wow, i really got a kick out of the harry potter troubles. read about it here, if you haven't already heard - harry potter. so apparently they have been all secretive about this latest book "harry potter and the half-blood prince." i really didn't know, but that doesn't mean anything. so a drug store accidentally put them on the shelf early and sold about 14 copies before realizing the mistake and removing them. and another store also sold one. here's the jab though... they've been wanting to release all of them at exactly the same time so that critics and readers can all read them at the same moment. they don't want anyone to get ahead or get an "unfair" advantage. so a judge decided that they couldn't tell anyone about them, copy them, sell them, even read them, etc., until the official date. what kind of craziness is this? is the whole deal insane? or not as insane as i think it is? i just don't get it. however, i have no room to speak really, having never read a word of any harry potter book! haha, now sue me.

encomium \en-KOH-mee-uhm\, noun;plural encomiums or encomia \-mee-uh\:An often formal expression of warm or high praise.

The giant throws the butler into the lake, whereupon Charles delivers the perfunctory encomium, "Wickham was a good servant." --Jeremy Treglown, Romancing: The Life and Work of Henry Green