I supposed that it’s unusual to name as a forgotten book one that was listed in the top ten novels in English in the 20th century, but I have to wonder how widely Arthur Koestler’s Darkness at Noon is read today.

This novel tells the story of Rubashov, a communist since his early youth, a hero of the Russian Revolution, and later a prominent envoy (frequently undercover) to other European countries. As the book opens he’s awakened by hammering at his apartment door. Even before he answers there’s little question in his mind as to the reason: he’s being arrested.

The first section of the novel details the time spent pacing in his cell, his interactions with the other prisoners – mostly limited to tapping on code on the pipes running through the walls – and, most importantly, his reminiscinces of the things he’s done for the Communist cause.

At first his case is investigated by Ivanov, an old acquaintance, but soon he’s replaced and the implacable Gletkin begins his interrogation. Rubashov is kept awake and staring into a lamp for hours as Gletkin takes tiny nuggest of fact and builds them up through inference and supposition into plots against Number 1, the supreme ruler (neither Stalin nor Russia are ever identified by name). Though he knows it’s useless, Rubashov resists, denying Gletkin’s chains of logic.

Rubashov realizes the central mistakes of Communism: the insistence on correct thoughts, and the use of only one sanction, death. Dissent is not just opposition to the political program of the state, but mere differences of opinion. The head of the navy, Rubashov’s former friend, is executed because he advocated for large submarines with a long range, implying an aggressive foreign policy. With the country in a weakened state, the official line is for smaller, defensive submarines. But the Navy man won’t give up his ideas and is killed for them.

In an quote before the last sections of the book, Koestler makes his main point clear:

Show us not the aim without the way.
For ends and means on earth are so entangled
That changing one, you change the other too;
Each different path brings other ends in view.

Darkness At Noon is important in the way it documents the patterns of thought that led to Stalinism, written by someone who knew, as Koestler, a Hungarian, had himself been a committed Communist until the Soviets began holding show trials for his friends. And one final note: for a great book, this doesn’t ask of the reader the effort that most Great Literature requires. It’s an easy read, though you’ll be thinking about it long after you close the cover.

…I’ve learned that Weiner and wiener are not spelled the same.

Last year a friend of ours moved down to Houston. He wasn’t able to take all of his stuff with him at the time, so we graciously agreed to store… his hi-def LCD television. It was a wrenching decision, let me tell you.

At that time we only had one HDTV, a 32-inch model we kept in the upstairs room. The new one was larger, and we put it in our living room downstairs, which was instantly transformed into the most popular room in the house. Back in December I even gave myself a birthday gift of a new Blu-Ray player.

Well, last Saturday, our friend returned. And the TV departed.

After moving through the Seven Stages of Grief, we went shopping for a new one at Costco. They have a 90-day no questions asked return policy and a complimentary two year warranty, plus their prices are pretty good. After staring glassy-eyed at a ginormous Sony, we shook ourselves awake and checked out some models more in our price range, eventually settling on a 47-inch Vizio, which was surprisingly affordable (it only cost twice what a 32-inch tube TV cost ten years ago).

After struggling to cram it into the back seat of my wife’s 4Runner, and again to get it out at home, I made a pleasant discovery: this TV was noticeably larger than the late lamented one, which must have been 40- or 42-inches, large enough in fact that I didn’t feel like I was watching TV through a window, as I sometimes did before. The picture is just outstanding, too, very bright and clear. I watched part of The Adventures of Robin Hood from 1938 on Turner Classic Movies’ HD channel, and it just leaped off the screen.

Sports look great too, as I discovered much to my chagrin. Sunday morning I had the “pleasure” of watching Rafael Nadal dismiss my man Roger Federer in four sets to claim his sixth French Open on the gloriously rendered red clay. Less than twelve hours later I watched as the Dallas Mavericks, in their vibrant blue uniforms, came up juuuuust short against the Miami Heat.

So, a mixed blessing, but on the balance I’m pretty happy with it.

On a Thursday back in 2006, Private Channing Moss was manning the gun on his unit’s Humvee in Afghanistan when they were ambushed. In the midst of the battle, a rocket-propelled grenade was fired into the vehicle, striking Moss.

He should have died instantly, but he didn’t. The grenade didn’t go off. Instead it lodged in his body.

His commanding officer called for a medevac helicopter, leaving out the unfortunate fact that Moss could blow up and kill everyone around him at any time. The helicopter crew found out when they arrived; Army policy forbids carrying a wounded man with ordnance in his body.

They took him anyway.

There’s an Army protocol for surgery involving unexploded ordance; had the doctors at the aid station followed it, Moss would have bled to death. Instead of isolating him and operating on the other wounded soldiers first, they ordered all nonessential personnel out of the building and started in without delay.

You can guess the rest. They saved Moss, who was still gravely wounded but out of danger. After several months of recovery and rehabilitation he was able to walk to receive his Purple Heart.

Yeah, they did the same thing once on an episode of M*A*S*H, and later on Grey’s Anatomy, but I’m a sucker for stories like this. To save Private Moss, a lot of people risked their lives when they didn’t have to. But I guess that’s what they do.

When the playoffs started, I didn’t hold out much hope for the Dallas Mavericks. In fact I thought it was probably 50-50 that they would be beaten by the overachieving Trailblazers. The Mavs persevered in that series, and then surprised pretty much everyone by absolutely destroying the Lakers. Add in a convincing series against the Oklahoma City Thunder (sure, lots of people picked a Dallas-OKC west final) and they’re back to the main stage.

The main reason is Dirk Nowitzky. He is shooting the ball from all over the court as well as anyone I have ever seen, though I missed out on Larry Bird’s prime. He is absolutely unguardable right now. The Miami Heat will be forced to get the ball out of his hands and make Dallas’ role players win the game.

Ah, the Miami Heat, Dallas’ opponent back in 2006, now the Three Amigos. Like Dallas, they had mixed results in the regular season, and they have also turned it up in the playoffs, and with the return of Udonis Haslem – an excellent role player – they may have someone who can slow down Dirk.

Hopefully this time Dallas won’t have contend with the refs as well. Yeah, yeah, the Mavs choked away their lead in Game 3, and Miami plainly won games 5 and 6 – but the refs handed Game 4 to the Heat. Still bitter? Yes I am! I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but the free throw disparity in that game was ridiculous, and on the deciding play – the Dwayne Wade drive that ended up with the game-winning free throws – the foul was called not by the two referees at the Miami basket, but by Bennett Salvator at half court. And in spite of the fact that there was no replay that showed Wade being gently caressed, much less fouled.

Well, now Dallas has another chance. If Dirk can keep up his level of play, if the role players can make their shots and prevent a few on the other end, and if the refs can lose the desire to stick it to Marc Cuban… then we might have a series worth remembering.