Humor
The Lion Sleeps Tonight
Cute. And funny.
Steve Casburn
Books
Sherlock Holmes
When I was a child, I got The Complete Sherlock Holmes Treasury as a Christmas present (probably from Aunt Judy). Of course I read it right away—what nine-year-old can resist Sherlock Holmes?—and would re-read it every two or three years as I forgot how the
Music
The Barber of Seville
My knowledge of classical music is slight, but I will still venture the opinion that whatever you would call the effect Rossini creates at the end of the overture of The Barber of Seville, no one could surpass his version of that effect. It is at the same time both
Commerce
Comcast >>> AT&T
Having given one side, I'll now give the other. Comcast has made a strong effort to fix the connectivity problems we have been having, and we are hoping at this point that they have been resolved. We also signed up for cable television service again, which I dropped
Life
Commitments
I've come to think of commitments as the structure of life. Make the right commitments, and I have a platform to stand on. Make the wrong commitments, and I have a prison to live in.
Ray Taliaferro
When I was in junior high school in the early '80s, I had terrible insomnia. I used to lay awake at night and listen to the Giants game on KNBR, then listen to the Giants post-game show and the news. If I was still awake (it would be
Music
Shazam!
An iPhone ad touts an app called "Shazam" that allows the iPhone to identify a song that is playing loud enough for the iPhone to detect. Does it work? Yes it does, and I now have a copy of "Silly Boy" by The Blue Van.
History
How libraries reinvented knowledge
Ian F. McNeely and Lisa Wolverton note how the development by the Greeks of libraries, as storehouses of the written word, changed the possibilities of knowledge from what they had been in a purely oral society: Every library comfortably contains writings and juxtaposes ideas that, if they were represented by
Music
My new favorite Christmas carol
A Christmas carol from Stephen Colbert and Elvis Costello that sounds…exactly the way you would expect a Christmas carol from Stephen Colbert and Elvis Costello to sound.
History
The suffering of Italy
Rome is known as the Eternal City. James J. O'Donnell notes that Italy could be called the Eternal Victim: After [the period of 476-535], Italy as a whole would know no comparable unity, prosperity, and freedom from warfare until the 1950s. -- The Ruin of the Roman Empire
Life
Out of action
Home sick again today. My fifth illness in the last two months. I'm glad I have a couple of weeks off over Christmas and New Year's—I clearly need it.
History
One other effect from the '08 election...
During the new Obama administration and 111th Congress, the old South will be shut out of power, for only the third time since 1930. The other two times were brief (1953-54 and 1965-66). If Obama does well, then the coming dry spell for the old South could match