Just as Ben Stein starts his routine, the television goes blank. I click around, find Lehrer on the local PBS outlet. This won't do. Rainwater is coming through the air-conditioning vents. I take my electronics off the floor.
Power repeatedly goes on and off in hotel.
Radio reports of flooding throughout the Philadelphia area. Lightning strikes the building next door. At least there's some suspense at the Oscars. Powell has yet to speak. The aforementioned wire stories are all over the Web, convincing untold hundreds of concerned Americans that they've missed the Laura Bush and Colin Powell speeches.