You make the call

I am sitting in a Panera in Bloomington (trying feebly to get some work done) and a woman at the table next to me told me that I look like Tim Robbins (Nuke Laloosh from Bull Durham, married to Susan Sarandon).

That's a new one. I've been told I look like other people before. I apparently have a long lost twin brother living around me because the folks at the grocery store are cosntantly confusing me with someone else.

The person I have been told I look like most often is my hero, Dave Barry. Even my own son has confused the two of us. One day, when he was about 3 years old, he came running up to me saying, "Daddy, Daddy, you're on a book!" When I asked him what he was talking about, he brought me "Dave Barry's Guide to Guys" which has a picture of Dave on the cover and said, "See. There you are."

So, you make the call. Do I look like Dave Barry? Tim Robbins? Someone else entirely? Or is it bad enough that one person has to look like me?

UPDATE: 11/14. In the comments, some said I look like Potsie from Happy Days. I don't think so, but that's probably closer than Tim Robbins. His pic is added.

What's their philosophy on free speech?

One of the "hazards" of Dave Barry's job as a humor writer is that often, people don't get the joke and become outrageously offended. This week, one of his more innoucuous quotes was removed from the door of Stuart Ditsler, a doctoral student in Philosophy at Marquette because the chairman of the department, James South, received a lot of complaints.

The highly offensive quote is, "As Americans we must always remember that we all have a common enemy, an enemy that is dangerous, powerful, and relentless. I refer, of course, to the federal government."

You would think that of all places, the Philosophy department would encourage free speech and the exchange of ideas, but apparently that is not the case at MU. In an AP wire story, South said, "If material is patently offensive and has no obvious academic import or university sanction, I have little choice but to take note." Fine, take notes, and then get back to something important.

Barry once wrote a column "advising" students on how to pick a major. He recommended majors that involve virtually no facts, and Philosophy was among them. Here's how he described it:

"Philosophy: Basically, this involves sitting in a room and deciding there is no such thing as reality and then going to lunch. You should major in philosophy if you plan to take a lot of drugs."

Perhaps Ditsler should post that on his door, and then help South find his prescription.

Decaf Poopacino

As I mentioned in my profile, I'm a huge Dave Barry fan. He has taken a leave of absence (as opposed to having taken leave of his senses, which happened years ago) from the Miami Herald, and while he's gone, they are rerunning some of his classic columns.

This one is one of my all time favorites.