“Why,” asks Andrew Brown, “is it that people find Tolkien dull and turgid?”

Perhaps it’s because Tolkien was an Oxford professor of Anglo-Saxon, who was writing an original mythical epic set in a pre-industrial world very different from our own.

What Tolkien was not doing was writing snappy advertising copy, or hip, politically-correct sub-literate fiction for morons like Brown.

Please register your annoyance with the regulations regarding books on airplanes to the US by joining the Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=229835889667

‘The rumoured Apple Tablet comes closer to reality: the new product, potentially called “iSlate,” is expected to be unveiled on Jan. 26 in San Francisco.’

If you own any Amazon stock, now would be a good time to sell it.

In the interest of accuracy: Transport Canada’s new carryon regulations affect only flights to the US. Domestic flights are unaffected. Flights to countries other than the US are unaffected.

The online response to the new regs is just as hysterical as the new regs themselves.

‘ve had an interesting conversation with a researcher for CBC’s As It Happens, who initially wanted to do a story on the whole book/plane thing. But, she now says, Transport Canada says there is no ban on books, so the CBC will not do a story. It’s unclear whether Transport Canada will make a public statement to that effect, though.

In reading the original release, I see there’s an important difference between it and what was initially reported. The release says “Effective immediately, US bound passengers are not allowed to bring carry on bags into the cabin of the aircraft, with some exceptions,” and then goes on to list the kinds of bags. That important first sentence has been left out in every story so far, giving the impression that what followed was all that is allowed.

But from reading the entire release, the upshot should be: if you can carry a book in one of the allowed bags OR IN YOUR HAND you can bring it on board. Please let me know if you or anyone you know is hassled for this.