The best laid plans and all that

Heck of a way to start the fourth year of "Left Side of the Aisle."

As you may have noticed, there has been no episode #158 posted. That's because I was too sick to do the show. First time in three years. But doing the research for the show, preparing the notes (so that I can remember what it was I intended to say), arranging the graphics, doing the run-through (to make sure it both fit and filled the allotted time), and then actually recording the show were just a lot more than I could manage.

Show 158 will be here next week, as usual.

I usually try to do all the prep on Tuesday, often pulling an all-nighter, so things will be as contemporary as possible for a Wednesday afternoon shoot. Which means the show, obviously, is not set now. But this week I already have some things in mind, so as a bit of a teaser, next week you may hear about, among other things -

- probably the stupidest bit of political "analysis" I have ever heard;
- an update on global warming and why the information may not do a damn bit of good;
- reflections on what the cases of O. J. Simpson and Rubin "Hurricane" Carter say about our injustice system; and
- why Americans are among the most politically-uninformed people in the entire industrialized world and no, this is not about Citizens United or McCutcheon, at least not directly.

Now, I won't positively guarantee you'll see all of that, since the show has never, ever, not once, come out the way I imagined it when I sat down to prepare it. But there's a fair chance. (However, I will say that the first on that list, for the Clown Award, is pretty much a lock.)

Again, for any of you who came here looking for the show, my apologies. I hope you'll find the next show and the one after that and the one after that and so on, worth the wait.