First order of business is to wish Seven of Nine well on her sabbatical. Early this morning she WhatsApp'd me to say she'd spent yesterday polishing C-beams in the vicinity of the Tannhäuser Gate. B'Elanna Torres will be stepping in to help keep this place shipshape.
Everyone: Hi, B'Elanna.
Leo Tolstoy: Now the pleasantries have been observed, can I ask if you're the one who installed the "Live, laugh, love" sign in the Billiards Room?
[B'Elanna opens mouth to speak, but Christopher Plummer quickly interjects]
Christopher Plummer: Mea culpa. It was a joke.
Leo Tolstoy:
Billiards isn't
funny.Christopher Plummer: Working with Julie Andrews is like getting hit over the head with a valentine.
Apropos of...?
Christopher Plummer: It's funny ha-ha. Plus Valentine's Day is coming, and I need to send her a card.
Be that as it may, second order of business is to announce the imminent relocation of The Slaughtered Lamb from Highway 61 to Feewheeling, when we all know the latter as a place where bikes are parked. Look at it this way: cyclists inevitably wind up in a pub.
[There's an air of not being especially bothered about what goes where]
[Soldering on] Also, it's likely the new thread
everyone is talking about will be moving north, to give extra exposure* to our entrevistados.
Christopher Plummer: Whatever happened to María?
Von Trapp?Christopher Plummer: No,
20 Preguntas con María.I don't know, señor. But it gives me a chance to play this:
Third bullet point on the agenda is a membershp request by Brian Lehrer.
[Who?]
He's the long-time host of a radio show I used to listen to in NYC. I haven't thought about him in years. He popped up the other day on my WTF radar, which we needn't get into here, but the pertinent info will be added to the minutes.
WTF minutes
The Media Has Gender Derangement Syndrome It was staggering to hear Shermer cheerfully articulate the fact-based arguments we've long given up hope of ever hearing on NPR [National Public Radio]. He just. Kept. Making them, with pleasant but resolute clarity. This was a marvel to behold, and it could only conceivably happen on a live show, but it did! This happened!!
Still more staggering were the remarks of both Lehrer and the indignant callers-in. They clearly lacked every basic, entry-level fact about the risks of medical transition for young people. In 2026! One woman extolled what she believes to be the near perfect success rate of the surgical procedures, adding that all medical treatments should aim for this kind of perfection!! It was simply shocking. I felt delirious afterward, like I was tripping on something.
This is the terminal destination of our rigorously siloed media: educated people honestly convinced they fully grasp a concept around which they've arranged their lives and the lives and bodies of children they love; yet they are wallowing in avant-garde theoretical propaganda which they've mistaken for information.
[B'Elanna opens mouth -]
Leo Tolstoy: Judging by the content of Free For All, I think that's a foregone conclusion.
Christopher Plummer: Are we so in
tolerant we won't consider genderist members?
I see you've found the Rabbit Hole cunningly situated behind Speakers Corner, which is the new name for that board, Leo. Do keep up. To answer your question,
[Fire alarm sounds. Everyone flees in an orderly fashion. It turns out to be a false alarm. Everyone returns except Leo, who uses this opportunity to tear the "Live, laugh, love" sign off the Billiards Room wall]What were we discussing?
[B'Elanna keeps mouth closed]
Christopher Plummer: You were making a joke about Seven of Nine rounding third base.
Was I?
Christopher Plummer: The moment has passed, lost in time.
*Now playing in the club screening lounge:
