I stumbled across a nifty gift for someone who has a fireplace and a newspaper subscription.

The newspaper log roller looks a little like an old-fashioned printing press, which is apropos. Just feed your newspapers from the recyling pile into the roller and it creates tight rolls suitable for use as kindling. It’s one of those ideas that makes you say, “Now why didn’t I think of that?”

I’ve only found the roller online through Duluth Trading Co., but it wouldn’t hurt to check with a local merchant like Erb’s Hardware to see if they can get it in. It retails for $49.99.

Stephen King may have started his newest epic, “Under the Dome” in 1979, but he clearly needed the events of the past eight years in order to flesh it out and finish it. For “Dome” is a microcosm of the United States after 9/11.

I’m about three-quarters of the way through the 1,075-page novel, having absorbed most of it via audiobook to give my eyes a rest in the evening. It took about 200 pages to begin seeing the pattern of the various threads King weaves into the tapestry of exploitation of fear.

All the characters, as interpreted by King, are there:

Andy Sanders, the first selectman of Chester’s Mill, is George W. Bush thinly disguised — a good-hearted, if slightly befuddled figurehead cajoled, controlled and bullied into unspeakable acts by his second-in-command.

Big Jim Rennie, the second selectman of Chester’s Mill, is Dick Cheney, barely disguised at all. Big Jim is sanctimonious, hypocritcal and a world-class crook, with a grasping need for power and avarice. He even has a bum ticker, a la Cheney.

Police Chief Pete Randolph, a dunderhead way out of his league and also controlled by Big Jim Rennie/Cheney, is an amalgamation of several Bush administration officials, mostly Donald Rumsfeld. He steps into power when the fair-minded, well-liked police chief dies within minutes of the dome’s descent. At least in real life Colin Powell didn’t have to die for Randolph/Rumsfeld to gain his position.

The white hats include a Republican newspaper editor and an Iraq war hero whose distaste for the Army and the powers that be solidified during a stint that saw him participating in torture and other actions that turned his stomach.

The body count is large, but the political commentary trumps it. King was clearly deeply affected, if not sickened, by the actions of the Bush administration and its war on terror. His use of his indomitable bully pulpit — a huge readership and worldwide audience — is perhaps an attempt to work out his angst. Readers, particularly those who don’t lean to the left, may find the political commentary a little tough to swallow, but may also find themselves powerless to put down the book, because it is immensely entertaining.

Some have called this Stephen King’s “The Stand” for the 21st century. I don’t agree. “The Stand” was, at its heart, a battle between good and evil. “Under the Dome” is about fear — indidividual, group and societal — and how it can be used to control and manipulate even good people into doing terrible things.

King calls this novel “Under the Dome.” He might as well have named it “After the Towers Fell.”

I sent Veteran’s Day regards to some veterans I know on a personal basis today. This is for those I don’t know personally, but for whom I feel a tremendous sense of gratitude.

For veterans and their families:

Is there anything cuter than baby animals?

Well, yes … when those baby animals romp around in the wild in front of a hidden camera. I received this clip by e-mail this afternoon, then found it on YouTube. I’m not sure who shot it, but the trail cam is pretty high quality, so it was probably a wildlife biologist from some agency.

Two weeks into trying out the new Purex 3-in-1 laundry detergent, I can say that the company’s ad copywriter got a little carried away when he likened the invention of the product to the creation of the Internet.

Still, as innovations go, it ranks right up there.

Laundry is one of my least favorite chores, trumped only by mopping the floor and dispensing with cobwebs. To be sure, I have it better than say, my mother, who spent a couple of memorable years washing the family’s laundry on a washboard (including diapers for two children under the age of 3). My sturdy Maytag takes the place of the washboard and my Kenmore dryer is a step up than hanging clothes (though I do love the smell of line-dried laundry.)

Nevertheless, laundry is drudgery because of the steps involved — the sorting, the washing, the measuring, the move to the dryer, the folding, the putting away. Blecch.

So I was intrigued by Purex’s promise of one product that takes the place of two or three of the steps. The Purex 3-in-1 sheets put the detergent, fabric softener and static-control agent in one sheet that you simply drop in the washer at the beginning of the process.

I was a little skeptical when I saw the sheet. It’s scarcely a quarter of an inch thick and a little stiff. I had doubts the fabric softener would last through the wash cycle, but when I removed the sheet, the detergent portion was clean and supple, while the band of fabric softener/static guard at the top and bottom were intact. The result was clean laundry (it even got out a coffee stain on one of my blouses) that smelled clean and fresh without being overwhelmingly perfumey.

Is it cost effective? The 24-count pack cost $6, which comes to about 25 cents a load. An online consumer site pegs the cost of Tide detergent with Downey added at 31 cents per load, while store brand detergent with fabric softener added comes at 19 cents per load. Is convenience worth 6 cents a load? That’s for you to decide.

For me, it’s worth the cost and I’ll be buying Purex 3-in-1 for the foreseeable future.