Today is the centennial of John Steinbeck's birth. Born in Salinas, California, on Febuary 27, 1902, Steinbeck went on to write some of the greatest American novels of the twentieth century:

The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, The Red Pony, Cannery Row, The Pearl, Of Mice And Men (my favorite), and many more.

Both Salinas, where he was born, and Monterey, where he lived, turned their backs on Steinbeck while he was living. His books gave honest portrayals of the sometimes less-than-honest ways people lived in those particular towns, and the people he wrote about were not too happy about it.

Since then, they've each managed to learn how to show a bit of pride where Steinbeck is concerned (and where money is to be made). Monterey's Cannery Row is a virtual Steinbeck Theme Park, these days - the irony of which would have both made Steinbeck ill, and amused him to no end, I'm sure.

Raise a glass tonight, and join me in a toast to a great American, and a great writer: Wherever people are drinking tonight, he'll be there.

More info: Steinbeck Centennial Celebration (official site) - Steinbeck fresh at 100 - San Jose Mercury News

Amidst all the latest rounds of violence in Israel & Palestine, there's actually a new stab at peace that may be supported by both sides, and it comes from a most seemingly unlikely source: Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi plan has the usual land-for-peace provisions (Israel's land in exchange for Palestinian's peace), but also adds a vitally important element that's been missing for 55 years: Broad Arab recognition of Israel's legitimacy as a state.

The land asked for is more than Israel's been traditionally willing to discuss (back to pre-1967 borders), but many within Israel are thinking it may be worth it.

Arafat, of course, is delighted with the plan. Cynics will say that the Saudi's are doing this as a PR move to regain the good graces of the US after 9/11 (many of the hijackers were Saudi nationals, even if they were "working for Al Quida"), but so what? If they want to do something nice to apologize, that's okay with me.

Will this pan out? Could it work? Nobody knows, but it will be very interesting to see - and we can all hope.

Israeli Defense Chief Hails Saudi Plan - Yahoo! News

Visit www.loc.gov/copyright/faq.html - which is titled "QUESTIONS FREQUENTLY ASKED IN THE COPYRIGHT OFFICE PUBLIC INFORMATION SECTION"

Scroll down to #58:
"How do I protect my sighting of Elvis?

"Copyright law does not protect sightings. However, copyright law will protect your photo (or other depiction) of your sighting of Elvis. Just send it to us with a form VA application and the $30 filing fee. No one can lawfully use your photo of your sighting, although someone else may file his own photo of his sighting. Copyright law protects the original photograph, not the subject of the photograph."

Does this question really come up as frequently as "How do I put a copyright notice on my work" or are they just yanking our chain here? And I have I just committed a major violation of copyright law by posting that question here, or is covered under fair use?

We just got back from a three-day mini-vacation in Napa. We love to go up there, but it's been too long since we've had the time to do it.

This came about because of a contest I won back in December. I'm on the mailing list of a local PR firm called "Marketing Maniacs" and in their December newsletter it said, "click onto our website and enter to win a weekend for two in Napa." I clicked, a couple of weeks later they called to tell me I won. Not too bad, eh?

The prize package included two nights at the Yountville Inn (value, over $200/night) and a hot air balloon ride for two (value, over $350). So, not only did we have a nice weekend in Napa, we did it in high style.

Wineries visited: Turnbull, Folie a Deux (one of our favorites for Zins), Dutch Henry, Wermouth (we actually don't like Wermouth's wine, but we had to go visit with Ralph Wermouth, who's the coolest, funniest, bad wine makers around), Rombauer, Prager (another favorite, for Ports), Sutter Home, and Hakusan Sake.

Restaurants: Mustard's Grill (California cuisine), Bouchon (French), Gordon's Market (lunch cafe), and (on the way home, in Vallejo) Earl's Texas BBQ.

Highlight: The balloon ride was incredible. Leslie was nervous at first, and almost chickened out of going at a couple of points, but once we were up in the air she quickly loosened up and we both loved it. The weather was perfect, and the visibility was great. We could see all the way up the Napa Valley, up past Calistoga, into Sonoma, and southward to the tip of the San Francisco bay. The flight was smooth and easy. Definitely a great experience.

Other Big Activity: Hanging out in the pool and hot tub at the hotel.

We're tired now, so I'm just going to turn on the closing of the Olympics. Just wanted to get all this down before I forgot.

It's 1980 all over again. Yesterday I bought a new CD - I don't buy nearly as much new music as I used to, something that Leslie was commenting on recently. She was regretting the fact that we didn't have any new music.

So, what new CD did I get? "Don't Worry About Me" - The new, posthumous release by Joey Ramone. I heard a cut on the radio and I just couldn't resist. Joey, lead singer of the great original American Punk band the Ramones, died of cancer a few months ago, but was just about done with this disk when he left.

I think it's pretty good, too. Much of it is reminiscent of classic Ramones, but with an updated (or retro?) adult touch too. The cut I heard on the radio, which inspired my purchase, was a remake of "What a Wonderful World" ("I see trees of green, red roses to, I see them bloom for me and you, And I say to myself, what a wonderful world..."). Okay, Joey ain't no Louis Armstrong, but this is pretty friggen' cool. It makes me smile, at least.

The Olympics has also put me in a kind-of retro late-70's, early-80's mood, as well. I was recalling how the U.S. boycotted the 1980 summer games in Moscow. Remember why? It was to protest the Soviet Army's presence in Afghanistan...

And have you seen this U.S. speed skater, Apollo Ohno? I swear he looks just like Leif Garret - and if that doesn't bring you back to 1980, I don't know what will.

News item: "A developing Pentagon campaign to influence public opinion in both hostile and friendly countries could include planting false information." Propaganda. Disinformation. Or, to you and me, "lies."

"This is a battle for minds," says Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, and the Bush II administration doesn't care how they get those minds.

The plan is to use third-parties to plant news stories in the foreign press. Some of the stories will be true, some of them, well, ..., is it really a lie if the point is to get people to like you?

The only problems here (beyond ones of, oh, I don't know, ... maybe morality?) are that a) Most lies are eventually exposed, which might not be too good for our credibility, and b) In this high-speed, cross-border, information age, it's kind of hard to keep the disinformation over there, and the "real" information over here.

According to Ted Galen Carpenter, a foreign policy analyst at the Cato Institute, "We're already viewed with a certain amount of suspicion. If we're caught in blatant lies, that hostility will increase."

For his part, retired General H. Norman Schwarzkopf said he doesn't believe the reports. "We don't deliberately lie to other people. ... That's not America. That's not what we do." Yippee. Stormin' Norman didn't deliberately lie to us during the Gulf War. Maybe.

The use of propaganda and disinformation by the U.S. is nothing new, of course. It was a daily process during the cold war, and was used extensively in our efforts to topple a few regimes (sometimes successfully, other times, not so) in Central and South America.

In the late 1980s, former newsman Bernard Kalb quit as the State Department spokesman after reports that the Reagan administration devised a misinformation policy. That policy included leaking false information to reporters in an effort to convince Libyan leade Moammar Gadhafi that the United States was about to attack.

But since the fall of the Berlin Wall we've lived in a kinder, gentler, possibly more honest, nation. Not to worry, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told reporters last fall, he would never lie to them.

Gosh, thanks for the reassurance, Don. I feel much better now.

More information and sources on quotes? Pentagon Plan to Influence Opinion - Yahoo! News

The book thing is really going to happen. I've got all the material in place (14 stories and short memoir). I just need to enter the changes & corrections from the last round of proof reading - a few hours work - and then it will be ready to submit to iUniverse.

I'm a little ahead of my schedule to get it to them by mid-March for a release date of early- to mid-summer. John's book is available now - I'm still waiting for my copy in the mail - and that's exciting enough. It's going to be quite an experience to finally hold a copy of my own book in my hands.