This final weekend in the slow throes of August, the NYT actually has quite a lot of fun stuff. Not newsy stuff, per se, but fun nonetheless. Ben Stein writes an article that is destined to be forwarded to all sorts of kids by all sorts of parents (already MEL # 17), featuring advice like "invest for your retirement early," "work hard," "habits of thrift are for winners" and, a mantra for bloggers: "Enjoying yourself without spending a huge amount of money is a brilliant thing to learn." He also advises "getting married to someone with like views - and staying married." Yeah Ben, YOU try finding the hetero Canadian showtune lover and then I'll start thinking about being fiscally responsible.

Other fun stuff from the NYT: did you know there's this waycool network called MySpace? Rupert's got TONS of friends already. Other popular people with tons of friends: hot serial killers in prison (funny note: this piece mentions generic articles on "Women Who Love Men Who Kill" -- the exact title of Michael Finkel's recent article in Justice Magazine). MoDo continues to impugn Bush and his bike-rides; and though she's surely preaching to the choir if she wanted to do it literally she could apparently podcast it for download to the iPods of the faithful. Our dishy new Supreme Court Justice-in-waiting John Roberts is apparently a "stickler for rhetorical precision" (THIS is what we're learning from his judgments?) but Roberts would surely never have let this "a" instead of "an" fly, Adam Liptak. Gina Kolata perches solidly at MEL #11 with a detailed, informative article on and - yes - hopeful article on vertebroplasty, and though we are sadly aware that there is no joy in Mudville, we're arguing furiously as to exactly why mighty Casey hath struck out (am I alone in having learned this poem from the most recent revival of "Cabaret"?). Finally, Barney Calame chats with Allan Siegel about "pushback," which is perfect because with what else to season the Gray Lady but with a little Salt n' Pepa? Honestly, it sounds like Siegel is an awful lot busier than Calame. I'm just sayin'. Yesterday's news, seasoned for you today - we'd have read further but we were thinking about the game. For those who doubt that baseball and showtunes go hand in hand, I just proved you wrong twice. Ben Stein, maybe it won't be so hard.