Like Peanut Butter and Thumb Tacks.

Why is it that when people want to describe two items as incomparable, they insist on using the phrase, ``like apples and oranges.'' I don't get it. Apples and oranges are very easily compared: They're both round fruit, suitable for lunch bag or quick at-home snack. One has a peel, the other doesn't. In my family the kitchen table fruit bowl often holds both apples and oranges, and I frequently ask myself: ``Do I want an apple right now or an orange?''

So I think we should think up better phrases to indicate incomparability. How about:

``Like apple sauce and gout.''

``Like acne medication and electronic fuel injection.''

``Like chocolate ice cream and the quadratic formula.''

Be Happy, It's still Adar.

A little late for Purim this year, but still during the joyous month of Adar, I found the following image on Wikipedia: A photograph taken during a 1934 Purim celebration in Tel Aviv. Featuring a young member of the Yemenite Jewish community, dressed as the Purim Carnival's Queen Esther.

Not Me Too.

OK, so this is a weird little story. When I told it to my teenage sons, they looked at me with a jaw-dropped fascination. I read their expressions as: How could anyone be that stupid?

To begin: In the late 1970's and early 1980's I became a fan of the Boston-based punkish band, Mission of Burma. Their shows were amazing, I thought, and I went to see them every weekend or so for a few years, at various grubby venues in and near Boston. They had this one EP, Signals, Calls, and Marches, which to this day I believe is one of the best rock records ever. I hear Mission of Burma's influence in a lot of what has come since. They produced layered washes of sound, steadily building to transcendent moments. One song led straight to another, and they would often play continuously for the entire set.

I thought their concerts were so great that I would leave immediately after they finished -- so as not to pollute with other sounds my memory of the experience. At this time they were usually the opening act, and so my leaving meant that I'd miss the main show. I started this practice after seeing Mission of Burma one time at the Paradise, opening for a well known Los Angeles punk band. Mission of Burma played brilliantly for about 45 minutes straight, stopped abruptly, leaned their instruments facing against the amplifiers, and walked off the stage in the ensuing feedback. A few minutes into the main act I realized that I had no interest, and so I left.

To get to the point. I happened to be in Albany, NY (that's another story) when Mission of Burma passed through on one of their low budget tours. I saw them in a small rather typical club. I remember Mission of Burma gave a good if not outstanding performance, and I left after they played. Again, they were the opening act.

The main act was this new band from Ireland whose music I had not yet heard. I remember seeing, before I left, this skinny guy with long bleached hair fussing with the equipment.

So I walked out on Bono on U2's first US tour.

The Music of My Youth.

When I was a teenager, growing up north of NYC, there was only one radio station for me: WNEW FM. This is the station on which I first heard music that has stayed with me since. The Who, Dylan, the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers -- a few of the popular rock bands and musicians at the time who, in retrospect, actually reached a reasonable level of artistry and originality. I clearly remember the DJ's, in particular: Jonathon Schwartz (who has since famously moved beyond rock&roll), Scott Muni, and Allison Steele. I remember being home for a visit from college, up late working on a problem set (I think in first semester real analysis), and calling the station. I spoke with Allison Steele, aka the Night Bird, asking her to play ``The Rotters Club'' by the obscure British band Hatfield and the North. She was so cool, with her incredible, smoky voice. And she did play the song. (A quick surf tells me that both Muni and Steele have since passed away.)

Anyway, the WNEW FM I knew in the 1970's and early 1980's dissappeared for a while. But it's back now, and I can listen to it on wnew.com.

Also cool is that I can again listen to the rock station of my late teens and early 20's, Boston's WBCN. Radio on.

A Cool Read.

Just finished The Cold Six Thousand by James Ellroy. The most deliriously insane political thriller ever. To be kept away from conspiracy theorists. Don't talk about Dallas. YOW!

The Worst Post in US History.

I have heard several times now, from ultra-smart Ivy League think-tank types, on radio and TV, that the invasion of Iraq was the worst foreign policy decision in US history. As much as a case can be made that the invasion was a terrible strategic error, and was morally wrong, our great country has made much, much worse foreign policy decisions to date. Just a few examples:

1. The importation to the US of Black African slaves. The US slave trade with Africa ended January 1, 1808, twenty-one years after the adoption of the US constitution. Of course, slavery itself did not end until much later. But until 1808 slavery was at least in part a feature of US foreign policy.

2. The conquest of the American West. People who think that the invasion of Iraq represents the worst of our country's imperialist excess should read (or re-read) Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown. Remember, before the ``West was won,'' the expansion of the original US into new North American territories was entirely within the scope of foreign policy.

3. US involvement in Southeast Asia. Just as all of the violence in Iraq today can be laid at the feet of the US, all (or at least much) of what happened in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam during and soon after our military involvement in these countries can also be blamed on the US.

OK, enough. I know this discussion is ridiculous. But I think some perspective is needed amidst some of the most harshly critical rhetoric on Iraq.

I will leave an analysis of the war in Iraq to future historians. Of course, my personal hope is that the situation in Iraq continues to improve, and that eventually Iraq becomes a model democracy for the Muslim Arab world.

Also, of course, one of my greatest fears for our country and the world is that the situation in Iraq massively deteriorates from its recently achieved relative stability. G-d forbid that our involvement in Iraq ever does rate high on a list of worst mistakes in US history.