Police received reports that pigs were flying gleefully through the icy skies as well -- but this could not be confirmed.

The late, unaccountably lamented Yasser Arafat had a thing for bowling alleys, it has been discovered, investing in several -- including one in Maryland that caters to bar mitzvahs.

The mind-boggling irony appears to be lost on outraged patrons.

The world's largest earthquake since 2001 split the ocean bottom between Tasmania and Antarctica yesterday. At an 8.1 magnitude, it would have reduced a city to rubble, but as it was only tubeworms and penguins were threatened.

We are relieved to hear the penguins made it through unscathed (as did antarctic scientists). No word on the worms.

Of course, to NPR and Pacifica Radio, the only real obstacle to middle eastern peace is the malevolent Israelis. But we would suggest that the "Reform? We don't need no stinkin' reform!" response by some Palestinian leaders (not the commendable Mr. Abbas, however) to british Prime Minister Blair's peace conference overture could be a factor as well.

So should you stop taking your Aleve now that suspicion it causes strokes fills the air? Hard to say, almost as hard as what to take in its place. But, USA Today has a good Q-and-A about it.

Personally, we go for stretching exercises and a warm shower... augmented by the occasional Ibuprofen.

Using the new GALEX ultraviolet space telescope, astronomers were recently stunned to find that galaxies were formed in our neighborhood a mere 2 to 4 billion years ago. Most galaxies are thought to have come into existence 10 or more billion years in the past.

One scientist compares it to looking out your window and seeing a dinosaur walk by -- that's how much this flies in the face of cosmological orthodoxy.

According to this survey, 73% of physicians believe in miracles. The Pope says he needs them more than ever these days.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who bears a striking resemblence to Dobby the House Elf, has promised to respect the Ukrainian election results no matter who wins.

Meanwhile, the 6th Harry Potter book is due July 16th.

Speaking of which (the "Person of the Year," that is), are you aware that reporters on President Bush's plane on election night were convinced he would loose? According to Newsweek they just couldn't find any calculus by which he could win.

How about all the polls, guys and gals??? Between the Republican Convention and the election, with perhaps 5 or 6 isolated, flukey exceptions, they ALL showed Mr. Bush in the lead -- or at worst tied -- with Senator Kerry.

We figured it out, for Pete's sake! Why couldn't the professional White House press corps???

Need we say more?

For a larger version, click on the picture.

The latest way to live long: sit down everyday to a meal of wine, fish (well, every other day for the fish), dark chocolate, fruits, vegetables, almonds, and garlic.

When people ask you what you're doing, tell them you're eating a Polymeal. They'll think you're cool and sexy.

"I like to confront problems," George W. Bush stated matter-of-factly as his White House Economic Conference ended yesterday.

And he's chosen to confront pretty much all of them: Our insolvent Social Security system, the byzantine tax code, the metastasizing deficit, unaffordable healthcare and medicare, not to mention terrorism, rogue states, and revamping national defense.

In another era -- or with a media posessed of more historical perspective -- Mr. Bush would be characterized as a "dynamic, young President" who is "boldly confronting the major issues of the day with vigor and imagination."

Of course, one's "dynasty" must be named "Kennedy" or "Roosevelt" to get that kind of press.

US policy on Global Positioning System technology (which, lest anyone forget, we invented specifically for the military), has just been updated for the first time in eight years.

We're reassuring manufacturers throughout the world that we're committed to developing it, promoting it, and making sure it's always available.

Except when it's not. Because the other, classified, part of the policy is that the President can turn it off in an emergency to confuse our enemies.

Pssst... Bachelors and bachelorettes... Marriage makes you healthy!

The new terrorist weapon of choice (in Europe, at least): the deadly croissant.

Meanwhile, Mr. bin Laden has turned up again. Finding his sage political advice during the American elections was not heeded, he has returned to influencing Saudi politics.

Afghanistan President Karzai says Osama lives nearby -- possibly working in a croissant factory on the Afghan/Pakistan border.

During last night's test launch of a test missile from the Missile Defense test program, a telemetry test detected an "unknown anomaly."

The test rocket automatically shut down so technicians could test it and discover why it did not complete its test. This will help future tests to be more successful. It is a test, after all.

Reuters chuckled knowingly.

If you were planning to spend Christmas in Indonesia (and who isn't?!), Australia and New Zealand advise against it.

It's those bloody terrorists again.

One of the funniest things Gnomon has read lately is the outraged press coverage of President Bush's Medal of Freedom awards yesterday. He bestowed them on three men who played a major part in his Iraq policy, you see.

Former CIA Director George Tenet, Major Tommy Franks, and Iraq Interim Administrator Paul Bremer had barely donned their medals before the Sydney Morning Herald proclaimed "Bush Honours Three Who Failed!"

"That's right," fellow Aussie paper The Age agreed. These are actually "Shining Medals for Tarnished War Architects."

Newsday proclaimed that, far from being "three men [who] symbolize the nobility of public service" as Mr. Bush declared, Tenet, Franks, and Bremer were actually three Dickensesque ghosts that dolorously haunt the President.

The New York Times was admirably restrained, but couldn't help quoting a Rhode Island Senator who grumbled that President Bush was "still trying to put a good face on serious mistakes." Or comparing this ceremony to LBJ giving the medal to his Viet-Nam War architects.

Denver's Rocky Mountain News could understand honoring Tommy Franks and Paul Bremer -- but Tenet????

This last view is perhaps closest to our own: Mr. Tenet (and the entire intelligence community) could have served the President better. Yet he and they did no worse than the rest of the world's intelligence services -- not to mention much of the media.

We also agree that post-war planning could have been much better. Our own "catastrophic success" (to use the President's colorful term) is partly to blame for that, not to mention uncooperative allies like Turkey who could have done a lot to get troops where they were needed, but didn't.

But all three men have a long record of serving America admirably, sometimes at great risk to themselves. Presidents can grant the Medal of Freedom to whomever they choose, and they do -- with great abandon. These men deserve it far more than some, and the entertaining apoplexy their awards generated in some media quarters is worth the price of admission.

He's one of the two main contenders in the public mind to go toe-to-toe with Ms. Clinton for President in 2008. He's also one of the most worshipped Republicans, especially in New York.

So it makes sense that certain New York media giants might see the recent imbroglio involving Rudy Giuliani's flawed recommendation for Homeland Security Chief as a chance to shoot a few darts into the gaps in the armor of America's Mayor...

You've got to start somewhere.

Take a lawn chair out to an open field tonight between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. (in North America), lean back, and enjoy what astronomers are billing as the best meteor shower of the year -- the Geminids.

Unlike most meteor showers, the Geminids are thought to bombard us with rocks, making for a much better show. Other meteor showers are just swarms of dust motes and methane ice left over from the tails of old comets. Geminid's are the spawn of an asteroid named 3200 Phaethon -- not something we need to send Bruce Willis out to stop, but spectacular just the same.

And tonight, the moon is dim enough that its light won't drown out the view.

John Young, 74, "King of the Astronauts" is retiring. This is a man who's rookie space voyage was on the first manned Gemini mission in 1965, a man who's been to the moon twice, a man who commanded the first Space Shuttle.

He's also the man who smuggled a corned beef sandwich on board his ship back when all the space food was strictly confined to toothpaste tubes. He's the man who's Apollo 10 Lunar Module spiraled out of control 10 miles above the moon, before he and Tom Stafford regained control. And this is the man who careened at top speed through the gray moon dirt in his lunar rover, spraying rooster tails of dust as he passed by.

This is a legend.

It turns out the soldier's question was planted by an imbedded reporter. Not that that makes it any less valid a question, it just makes it less of a mutiny.

Just meditating here, but if the question had led to a positive story about the war, and then it came out the soldier who asked it was prompted... wouldn't the New York Times say the story had been "discredited?"

Is there a mind-bogglingly expensive, ultra-secret spy satellite system that can destroy potential attackers?? Well, we don't know (or do we?).

But Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller is dropping outraged hints like crazy that something like that is in the new 9/11 intelligence overhaul -- and it's been around since at least 2002.

He can't go further without committing blatant treason. But with enough clues, spy junkies can pretty much guess what it is.

With lack of Humvee armor at the top of the news (and yes, that is serious), it may be well to note that thanks to Kevlar and quickly deployed, awesomely talented surgeons, soldiers are now surviving war wounds by a 9 to 1 ratio.

That's more than in any other war, ever.

How much play will a 90% survival rate get in the press?

Think about spending Christmas in Iraq.

That wasn't terribly pleasant, was it?

Now think about how much you'd like to know someone is thinking of you at this time of year.

If you mail a care package to Iraq by December 11th, the Post Office can get it there in time for Christmas. But there are scores of other ways you can help the real freedom-fighters -- even if you don't know one (or their unit) personally. The venerable Stars and Stripes lists most of them here.

"But what would they like," you ask? Get some ideas from this article.

Advocates of decriminalized marijuana love to paint word-pictures of what a warm, fuzzy, utterly benign drug it is -- especially by comparing it to the evils of demon alcohol.

On the other hand, there is good and growing evidence that cannabis use can trigger psychosis. This Dutch study, for instance.

Does anyone else find it ironic that the United States government itself has to go buy drugs in a another country?

Secretary Rumsfeld's townhall meeting yesterday with troops in Iraq has been portrayed by the scandal-hungry media as a virtual mutiny, and his comments unfeeling.

A radio report monitored by the Gnomon this morning quoted Mr. Rumsfeld as responding to a soldier's plea for Humvee armor with this Scrooge-like statement:

"You go to war with the armor you have, not the armor you might want or wish to have."

Here's a more accurate AP report (despite the red-meat headline).


UPDATE: It turns out the soldier's question was planted by an imbedded reporter. Not that that makes it any less valid a question... it just makes it less of a mutiny.

If you like the opensource Firefox browser (and you should, because it's the wave of the future), you'll also enjoy the new opensource Thunderbird email client, from the same folks. Get it here.

The founder of Amway died yesterday, leaving a raft of disappointed aspiring millionaires in his wake.

With typical bureaucratic heavy-handed overreaction, the British government has responded to the possibility of anti-muslim feelings with a proposed new regulation outlawing "incitement to religious hatred."

This has brought on the wrath of Mr. Bean, who says he's made a career out of deriding religion and will not have it stop now.

This just in: President Bush won the election!

The Christian Science Monitor reports that, despite all the horrified post-election talk among Senator Kerry's supporters of fleeing to the progressive Canadian paradise, almost nobody's really going.

Tell the Monitor if you've thought about immigrating to our friendly neighbor to the north, here!

The future is here again. Scientists in New York successfully tested a helmet that picks up brainwaves, enabling people to move a computer cursor with their thoughts alone. Something like that was accomplished a few years ago, but only through the unappetizing expedient of implanting electrodes in your brain.

Controling machines with your mind is not just really cool, it's the road ahead for disabled people to live an independent life. More sophisticated sensors will eventually make it possible to turn home appliances on and off at will or surf the 'Net.

Beyond that, one can envision a mentally operated exo-skeleton to give the paralyzed near-normal mobility. Or think of actuators controlled by brainwaves rather than nerve impulses, implanted in all the inoperable areas of the body, giving an accident victim the ability to walk again.

Spending some of that political capital he talked about, President Bush now has the House Republicans lined up to give him a workable intelligence overhaul bill.

"We are safer, but we are not yet safe."

Two more missile defense installations will go online this month at Vandenberg Air Base in California, joining the six already installed in Alaska.

Nobody talks about it much, but this program -- thrown into overdrive at the beginning of President Bush's first term -- is quite obviously intended to stop missiles from North Korea. Which might indicate he considers that more of a threat than is generally depicted in our easily distracted press.

According to the latest science, the smartest people are unathletic types who don't wash their hair.