Propagating a meme

OK, in penance for not writing yesterday, I'm going to help propagate the following meme, which has been making its way around the web:

1. Grab the nearest book
2. Open the book to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog, along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it. Just grab what is closest!

Yesterday I found this meme-recipe, but I was too dignified to participate. If I had, though, here's what the answer would have been:

"From the preceding definition, the variance of X is the average value of the squared deviation of X from its mean. If X has units of meters, for example, the variance has units of meters squared, and the standard deviation has units of meters. Although we are often interested ultimately in the standard deviation rather than the variance, it is usually easier to find the variance first and then take the square root."

My desk-mess has shifted, so today the answer is:

" 'My plan was to leave the Shire secretly, and make my way to Rivendell; but now my footsteps are dogged, before ever I get to Buckland.'

'I think you should still follow that plan,' said Gildor. 'I do not think the Road will prove too hard for your courage.' "

One of these days I will finish reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy.