LEAVING THE MATERIAL WORLD: One of the perils of working late nights / early mornings -- is that you're the first to hear the news that everyone else won't get until hours later.

I would have liked to have had three more hours of not knowing.

One of my greatest regrets is that I was born just a little too late to have been a Beatles fan -- my coming-of-age music was Emerson, Lake & Palmer. So, while most will be remembering his music today, I'll just mention that I'm especially grateful to George Harrison for personally financing Monty Python's Life of Brian and Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits -- a couple of all-time faves which I haven't re-watched nearly often enough lately.

What a shame that this is what finally pushes Afghanistan "below the fold," even if only for a day or two.