• When I'm in a room where some people are wearing masks and some aren't, I like to pretend I'm at a meeting of the Justice League of America.

Things need to be written here today so you won't find a lot of new material on this blog. This might be a good time to see if there's anything else on the entire Internet worth reading besides my silly postings.

Like if you're interested in the California Recall thing, you might want to read Gabriel Debenedetti on where we are and how we got here. More and more, this is looking California Republicans just trying to get a do-over on the last gubernatorial election — which they lost by a wide margin. Unless Governor Newsom does something really dumb — and he did, at least once — the outcome of this one looks like it'll be Déjà vu — all the same people wanting him in, all the same people not wanting him in.

And Kevin Drum, whom I often link to here, has an interesting overview on why the Pandemic: It's wrong to try and blame it on the C.D.C., wrong to blame it on the F.D.A., wrong to blame it on Obama and even wrong to blame it on Trump. He also thinks it's wrong to see Vaccine Hesitancy as something that relates to the current Trump-dominated political scene.

I'll be back when I'm back.

Two songs from Wicked…

Our pal John Ficarra, who was an editor for MAD Magazine back when there was a MAD Magazine, holds forth on the subject of heteronyms. I tend to rebel against them but then I always was a rebel. Thanks to Bruce Reznick for letting me know about this.

Another rendition of the "Meet the Flintstones" theme. This one is by the S.C.H.S. Orchestra. What is the S.C.H.S. Orchestra? I have no idea, though I assume the H.S. stands for "High School." Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine…

There's a video making the rounds of actor Ricky Schroder yelling at a Costco employee who wouldn't let him into the store without a mask. Yes, it's true that Costcos in some states say that you can shop there maskless if you're vaccinated…and no, I don't understand either what's to stop the non-vaccinated from lying about that. But that's not what this post is about.

The name "Karen" has come to describe a person, usually but not necessarily female, who makes a public scene, demanding special treatment and insisting that rules that apply to everyone else do not apply to him or her. The association with the name is unfortunate because I know a number of smart, nice, non-hysterical ladies who happen to be named Karen.

But whatever we call these annoying people, the definition of what they are ought to include the following: Demanding that people who have no power to change the rules for them change the rules for them.

If you were arguing with a high-ranking official in the Costco, it might be different. But the guy at the door enforcing the rules is just the guy at the door enforcing the rules…and it doesn't even matter if they're the rules of Costco Management or the rules of the great state of California. The door guy can't change either. What he can do is get fired.

You see this a lot. I spent a lot of time in hospitals when my mother and my friend Carolyn were ill and I often saw nurses being screamed-at by patients or the loved ones of patients just for abiding by the rules. I remember a man whose wife was in great pain and he kept screaming at this young nurse — I don't think it was even a nurse; more of a nurse-trainee — "GIVE HER SOMETHING FOR THE PAIN!" The nurse was not allowed to do that. It might even have been a law, as opposed to a policy of the hospital. Either way, she kept saying, "I've paged the attending physician. When he gets here, he'll handle this."

That wasn't enough for the husband. He was screaming and scaring the hell out of the nurse and everyone around her. He was vowing he was going to get her fired and she'd lose her nursing license and he was going to sue the hospital (and her, personally) and he was going to start breaking things and he kept yelling, "ONE MINUTE! YOU'VE GOT ONE MINUTE!" Because this poor lady would not violate the law.

Someone finally arrived and handled things but up until then it was a very ugly scene and so utterly pointless. I didn't even think the man's behavior was excusable out of concern for his loved one. I think some people just like to scream at someone who seems defenseless and if they can find a way to make it seem like a matter of principle or human concern, fine. He sure wasn't helping his wife…or anyone.

What he might have done is the kind of thing I learned to do. Talking to another human being like a human being, you say, "I understand you don't have the power to do this but can you tell me how I can speak to someone who does?" That always worked for me.

Switching examples here: Have you ever seen these videos of so-called Sovereign Citizens? These are people who have some strange notions about government…like you can declare yourself a "sovereign citizen" and not obey any law you don't care for. Or they believe bizarre interpretations of the law…like if you're operating a motor vehicle on public highways but you're not doing so for reasons of commerce, you don't need a driver's license. Ergo, you don't need to show one to a police officer who detains you for not having the license plate that you also don't believe is required.

These people never win these arguments…ever. They generally wind up making things much, much worse for themselves and I don't think any of their positions have a gram of merit. But if they do have any right at all on their side, they sure aren't going to triumph in roadside debates with the cops who pull them over. The officers don't have the power to reverse laws as they've been applied for decades or more.

I'm all for standing up for one's rights but you have to stand up in the right place against the right opposition. Yelling at the guy at the door at Costco over Costco policies (or especially, state law) isn't going to get you anywhere. It isn't even going to get you into Costco.

Last June, I couldn't get into a Ralphs Market to get some things. The one door they were using was blocked by a lady demanding to be let in without a mask. The following is stolen from a post on this blog back then…

"I'm not going to be on one of those sheeple," she kept saying…and I don't know about you but I've never seen that insult hurled by anyone who wasn't a sheeple (by their own definition) listening to a different shepherd. I listened to a little of the argument then politely asked if they could move it to one side so some of us masked lambs could get in before the rotisserie chickens were all gone.

She whirled towards me and said, "Don't you feel stupid wearing that mask?" I said, "No, because of it, I'm way less likely than you to get the coronavirus and way more likely to get a half-dozen russet potatoes and some parmigiano reggiano. All you're going to do is get yourself on YouTube for all eternity screaming like a maniac."

• Today's Potatoes are from Carl Taylor Farms, Idaho Falls, ID.

Hey, wanna read a long interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci? If you do, here's one.

Jordan Klepper checks in on that amateurish "audit" of last year's presidential vote in Arizona. It is, of course, based on a few false premises, one being that one recount that tells you what you want to believe is proof, whereas three countings that tell you what you don't want to hear must all be fraudulent. And then secondly, if a whole batch of people come up with a theory out of nowhere, with no evidence behind it, it must be investigated just to settle the matter. Here's Jordan…

A profile of 2021 Kennedy Center Honoree Dick Van Dyke. Thanks to Bob Elisberg for telling me about this.

In this video, Food Explainer Adam Ragusea makes an excellent point (I think) about converting recipes in liters and milliliters to pounds and ounces…

Robert Rose wrote…

In your post for 1/19/2010, I happened across the following sentence: "Lorne Michaels is, of course, the man who gave the world Saturday Night Live, which is one of the five-or-so greatest success stories in the history of broadcast television."

Wouldn't disagree with you there, but it prompts the question as to what else you'd put on that list? From various things you've said, I am pretty sure The Simpsons would be on that list, and with 32 seasons in the can (and I believe they were recently renewed for two more) that would be pretty hard to argue with. Johnny Carson's run on The Tonight Show seems another likely candidate — whether you'd include any or all of his predecessors or successors, I don't know. Beyond that, I'm curious to see what else you'd come up with. Feel free, of course, to go beyond five, if you have trouble narrowing it down.

Hmm. Well, The Simpsons and Johnny Carson were certainly successful. But obviously, I wasn't thinking of an actual list when I made that comment and a real list would require some ground rules. The entirety of CBS, NBC and ABC are three great success stories in the history of broadcast television.

I Love Lucy not only has set some sort of record for reruns but it led to Lucy and Desi having a studio of their own with financial interest in dozens of hit shows. All in the Family and The Mary Tyler Moore Show also led to many reruns and very successful shows. But now that I think of it, if you define "success stories" based on empires launched with one hit show, there are a lot of candidates so let's limit this to success of individual shows……

So you'd have Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons and The Tonight Show…and then I'd add in The Price is Right, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, The Today Show…

I suspect the most profitable half-hour of television ever produced is A Charlie Brown Christmas. Each year, some network pays millions to rerun a show that earned back its full cost of production in 1965.

Oprah Winfrey, Jerry Seinfeld, Kim Kardashian and Simon Cowell are among the wealthiest folks in the world whose riches were at least rooted in the success of one TV show. I don't know to what extent their shows would qualify for such a list…and I really don't have a lot of interest in trying to define the parameters for such a list…and this is only measuring success by money. So this'll have to serve as my answer. I'm sure I'm leaving off dozens of contenders.

Another rendition of the "Meet the Flintstones" theme. This one is by Jonathas Duarte Cherem…

For my favorite movie back in the early sixties, a singing group called The Shirelles recorded a song called "31 Flavors" that was heard briefly in the film. It was part of some sort of cross-promotion tie-in with the Baskin-Robbins ice cream stores that I won't pretend I understand. But they also recorded their version of the title song for my favorite movie. So here are The Shirelles with "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" — though with alternate lyrics and maybe a lack of enthusiasm…

Andrew Lloyd Webber or some company of his has been posting videos of full productions of his musicals on YouTube during The Pandemic. They have two goals, it would appear, one being to cheer up people who are stuck at home during a time when there is no theater. That's a fine goal. The other is to raise money for The Actors Fund, which is also a fine goal, though I'd like to think that the richest man to ever work in live theater is also sending them Phantom-of-the-Opera-sized checks.

Each musical posted is only available for online viewing for a limited amount of time. A year ago this week, it was this version of Cats, which is not the recent movie. It's a filming done in 1988 of the production that ran slightly less than forever at the New London Theatre on Drury Lane. It has Elaine Paige, Sir John Mills and other fine performers in its cast and it's about as good a presentation of this show as you'll ever see.

I find myself often defending Cats even though I'm not a huge fan of the musical. But I don't hate it as some folks do and I certainly don't do what some do and call it an affront to mankind and decency akin to The Holocaust, only with tails and slightly worse songs. Some people were that way about it before it even debuted, insisting that a show that dressed actors up like felines could not possibly have any merit whatsoever.

I remember smug articles in theater-fanzines of the day predicting a failure of massive proportions and then, lo and behold, it went on to become at one point the longest-running Broadway show in history. It's still at #4, behind The Lion King, though it'll probably soon be overtaken by Wicked, which is reopening shortly. And some who predicted the failure of Cats are still refusing to believe anyone ever liked it. They sound like Trump supporters insisting nobody voted for Joe Biden.

If you think the whole notion of actors in cat costumes is an abysmal concept, don't go see it. I know a few people who I think did just so they could say, "Yeah, I went to see it so I could see if it was as horrible as I knew it would be and I was right." That's like saying, "Yeah, I jumped off the roof just to see if I'd break my leg as I knew I would and I was right."

But if you're curious about the show or saw it and would like to see it once more, it's online again for 48 hours, minus the few hours since Sir Andrew or his minions put it up. Tell Mr. Mistoffelees and Rum Tum Tugger I sent you…