Sometimes, it surprises me how nice it can be having an adult conversation with someone who you don’t really know, and only just met.

Hmmmm — a study in this week’s British Medical Journal says that kids with snotty noses have a lower incidence of asthma. The basis is thought to be repeated immune system exposures; it’s another chink in the armor of the modern movement to use tons of antibacterial products around your kids. (New Scientist has a good, short review of the study, with quotes from researchers in the field.)

I had no idea that there aren’t any five-star generals left in the U.S. military. Not that it affects me at all; I just had no idea.

Bill Clinton has what is, in my opinion, a very well-written op-ed piece in today’s New York Times explaining his pardon of Marc Rich. It’s the first piece I’ve read anywhere that puts context to the whole situation, and I’ve got to say, it’s not all that the press has made it out to be.

OK, how cool is it that the sun can just up and flip its magnetic field?

I’ve got to say that I really like Kiehl’s concept of deja vu — the notion that having a feeling like you’ve done something before means that you’re exactly where you should be with your life is very empowering, and a good way to get me to smile.

On Doc Searls’ website, he published an anonymous letter from someone upset with Google’s takeover of the DejaNews Usenet archive; the person writes that Google has “trampled the rights of thousands (millions?) of content contributors who innocently felt safe in not archiving their own contributions, believing that their content would remain publicly available without interruption.” (Emphasis added by me.) Does this person actually believe his or her rhetoric? Was the rest of the world unaware that there, apparently, existed a right to have a free service archive all of the porn, multi-level marketing schemes, and (yes) legitimate advice and problem-solving posts, and pay their employees to do so? Give me a break. Yes, a lot of people are mildly inconvenienced with this transition, but come on — Deja doesn’t seem to have that much life left in it, and all this information could have been lost. People should be thanking Google for coming to the rescue.

(Update: Glenn Fleishman noticed the sour grapes, too, and devoted a lot more column space to exerpts from unbalanced news coverage and analysis of the greater meaning of this.)

Given the fact that yesterday’s XFL ratings dropped another 25%, to a 3.8, it looks like the league isn’t going to be around for very long.