Dear lord, I'd nearly forgotten the ambrosia also known as clam dip. Only thing I'd add is Tabasco to taste. A lot because I want the beer and ginger ale (the Jamaican stuff I have to traverse the gauntlet of devine entitlement at Whole Foods to gladly get) to soothe the burn with that sparkle and bite.

On the subject of BSG: I can't for the life of me understand why Starbuck went to New Caprica; it seems blatantly out of character to me. I'd have thought she'd be the last off Galactica, rubbing the bloom off the rose of a relationship with the frat boy. How much patience would she have with him if he complained? And shouldn't Sharon's stolen baby be a tad bit larger? And why did Chief beat Cally? And were the Cavils (heh) really thrown out the airlock?

Small quibbles against witnessing Roslin crumpling with the exhale of air knowing that Bill Adama was right -- she'd never be able to live with the electoral subterfuge. My gods, I felt that. If only real politicians had such correctable moral compasses. And...and...and though I love to hate and hate to love Gaius, even with his self-indulgence of the Presidential Diamond and Pearl three-way disgusting me, all I could feel for him was pity. Eviscerating the human race twice is quite a feat and though completely dissolute, the horror on his face realizing the enormity the flaw in his character wrought was heartbreaking. The bastard made me feel sorry for him!

BSG has consistently attracted and repelled me. I'm always up for a Doom-like fight to save the human race, but the blanket prejudice against Cylons, particularly when it comes to Boomer, kind of bugs. I guess it's necessary for this series' excellent storytelling, but it still bugs.

BSG's writers know how to steal from the best. I always disliked wimpy imitative writers, preferring the outright thievery of, say, Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan. But these guys at BSG are also big-time thieves! They didn't cravenly paraphrase my late friend Mario Savio's famous Free Speech Movement speech at Berkeley, they stole it word-for frakking word. Chief is going to be one hell of a union leader. I can't wait for his "I Have A Dream" speech. "...when we can some day judge a cylon not by the color of his plating but by the strength of his circuitry."

I've got to say that the last episode of 24 was probably the best I've seen so far of any season. They're really doing a good job with pacing this season, and the attack at CTU was probably the most visceral scene in the series. The death of Edgar actually made me feel like crying, and I don't even like the guy.

As for how the terrorists and Lynn's sister's boyfriend hooked up, I would guess that they would find information about CTU members and their families. If Lynn's sister seemed like a drug-addled low-life, maybe they thought they could get her to steal a wallet, which is not that big a deal. After researching her, maybe they decided that boyfriend would be easier to turn.

And the BSG finale was fantastic too. The detonation of the warhead annihilating a good chunk of the fleet, followed by the bizarre twist with the Cylon cease-fire, followed by the even more bizarre twist with their return -- it just knocked me on my butt.

I'm guessing that the colonists didn't go back to old Caprica because they didn't trust the Cylons to live up to their word. The cylons seemingly didn't know about New Caprica so it seems a safer place to hunker down. But I guess we'll only know more 6 months from now. Grr...

Why do the BSG writers take these boring turns?

They have a terrific wild character in that woman admiral so they kill her off. And now they dump everybody in a cross between a tent city and a flea market and we're supposed to be excited. I mean, it was all so drab, but with colorful hats.

So what now? Cylons will be forcing them to makes 'Smores? Get everybody back to the ships quick! Whenever they're planetary, the show sinks.

And a plot point: a nuclear explosion occurs in the fleet and we hear not one word about casualties?

Still, you have to hand it to that dead Cylon--she knew how to get somebody's attention.

What bothers me more than the question of how did a terrorist and a drug addict hook up with each other, is that of if Lynn McGill didn't have his keycard, then how did he get back into CTU?

hey, anonymous sec, i agree with all your points except your last. the fact that boomer's still around underscores how conflicted the old man feels about her. and even if you allow that the characters will be permanently skeptical about boomer, i'd say the writers hold humans and toasters to the same standards. at the end of the day, it's all about self-preservation: humans will suspect cylons, and vice versa. can't we all just get along? bg's writers bravely answer, "no."

Jordon, I don't disagree. Survival is paramount and when the apocalypse comes, we won't all just get along. I cheered when Sarah Conner smashed the Terminator. I applauded when Ripley incinerated the alien's nursery. I said "Damn right" when Neo inhabited Mr. Smith and blew the program into a million shards of data.

But Boomer, since the first season when she slowly realized that she was the enemy -- "Water" in particular, has been the character I am moved most by. It's my own personal attachment to that character and her journey that colors my feelings about all characters like her. It may not be reasonable, but there it is. I will always cringe when someone refers to Boomer as "that thing."

Six made a statement to Gaius in an episode when someone was throwing the word "toasters" around. She said it was a racist statement. I was taken aback. I hadn't before thought in those terms. It made me think about it for hours after the episode, bringing my opinion to Six made a valid observation.

The mark of a good show is that it makes its viewers think.