Charles Goodyear would be 201 years old today! "Natural or India rubber, as it was then known, was of limited usefulness to industry. Rubber products melted in hot weather, froze and cracked in cold, and adhered to virtually everything until the day in the mid-19th century when inventor Charles Goodyear accidentally dropped some rubber mixed with sulfur on a hot stove. Goodyear's discovery of what came to be known as vulcanization strengthened rubber so it could be applied to a vast variety of industrial uses, including, eventually, automobile tires." Happy birthday Charles, so much is riding on your tires!

In related news, John Westhoff, (who has not contributed a lick to the advancement of the american rubber industry), was born on Goodyear's birthday back in 1971 (that makes him thirty today).

The Truth Beyond Memory: Tolkien’s Conservatism. By John J. Miller, NR national political reporter, from the December 31, 2001, issue of National Review. "The proclamation of any novel as the greatest of the 20th century is as much a burden as an accolade; it sets up the book for all kinds of sniping, lots of it undeserved. Yet it is impossible to deny the extraordinary fondness millions of ordinary readers have shown for The Lord of the Rings over the last five decades, and very difficult to disagree with the simple judgment of W. H. Auden: 'If someone dislikes it, I shall never trust their literary judgment about anything again.'"

In the Shadow of Perfection: The new Lord of the Rings movie. By Jonah Goldberg, NRO editor. "Yes. Yes, it's cool. Yes, it's as loyal to the book as a movie can be. Yes, it's loyal to the Tolkien spirit. Yes, the Orcs are awesome. Yes, I will be seeing it again. And, yes, it's cool. Or did I say that already?"

CNN.com - Globes The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring receives 4 Golden Globe Nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director.

I saw Fellowship of the Ring today with Rachel. Awesome. I would have done the casting/costuming of Elrond differently, and the Rivendell/Lothlorien sets were a little campy, but that's just being picky. It was terrific.

For those of you that may not already have heard, we recently got word that I have been selected for Emergency Medicine Residency at Madigan Army Medical Center/University of Washington starting July 1, 2002. We'll be moving from Arkansas probably a month before then. Not sure where exactly we'll be living, but somewhere near Tacoma.

The film "The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring" opened in the UK this past weekend and the major British papers have exceedingly favorable reviews. Don't read them if you don't want to pre-judge the movie. BBC, Guardian, Telegraph, Official Site.

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Christmas Devotional 2001 First Presidency Christmas Devotional Internet Broadcast Held: Sunday, 2 December 2001