When I was a tyke growing up in Los Alamos, N.M., I hadn't noticed Jean Shepherd, the guy behind "A Christmas Story," hanging out with my family around Christmastime. I hadn't noticed Shepherd taking notes as my Old Man became ... er, perturbed with the "assembly required" toys.

When Iraqi musician Rahim AlHaj fled to the United States in 2000, a charity organization in Albuquerque, New Mexico, found him a gig.

Philosopher Robert Anton Wilson observed/discovered a truth of humanity that he labeled the "Jumping Jesus Phenomenon."

Of all the many witty aphorisms conjured by Irish writer Oscar Wilde more than 100 years ago, none seems more appropriate to our age of instant media and celebrity culthood than this gem: "The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about."