Hi, reader. I hope that you are feeling well, and I hope your family is prospering in the new global economy. At least to the exact they deserve. For the next hundered pages I will be your content provider. Regarding the title of this book, Napalm and Silly Putty: Sometime ago I was stuck by the fact that, among many other wonderous things, Man has had this imagination to invent two such distinctly different products. One, a flaming, jellied gasoline used to create fire, death, and destruction; the other, a claylike mass good for throwing, bouncing, smashing, or pressing agains a comic strip so yo can look at a backwars picture of Popeye. I think the title serves as a fairly good metaphor for Man's dual nature, while also providing an apt description of the kinds of thoughts that occupy me, both in this book, and in my daily life: on the one hand, I kind of like it when people die, and on the other I always wonder how many unused frequent-flier miles they had. The only difference between lilies and turds is whatever difference humans have agreed upon; and I don't always agree.