Zero Laughing Matters

Had to email McNeil to tell him Anita Ekberg died. Her obituary was sad; let's not think about it. Let's think about a weird hour-long youtube clip McNeil sent me. A monotone diatribe from a conspiracy theorist with the unlikely (but real!) name of Dr. Peter Beter. Ha ha ha! And yet Dr. Peter Beter is no laughing matter. He starts off on how Russia is manufacturing blizzards in the United States. Then he calls Reagan our "alleged" president. That's by three minutes in and that's about as much as a person can take, especially as Dr. Peter Beter manages to sprinkle a little anti-Semitism in there at the same time. Peter Beter is really into "manmade earthquakes," which is why I think McNeil chose to foist him on me: to rib me about what I said about those mysterious earthquakes in Oklahoma (no laughing matter, either). On wikipedia I learned that Peter Beter thought Jimmy Carter had been replaced by a robot. So there you go. There are a lot of Peter Beters out there, and leave it to McNeil to find them. So I have given you two things not to think about today: the lonely death of Anita Ekberg (pictured here with Jerry in happier times... I guess) and the sick ravings of Dr. Peter Beter. I'm sorry.