2. An add-on rearview mirror for looking at children in the backseat so you can tell if they are asleep or not.
3. John Ford, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, with John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart, movie, 1962, $16.99. Suspense, good acting, great for discussion. See also Frank Buckley's review in Crisis magazine.
4. Portable carseats, $29.95, that can easily be packed in suitcases.
5. Brooks Brothers, Non-Iron shirts, $65.00, a new technology.
6. Hunting one's own clams, oysters, and crabs, as at the Selah Inn just off Puget Sound.
7. Nine-foot-plus ceilings in houses. We just moved, and I realized then how inspiriting these are.
8. David Friedman's Law's Order: What Economics Has To Do With Law and Why It Matters, 2000, 344 pp. An excellent law-and-economics book suitable for general readers. Its website is at http://www.daviddfriedman.com/laws_order/index.shtml.
9. Bjorn Lomborg, The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World, 2001, 496 pp.. Full of facts about the state of the world.
10. The Anaconda Garden Coil hose, $89.00, from Restoration Hardware. This coil takes up very little space and does not have to be rewound.
11. Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity , 2002, 304 pp.. Discussion of the fact that Christianity is no longer a European religion.
12. A website for campaign finance, http://www.opensecrets.org/. You can look up contributions by industry and find good links to state sites.
Other good things: Viking 512M RAM card. The Fellowship of the Ring movie, Kroger Black walnut ice crea Karastan American rugs. The Taylor of Gloucester DVD.
Last updated: December 18, 2004.
Lists of good things from other years.