And now for something completely different. I don't know whether Boston city councilor John Tobin has kids. His online bio mentions being married, but no children. I do know that the Kid Question was the first thing that popped into my head this morning when I read in the Boston Globe that Tobin and several other councilors want to ban cell phones from "all 'places of public performance,' including movie houses, museums, and comedy shows."

Look, councilor, here's the deal. You've got a sitter at home whom you don't know all that well, your younger one was throwing up the night before, and you're worried that you might get a call at any moment summoning you home for an emergency. At the same time, you and your spouse haven't been out in three months, and you're not going to put it off again.

So you put your cell phone on "vibrate," and if it goes off, you get up, go to the lobby, and find out what the problem is. Is that really such a big deal?