Lileks reminds me of something that is probably a truism for you deep thinkers, but I've also been thinking recently that it's pretty hard to be serious these days without somebody sniggering at you. I notice a lot of people like to laugh at the other guy. But when someone jokes about something important to them, their reaction is laugh at that? Is nothing sacred? Speaking of which, I liked this National Lampoon cover, too. Didn't buy the magazine, though. And the next month, reading it on the newstand, I read that they had to kill the dog. There was another cover with a 50's housewife, a baby, and a (live) dog on a platter with an apple in its mouth that the mother was preparing to put in the oven; the accompanying quote, attributed to William Randolph Hearst, said something like "Show me a magazine with a woman, a dog, or a baby on the cover, and I'll show you a magazine that sells."