11.5.13 … “Remember, remember the fifth of November when gunpowder, treason and plot. I know of no reason, why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot!” …

Guy Fawkes Day, British history:  Love seeing on twitter the bonfires in London …  “Remember, remember the fifth of November when gunpowder, treason and plot. I know of no reason, why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot!”

Here is a fun English holiday to celebrate…

On November 5, 1605, Guy Fawkes was found in the cellar of the Houses of Lords with a large amount of gunpowder, while attempting to blow up parliament.

To celebrate parliament (and King James I) being saved, every November 5th in England, an effigy of Guy Fawkes is burned on a large bonfire and the evening ends with an extravagant fireworks display.

Now that my family lives in the U.S. we have chosen not to burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes… it seems a little strange to explain to our kids when no one else is doing it! We do however eat British foods, like Scotch Eggs, and talk about the political structure of the United Kingdom and how democracies give their citizens a voice. This year I made my girls each a spoon doll of Guy Fawkes.

\”Remember, remember the fifth of November when gunpowder, treason and plot. I know of no reason, why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot!\”

by Helen Bird

via Guy Fawkes | Spoonful.

 kith/kin, baseball, replica bats: An interesting story about an interesting member of my husband’s family!

Rayburn really likes baseball, and he has ever since he was a kid.

“Baseball, I think, was a little bit of an equalizer,” he says. “You didn’t have to be the best looking kid in the class – the best liked in the class, but if you were good, or at least worked hard and tried to be good, you could be an equal on the playing field.”

Credit Austin Ramsey/WKMS News

He’s retired now, but he spent years in real estate, freight and university athletics. And in retirement, he builds baseball bats that resemble those from the game’s early history. He even restores bats – many of which were used in the game’s early history.

Plus,  he single-handedly produces the entire line of bats for one of the nation’s largest classic baseball memorabilia producers  in his garage.

Each day, Rayburn occupies the small shop adjacent his home west of town.

Inside, walls are lined with bats of various shapes and stages of completion. He has a series of new bats with oddly-shaped handles. He says they represent the dead ball era, when a baseball was softer and more emphasis was put on field positions and strategic bunts.

With each new bat, he starts with a three-inch billet of Ash or Maple, which he marks and whittles down on a lathe, carefully carving away excess wood in one-inch increments. As he carves away, using different sized tools, the corrugated form of a bat appears.

via Local Man Brings to Life Replica Baseball Bats from Past | WKMS.

Christmas, The Christmas Scale:  An early Christmas Gift. I may re-gift it in a month!

via ▶ The Christmas Scale – YouTube.

Nelson Mandela, Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, movies:  Add this to my movie list.

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

Charlie Trotter, Charlie Trotter’s Restaurant-Chicago,  RIP:  I ate at Charlie Trotter’s once while we lived in Chicago. It was very good, a true culinary dining experience.  I cannot say I would do it again, but I can thank my lovely in-laws for the once in a lifetime experience.   RIP

Trotter burst on the scene in 1987, when the self-taught chef opened Charlie Trotter’s restaurant on Armitage Avenue. In short order, the chef’s intense creativity and never-repeat-a-dish dictum made Trotter’s the most talked-about restaurant in Chicago, and his fame quickly spread throughout the country and beyond.

He was named the country’s Outstanding Chef by James Beard Foundation in 1999; in 2000, Wine Spectator magazine called Trotter’s the best restaurant in the nation. More awards and accolades followed, including a 2002 Beard Award for Outstanding Service; at the time, Trotter called it the award he was most proud to receive, as it represented “a team award.”

The mercurial chef was a stern taskmaster who demanded the absolute best from everyone who worked for him. He was also a man of uncommon generosity, creating the Charlie Trotter Education Foundation to provide scholarships for culinary students. He received the James Beard Foundation’s Humanitarian of the Year award in 2012.

“Charlie was an extreme father figure to me when it came to not just cooking, but life, and seeing things in a different way,” said chef Graham Elliot Bowles, one of many famous chefs who worked for Trotter. “I just can’t put into words how saddened I am by all of this. It’s a huge loss, not just personally, but for the culinary world.”

via Charlie Trotter dead: Famed Chicago chef dies – chicagotribune.com.

Just earlier today I posted 11.5.13 … I don’t talk sports that often … but I have to admit I pulled for the Red Sox because I like their fans a wee bit better …  and now I have to take two exceptions:  Davidson Basketball and the Carolina Panthers.

Davidson Wildcats at #4 Duke Blue Devils

Friday November 8, 7PM (ESPNU)

I’m not sure how much a chance Davidson has against Duke, but I\’ve learned to never count out Bob McKillop and his Wildcats. McKillop is one of the few who won\’t \”abandon all hope\” when he enters Cameron Indoor Stadium on Friday night.

Though Davidson lost Nik Cochran, Jake Cohen, and others, the Wildcats still return a talented squad who will compete with Elon for a Southern Conference title in their last year in the conference. Leading that veteran laden group is De\’Mon Brooks. Brooks has been the SoCon\’s Player of the Year before and is a two-time SoCon Tournament MVP. The 6\’7 forward averaged nearly 14 points and 6 boards a year ago and is going to need all of that and more against the Blue Devils.

Beyond Brooks, McKillops will rely on the rest of his senior core Chris Czerapowicz, Tyler Kalinowski, and Tom Droney to step up big on Friday.  This may also be the coming out party for Miami (Ohio) transfer Brian Sullivan, who averaged over 10 points per game his freshman year while being named to the All-MAC Freshman team.

Duke is the other Tobacco Road team that struggled a bit in their preseason warm up. The Blue Devils found themselves down to Drury 38-34 Saturday afternoon, but they pulled away in the second half for a 81-65 victory. Freshman Jabari Parker and Mississippi State transfer Rodney Hood will be the story for Coach K\’s team. Parker is expected to be a top five pick in the NBA Draft, while Hood is considered among the nation\’s top transfers. Rasheed Sulaimon missed the Blue Devils tune up due to illness, but expect him and Quinn Cook to be firing on all cylinders Friday night in Durham

via Mid-Major Upset Alert: Opening Weekend Trouble on Tobacco Road? – Mid-Major Madness.

…

Last year I wore red socks inside my boots to the Panthers v. Falcons game … This year I left the red socks at home. I figure the Falcons are a lost cause and I really ought to put my mouth (and socks) where my money is.

2013 Georgia Florida St Simons Island Beach Celebration: And then I could not pass this one up from last weekend’s GA FL Game:

2013 Georgia Florida St Simons Island Beach Celebration

via ▶ 2013 Georgia Florida St Simons Island Beach Celebration – YouTube.

Mexican Coke:

Well, fear not, soda snobs. All those reports are wrong.

Monterrey, Mexico-based Arca Continental, which bottles Coca-ColaKO -0.03% in glass bottles for U.S. consumers as part of a nostalgia project that began in 2005, assures that its fizzy pop destined for the U.S. market will continue to be sweetened entirely with cane sugar.

A street vendor carries bottles of soda to customers in Mexico City

That’s not the case for Coke sold in Mexico. The soda chugged in vast quantities by Mexicans has long been sweetened with a mix of high fructose corn syrup and cane sugar. The mix varies, depending on which sweetener is cheaper, with local bottlers aiming to limit HFCS to conserve taste and their relationships with Mexico’s powerful sugar industry.

Currently Mexico’s largest soft drink bottler, Coca-Cola FemsaKOF.MX -3.25%, uses HFCS to cover 60% of its sweetener needs, CFO Hector Treviño told analysts last month. Mr. Treviño said his bottler is at maximum capacity for HFCS and that, if anything, going forward it will buy more cane sugar—which is very cheap right now. Mexico is the world’s fifth-biggest sugar producer, and domestic bottlers have their own sugar refineries.

via Have No Fear, Your Mexican Coke Will Remain as Sweet as Ever – Corporate Intelligence – WSJ.

 Roman Sculpture, London, archeology, new discoveries: 

Archaeologists excavating at the future site of a 16-story hotel in London have uncovered a 1,800-year-old statue of an eagle with a writhing serpent in its beak.

The statue was carved in limestone from the Cotswolds and stands two feet (65 centimeters) tall. The right wing has broken off from the body, but otherwise the sculpture is intact.

The foundations of a mausoleum were also found at the site. Experts have concluded that the sculpture once adorned the tomb of a Roman-era Londoner, likely a high-ranking official or a prosperous merchant.

via Finest Roman Sculpture Ever Found in London Uncovered.

man’s best friend, corgis: 

In today’s edition of worst possible news ever: corgis — the dogs popular among the entire Internet and, of course, Queen Elizabeth — could soon earn a place on the endangered breed list. The stubby-legged bundles of cuteness are now on Britain Kennel Club’s “at watch” list and are set to be classified as a “vulnerable native breed” by January, AFP reports.

The club said only 241 Pembroke Welsh Corgis were registered this year, and it seems unlikely that they’ll reach the 300 registrations needed to stay off the vulnerable breeds list. The club says this decline correlates with the rise in popularity of smaller foreign breeds, like French bulldogs. (Which, for the record, are really ridiculously cute too.)

The Daily Telegraph, however, blames the decline on a 2007 ban on tail-docking, the practice of cutting off part of the animal’s tail. The Telegraph reports that many breeders say they can’t achieve the desired corgi look without tail-docking, and so many have simply given up on the breed.

So, it’s probably a combination of factors — horrible, terrible, no-good factors — that are coming together to try to wipe out our precious corgis and deprive us of the most divine cuteness the world has ever known.

Of course, it’s the viral content factory BuzzFeed that will probably take this news the hardest, as the site’s business model can be summed up as “mo corgis mo money.”

via Corgis Becoming Endangered: Queen’s Favorite Dog Breed At Risk | TIME.com.

Raymond Loewy, Google Doodle,  “Father of Industrial Design”, TIME.com:

Today’s Google Doodle honors what would have been the 120th birthday of Raymond Loewy 1893-1986, often referred to as the “father of industrial design” who ”made products irresistible at a time when nobody really wanted to pay for anything,” as TIME once wrote.He is the man behind the Lucky Strike cigarette pack, Coca-Cola vending machines, the Greyhound bus, the S1 Locomotive, logos for Shell and Exxon, plus the interiors of President John F. Kennedy’s Air Force One and NASA’s Apollo and Skylab “orbiters.” When he “streamlined” the Coldspot refrigerator design, sales at Sears went up, illustrating his famous line “between two products equal in price, function, and quality, the better looking will outsell the other.”

via Raymond Loewy Google Doodle Honors the “Father of Industrial Design” | TIME.com.

Moving Dollies, Buckhead’s Randolph-Lucas House, Around Town – Buckhead GA Patch:

On Wednesday morning, the moving dollies arrived onsite at the historic Peachtree Road home that was built in 1924 for Hollins Nicholas Randolph, a great, great grandson of Thomas Jefferson.

Due to the wet weather in Friday\’s forecast, the move will likely not take place this week. But it is coming and soon as foundation work at the Ansley Park locale has continued throughout the month as the attached Youtube video depicts.

For the move, the home will be horizontally split above the first floor, lifted by cranes and then transported on flatbeds. Utility lines will need to be moved temporarily as well.

Every piece of the home, except the kitchen, will be completely renovated and moved to the new location at 78 Peachtree Circle, about two miles away. The kitchen will be updated to a more modern one, but will still complement the home, according to HGTV Front Door.

via Moving Dollies Arrive for Buckhead’s Randolph-Lucas House – Around Town – Buckhead, GA Patch.

60 Signs You Studied Sociology In College:  I learn a lot from my children, so I actually got a few of these.

26. You’ve given up on trying to bridge the “natural science vs social science” divide.

via 60 Signs You Studied Sociology In College.

9.22.13 …. thanks, Alfred Hitchcock. I don’t think many films are that good …

Alfred Hitchcock, movies, quotes,  Twitter:  It costs a young family nearly $100 for a “date night.”  Dinner $30-40, movie $20, and babysitter $40.  I don’t think many films are that good.

Alfred Hitchcock

The Academy ‏@TheAcademy 2m

A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre admission and the babysitter were worth it.

— Alfred Hitchcock

via Twitter

 

7.28.13 … somethings are not “better than nothing” …

You’ve heard the phrase, “it’s better than nothing.”  Well, somethings are not.  Last night, John went to the Red Box and brought back “Dead Man Down.”  He said there was just nothing in the Red Box. He was right.

This movie was a gangster shoot to kill movie with a romantic twist that was inevitable.

Read a book.  That is always better than nothing.

Such is “Dead Man Down,” a thriller that piles on its absurdities so fast and with such apparent obliviousness that you hope (pray) you’ll soon be watching either a diverting art-film intervention, like Werner Herzog’s remake of “Bad Lieutenant,” or joy riding with one of those rarest of screen delights: the demented howler. “Dead Man Down,” unfortunately, turns out to be too innocuous to qualify as either actually good or delectably bad. Yet while Colin Farrell and his sensitive, hardworking eyebrows help keep it from becoming a full-bore lampoon, the gangland clichés, nutty plot and seemingly random casting choices (F. Murray Abraham, Armand Assante, Isabelle Huppert) stoke your hopes that true movie madness may rise out of the darkening shadows and pessimism.

via ‘Dead Man Down,’ Starring Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace – NYTimes.com.

5.17.13 … very random … let’s meditate on them …

meditation, integrative medicine program: 

unlikely prescription: meditation.

“I recommend five minutes, twice a day, and then gradually increase,” said Aditi Nerurkar, a primary-care doctor and assistant medical director of the Cheng & Tsui Center for Integrative Care, which offers alternative medical treatment at the Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospital. “It’s basically the same way I prescribe medicine. I don’t start you on a high dose right away.” She recommends that patients eventually work up to about 20 minutes of meditating, twice a day, for conditions including insomnia and irritable bowel syndrome.

Integrative medicine programs including meditation are increasingly showing up at hospitals and clinics across the country. Recent research has found that meditation can lower blood pressure and help patients with chronic illness cope with pain and depression. In a study published last year, meditation sharply reduced the risk of heart attack or stroke among a group of African-Americans with heart disease.

via Doctor’s Orders: 20 Minutes of Meditation Twice a Day – WSJ.com.

photography,  kith/kin: When great design and family antics catch your eye, capture the memories with photos that tell a story …

After you take the photo, bring it back home and make adjustments to the exposure, saturation and cropping. Read the info about your phone’s camera and practice using different settings. Use fun effects like those on Instagram. Lots of software programs and phone apps can help you make these adjustments, and many are free or low cost. Look into Pro HDR, Magic Shutter, Camera+ and other apps in your phone’s app store. GIMP has free photo retouching software, too.

via When great design and family antics catch your eye, capture the memories with photos that tell a story.

face of God, Christian community, Daily Meditation, Henri Nouwen:

 

The Mosaic That Shows Us the Face of God

A mosaic consists of thousands of little stones. Some are blue, some are green, some are yellow, some are gold. When we bring our faces close to the mosaic, we can admire the beauty of each stone. But as we step back from it, we can see that all these little stones reveal to us a beautiful picture, telling a story none of these stones can tell by itself.

That is what our life in community is about. Each of us is like a little stone, but together we reveal the face of God to the world. Nobody can say: “I make God visible.” But others who see us together can say: “They make God visible.” Community is where humility and glory touch.

via Daily Meditation: May 3, 2013 | Daily Meditation by Henri Nouwen.

Mt. Everest, climbing, Then and Now,  National Geographic:

 A lot has changed since the world’s tallest mountain was first climbed in the 1920s, when climbers donned reindeer fur boots and rusty steel crampons. See the evolution of gear and local culture in this gallery, then learn more in The Call of Everest from National Geographic Books. Next: See Sir Edmund Hillary’s 1953 gear compared to 2012 climber Hilaree O’Neill’s.

via Everest Climbing Gear—Then and Now – National Geographic.

The Avengers, movies,  reviews, Roger Ebert:

 Avengers however do share the same time and space continuum, although in recent years, they’ve been treated in separate, single-superhero movies. One assumes the idle Avengers follow the exploits of the employed ones on the news.

“The Avengers,” much awaited by Marvel comics fans, assembles all of the Avengers in one film: Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, the Black Widow and Hawkeye. This is like an all-star game, or the chef’s sampling menu at a fancy restaurant.

viaThe Avengers Movie Review & Film Summary (2012) | Roger Ebert.

scripts, voice-over commentary, Downton Abbey, Poldark, Ellen And Jim Have A Blog, Two:  Loved this and I had completely forgotten about Poldark!

It may be much of the original cast is now dead most of the principals are, but I’ve listened to and watched a DVD of the 1963 Robert Wise film of Shirley Jackson’s Haunting, where what was left of directors and writers and the cast produced intelligent insightful features and voice-over commentary — I took substantial notes on how the film was made. I suspect Poldark as a film still suffers from its original labeling as “swash-buckling soap opera,” and its not having had a widely-prestigious and single auteur type instead many directors, writers, directors. By contrast, Downton Abbey now has had at least two books The World of, The Chronicles of and the first of three projected scripts produced.

via From the Scripts and Voice-over commentary: Downton Abbey | Ellen And Jim Have A Blog, Two.

 

4.6.13 … Lincoln … Two Thumbs UP … I would like to be a cultural thinker … :)

Lincoln, movies, history: I knew I was going to see it, but waited  ’til it was out on DVD.  I wanted to watch it multiple times.  I friend’s son was in it … still looking for the dead soldier in the battlefield and his big shot as an escort (and his friend as a dancing extra at the ball). I thought the acting was very good, Lincoln especially.  Some  were still too much of themselves, or were they?

What really interested me was how little I knew about the history.  I now have a research project.  Where do I begin?

So from that standpoint alone, raising interest in history, I give Lincoln 2 thumbs up.  RIP, Roger Ebert.

There is an earlier shot, when it could have ended, of President Lincoln walking away from the camera after his amendment has been passed. The rest belongs to history.

via Lincoln :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews.

Steven Spielberg,  Lincoln, The New Yorker:

I now think that I initially reacted to “Lincoln” the way that so many Radical Republicans reacted to Lincoln himself: I was demanding perfection, and pouting when perfection wasn’t forthcoming. But compromise is inevitable—in life, in politics, in movies. That’s one of the movie’s messages, and one of its meta-messages, too. On second viewing, I put aside the nitpicking. I realized that the very narrowness of my complaints was backhanded evidence of the enormous amount that the film gets right. And, indeed, virtually every point that the story and script of “Lincoln” makes is grounded in historical fact, even if the conventions and limitations of a theatrical film, especially one that eschews narrations and “crawls,” sometimes require awkward or contorted “exposition.” If some of the dialogue “sounds written” rather than spoken, that is because so much of it is drawn directly from letters, memoirs, and speeches. (Also, sometimes fact is stranger than fiction: for example, the scene with Tad that I describe above in item eleven turns out to be mostly true, although the theatre manager’s behavior was less callous, because his announcement came after the rumor had already spread throughout the theatre.)

There is no doubt about the integrity and seriousness of purpose of Spielberg and his screenwriter, Tony Kushner. They took on an immense, probably insuperable challenge. If they did not fully meet my hopes and expectations (nor, I suspect, their own), they succeeded in making a very fine film, one that has no equal, no parallel that I know of, in the entire movie canon. “Lincoln” will be watched for many decades to come. It will be a standard resource in high school and college curricula, a wedge to lure students into deeper inquiry. As for me, I’m looking forward to seeing “Lincoln” a third time when the DVD comes out. And maybe a fourth.

via What Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln Got Wrong, and What It Got Right : The New Yorker.

Roger Ebert, RIP, film criticism: cultural thinkers…

No one will be able to recreate Ebert’s unique path into so many people’s lives. But curious and teachable cultural thinkers are already charting new ones.

via What Will Roger Ebert’s Death Mean For The Future Of Film Criticism.

Roger Ebert, TEDTalk, TIME.com:  Worth watching …

The late Roger Ebert was always candid about his battle with thyroid cancer and the toll it took on his body. As his cancer progressed, Ebert lost his ability to speak and the once-voluble film critic was forced to grapple with the loneliness and the loss of identity he experienced over relinquishing his voice, but not his ability to communicate. Turning to social media and the internet, Ebert continued to assess movies with his trademark directness and wit, even chronicling his experience as a cancer patient in his blog, Roger Ebert’s Journal.

In a gripping TED2011 talk, Ebert spoke with the help of a computer voice, two close friends and his wife Chaz, about how the Internet and digital revolution gave him his voice back.

via WATCH: Roger Ebert’s TED Talk On Losing, and Regaining, His Voice | TIME.com.

 

1.11.13 … Say what you will about the south … :)

The South:

via WUSY US-101

labyrinth walks:

“Solvitur Ambulando” – It is solved by walking.

Well it is 10:15 AM and it is 65° outside. That is way too warm for January. But it makes for very nice “walking and solving”.

Thoughts…

Wearing summer shoes 😦

Long conversation with fellow Davidson grad Carl McPhail who I had never met. We chatted about Davidson and labyrinths etc.

A very nice walk … — at Myers Park Baptist Church on 1.10.13

UNC-CH, AP classes, college admissions:  More  may not be better … Study finds that more AP classes may not be better – University Gazette.

Sliding Doors, movies I own, quotes: “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition” … james quoting Monty Python in Sliding Doors (1998) – IMDb.

 pop culture, board games, Monopoly, change:

I am partial to the top hat and the dog …

Monopoly tokens born in Chicago – Chicago Sun-Times.

CS Lewis, quotes:

via Zig Ziglar.

Steven Colbert, LOL:  He is just so funny … Watch The Colbert Report: Obama’s Failed Second Term online | Free | Hulu.

President Obama is turning out the way white males wanted him to, and Jack Lew’s sloppy signature will make America’s currency a laughingstock.

via Watch The Colbert Report: Obama’s Failed Second Term online | Free | Hulu.

The Barnes Collection, Phladelphia, bucket list:  On my bucket list … Higher now that I’ve seen this PBS special … About | The Barnes Collection | WHYY.

SouthPark – Charlotte,  Victorias Secret, crime:  50 bras … where did she stuff … stash … them?

 employee reported to police that a woman stole 50 assorted bras off a display table near the front of the store sometime between noon and 2:30 Thursday afternoon.

via Police: Thief snags 50 bras from SouthPark Victorias Secret | CharlotteObserver.com.

Wilmette IL, winter: Family builds coolest house in town.  🙂

For your real estate viewing pleasure: building with second floor patio balcony, architecturally daring circular indoor ramp and stunning central great-room in fashionable east Wilmette.

via Family builds coolest house in town – Wilmette Life.

Davidson College, kudzu, goats:  They’re back!

The cure for kudzu? It may be the common goat. Thirty of the persistent ruminants spent time on campus this summer, the latest weapon in davidson’s eff orts to curtail a 3.5-acre stand of kudzu on the cross-country trails. The initiative—completely sustainable!—was the brainchild of Rebecca mckee ’14, who suggested the college adopt “goatscaping” after seeing it work at her high school. kudzu is notoriously pernicious; introduced in the 19th century as an ornamental plant, it can grow up to a foot per day. But the goats’ eff orts were not for naught—in fact, their chomping was so eff ective that the animals were brought back this fall, to attack the kudzu that has re-sprouted since their departure. The hope is that by munching the weed down to the ground before winter, the goats will get closer to the root of the (kudzu) matter, perhaps eradicating the evil vine for good.

.

via Scene and Herd | davidsonjournal

2013 Academy Award Nominations, movies: I have not seen a single one of these … I now have a list! I’ll let you know what i think.

Best motion picture of the year

“Amour” Nominees to be determined

“Argo” Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers

“Beasts of the Southern Wild” Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, Producers

“Django Unchained” Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers

“Les Misérables” Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, Producers

“Life of Pi” Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, Producers

“Lincoln” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

“Silver Linings Playbook” Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, Producers

“Zero Dark Thirty” Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, Producers

via 2013 Academy Award Nominations Are Announced (Full List) – Speakeasy – WSJ.

Dr. Eben Alexander, Proof of Heaven, bookshelf:  I read Dr, Alexander’s book and really enjoyed and would recommend it.

7. Kathy Maloney- Urich: As a Neurosurgeon, if a person is on life support with no brain activity, not breathing on their own, do you believe they are already in heaven?

Yes, the spirit often has left the body before bodily death. In all of my talks with doctors, nurses and families, I urge them to say and act knowing that the spirit of the beloved is potentially aware and present, no matter what the state of the body. They may still be in transit to heaven at that point, but their spirit/soul is freed up, and well.

via Dr. Eben Alexander Answers Your Questions! – Katie Couric.

9.9.2012 … Football … Oh, my … it may be a long fall …

#FMSphotoaday, Panthers: 

9. “something you do most weekends”

Well, I watch football against my will … Well, not against my will. If the Panthers are away, I am at home on the sofa; if Panthers are at home, Bank of America Stadium, row 5.

My funny friend asked if I wanted her to take a picture of me sleeping. Zzzzzzzz

#FMSphotoaday

Being Green, Viral, FaceBook:  This one hit home …

Being Green

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, “We didn’t have this green thing back in my earlier days.”

The young clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment f

or future generations.”

She was right — our generation didn’t have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were truely recycled.

But we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.

But too bad we didn’t do the green thing back then.

We walked up stairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn’t have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts — wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right; we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she’s right; we didn’t have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the green thing back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person.

We don’t like being old in the first place, so it doesn’t take much to piss us off.

via Dennard Lindsey Teague.

The White House, FLOTUS, Kids’ State Dinner, Kudos:

The challenge: Come up with a healthy lunch recipe that includes all the food groups and tastes delicious. The reward: a once-in-a-lifetime trip to our nation’s capital to attend a Kids’ “State Dinner” at the White House, hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama. More than 1,200 creative junior chefs ages 8 to 12 submitted recipes for Epicurious’s first-ever Healthy Lunchtime Challenge contest, and on August 20, 2012, we met the 54 talented winners from across the American states and territories.

via The Healthy Lunchtime Challenge and Kids’ State Dinner at Epicurious.com.

Bookstores:  Interesting!  Flavorwire » 10 Awesome Bookstores Repurposed from Unused Structures.

News, Public Safety:  Speed Limit Hits 85 MPH on Texas Highway – WSJ.com.

American Chef Corps:  i like this … wouldn’t it be  a great job for a recent grad.

 Clinton is enlisting top-rated chefs from across the nation to join an effort to forge cultural exchanges over the dining table worldwide.

On Friday, more than 80 chefs are being inducted into the first American Chef Corps. These food experts could help the State Department prepare meals for visiting dignitaries, travel to U.S. embassies abroad for educational programs with foreign audiences or host culinary experts from around the world in their U.S. kitchens.

via State Department Enlists 1st American Chef Corps To Serve As Culinary Diplomats.

HOPE, law, criminal law:  Stupid …

A New York judge has sentenced artist Shepard Fairey to two years of probation and 300 hours of community service for lying and destroying evidence relevant to the Associated Press’ complaint that he’d used one of its images of Barack Obama as the basis for his iconic “HOPE” poster. Fairey admitted in 2009 he’d “submitted false images and deleted others in the legal proceedings.” He pleaded guilty to criminal contempt in February.

via Shepard Fairey gets probation for actions in AP photo case | Poynter..

culture, women’s movement:  The end of men?

The result, Ms. Rosin painstakingly shows, is virtually a reversal of the psychological landscape of the 1960s and 1970s. Then, men wondered why they should give up freedom and sex for marriage, child care and the burden of financial responsibility; now it is women asking that question. Then, men complained of clinging, freeloading wives; now Ms. Rosin hears repeatedly from women that, in the words of one executive, women should “be very careful about marrying freeloading, bloodsucking parasites.” Then, it was women who tamped down their aspirations, knowing the objective unlikelihood of attaining them; now it’s the men who have “fear of success” and a “why bother?” attitude. Then, if women had casual sex it was to keep the guy happy; now many have casual sex for their own pleasure and to keep from being derailed from their career goals with something “serious.”

via Book Review: The End of Men – WSJ.com.

TS Eliot, poetry: Just liked this one …

I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope

For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love

For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith

But the faith and the love are all in the waiting.

Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:

So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.

T. S. Eliot in Four Quartets

via I said to my soul, be still and wait without… • literary jukebox.

Things to Ponder:

“To the dumb question ‘Why me?’ the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply: Why not?”

…

“Generating interesting connections between disparate subjects is what makes art so fascinating to create and to view . . . we are forced to contemplate a new, higher pattern that binds lower ones together.”

via Why emotional excess is necessary to creativity, Hitchens on mortality, the science of why we cry, and more.

ObamaCare, US:  

As the country ages and more than 30 million new patients enter the health care system under the Affordable Care Act, experts predict that soon, there won’t be enough doctors for everyone who wants to see one—a shortage of 90,000 doctors by 2020, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. To meet the demand, a surging class of almost-but-not-quite-doctors known as physician assistants, are stepping up to fill the M.D.’s shoes.

via The doctor won’t be seeing you now – MarketWatch.

movies, film and lit:  Any you’d like to see?

Still, there are a few literary big-hitters that have yet to make their way to film. Franzen’s “The Corrections” is a prime example – although the National Book Award-winning novel was optioned by Scott Rudin, HBO announced in May of this year that they wouldn’t turn the pilot until a full series.

via Book Movies: 7 Novels That Should Be Adapted.

Downton Abbey:

“Downton Abbey” fans, there’s a new trailer for season 3, which airs on television soon in the U.K. but doesn’t hit these shores until January.via New ‘Downton Abbey’ Season 3 Trailer Arrives – Speakeasy – WSJ.

Oprah, Twitter, quotes:

“All things are lessons that God would have us learn”. Such a great teaching if you look at your whole life that way.#SuperSoulSunday

6.5.2011 … labyrinth walking … cereal for cities …

“Solvitur Ambulando” – It is solved by walking, Cereal for Cities, MPBC, labyrinths:  Great walk on the Chartres – esq labryinth … Birds are singing for me …  And I shared the sacred space with a beautiful woman named Eva. As she said … Namaste.  And I  left 4 boxes of cereal at MPBC — at Myers Park Baptist Church.

daily meditations:

Our Franciscan Saint Bonaventure, who wrote a lot about the Trinity, was influenced by a lesser-known figure called Richard of Saint Victor. Richard said, “For God to be good, God can be one. For God to be loving, God has to be two because love is always a relationship.” But his real breakthrough was saying that “For God to be supreme joy and happiness, God has to be three.” Lovers do not know full happiness until they both delight in the same thing, like new parents with the ecstasy of their first child.

…

Prayer:

God is a circle dance of communion.

via Daily Meditation: Meditations on the Mystery of the Trinity — June 5, 2012.

Queen of England, Diamond Jubilee, Bonnie Brown:  OK, everyone gets in on the act.

With the Queen of England’s Diamond Jubilee ramping up this weekend, we created two looks for the royal festivities. Check them out: http://bit.ly/JZNfw4

RedBox, movies, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy:  Anybody seen it? What did you think?  Liked it, but takes a great deal of concentration.  Loved MP’s comment:

You have to follow George’s eyeglass fashion to keep up with the changing times in the movie. I liked the book better than the movie.

1.7.2012 … Rest in Peace, Nancy Wells Johnson … There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray, love, remember … Another labyrinth walk at the African American themed labyrinth at Charlotte’s McCorey YMCA … The Debt …

Nancy Wells Johnson, RIP, Celebration of Life, rosemary, Shakespeare:

There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray, love, remember …

from Hamlet

Quote given with a sprig of rosemary at the celebration of life of Nancy Wells Johnson.

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labyrinth, Almetto Howie Alexander Labyrinth:  Very nice labyrinth … and unique.  Another labyrinth walk at the African-American themed labyrinth at Charlotte’s McCorey YMCA.

With patience persistence and prayer, a god-filled spirit can bring a seed to fruit. – Almetto Howey Alexander 2011

In 2002, Almetto Howey Alexander — a lifelong educator who served her community and received repeated recognition for her efforts for civil rights — was first inspired to build a labyrinth in her neighborhood of Washington Heights in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Having spoken with people who benefited from the healing, focus, spiritual meditation and peace of mind engendered by walking a labyrinth, she searched for a way to bring this source of peace to her community. She sought help in bringing her vision to fruition, reaching to the people she had always served and to other community leaders with whom she had worked.

Response from The McCrorey Family YMCA was enthusiastic, resulting in approval to install a labyrinth at its location on Beatties Ford Road in Charlotte, North Carolina.

In November 2007, Almetto Alexander attended the opening of the Jack Matney Memorial Labyrinth Courtyard, where she met Tom Schulz, the artist who designed and built the labyrinth and prayerwall located at Presbyterian Hospital’s center courtyard.

Mrs. Alexander established the Almetto Howey Alexander Labyrinth Foundation to raise the funds to build the labyrinth and its surrounding environment as a gift to her community. Although we still have a way to go inraising the funds (see “donate” for a current report), we are making progress and invite you to be part of it! There are many ways to donate and treat yourself to a representation of this important project in culture and history.

via Almetto Howie Alexander Labyrinth.

French, YouTube, LOL:  I’m not even good at faking it!  How To Fake French – YouTube.

The Debt, movies:  very enjoyable …

friendship, faith and spirituality:

The Gift of Friendship

Friendship is one of the greatest gifts a human being can receive. It is a bond beyond common goals, common interests, or common histories. It is a bond stronger than sexual union can create, deeper than a shared fate can solidify, and even more intimate than the bonds of marriage or community. Friendship is being with the other in joy and sorrow, even when we cannot increase the joy or decrease the sorrow. It is a unity of souls that gives nobility and sincerity to love. Friendship makes all of life shine brightly. Blessed are those who lay down their lives for their friends.

via Daily Meditation: The Gift of Friendship.

media, print media, digital media, design:  Maybe not gone yet ….

Danny Miller, the 31-year-old managing director of cutting-edge publishers the Church of London, surveys the completed pages. They capture a love of print that runs through his company’s illustrated film magazine Little White Lies and its surf, snow and skate bimonthly Huck. That passion is so infectious, digital giants like Google and Sony PlayStation have asked Miller’s team to help them make statements in this supposedly moribund medium. “Print certainly isn’t dead,” Miller says. “It’s just that you have to work harder and make something better and more beautiful for it to get noticed.”

…

The best place to feel the buzz of the new print scene is Printout, a regular event held at London’s Book Club bar that attracts a large crowd of 20-somethings in vintage glasses and skinny jeans. Speakers share tips on distribution and when to quit your day job. The event is organized by blogger Leslie and Steve Watson, founder of Stack, which sends subscribers a different new mag each month — from Dubai’s stereotype-defying style guide Brownbook to Melbourne’s quirky Wooden Toy Quarterly.

New York City will soon have its own Printout-style event organized by Jamin Brophy-Warren of Kill Screen magazine and Andrew Losowsky, Huffington Post books editor and Stack America’s curator. Losowsky is also planning magCulture exhibitions with Leslie for New Delhi and other cities. The Internet, he says, has simply forced would-be publishers to think harder. “It’s the best thing that ever happened because it means print can now focus on what it does well.”

via Think Ink: Why Print is Being Embraced By Designers – TIME.

12.12.2011 … I’m up to my ears in cupcake balls! …

holidays, food – desserts:  I’m up to my ears in cupcake balls! Cake Balls « bakerella.com.

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Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, marketing, Middle East, North Africa:

Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod touch are huge in the Middle East and North Africa, where they account for 55 percent of mobile Internet traffic, according to a new survey by Dubai-based Effective Measure. The iPhone and iPad in particular are doing well, splitting top device honors among the countries covered in the study.

During the month of October, Apple iPhone accounted for 29.6 percent of traffic from mobile devices, with the iPad accounting for 24.1 percent. The iPod touch added another two percent to the total for Apple devices. Apple’s iPhone was the most popular device overall, and the iPad second. RIM’s BlackBerry devices came in third, with 7.6 percent combined.

via Apple devices winning big in the Middle East and North Africa — Apple News, Tips and Reviews.

iPad:  iPad 3 on the way?

Now that Citi analyst Richard Gardner has kicked the rumor mill up a notch for those awaiting the next iPad, the speculation will likely being flying fast and furious.

Digitimes is reporting that the next Apple tablet will be coming out in three to four months — right about in line with Apple’s normal schedule for iPad releases. The Taiwanese tech site, which has a spotty record when it comes to predicting Apple’s next moves, has tapped into its supply line sources once again and reported that Apple will begin cutting back on iPad 2 production ins the first quarter of 2012. Why? To make way for the next generation, of course.

Apple is infamous for the control it exercises over its image — especially its retail stores. Customers often know Apple stores at a glance, since the company’s storefronts often employ the same stark, simple lines as its products while also reflecting the character of their surroundings.

Apple is known for having many successful product launches. But it had some unsuccessful ones too.

The report says that new iPads are expected to reach 9.5 to 9.8 million production units in early 2012.

The rumors could have a negative effect on Apple’s holiday sales, as consumers expecting an iPad3 to come soon may decide not to take the plunge and buy an iPad 2 now.

There was definitely some buyers’ remorse out there when Apple released the iPad 2 last March, adding cameras and slicing down the thickness. And, yes, there are some rumored features for the next iPad that would be nice to have, such as an HD screen and LTE connectivity. But, as is the nature of these kinds of rumors, there’s no guarantee than any of them is accurate.

via Report: New iPad coming this spring – The Washington Post.

 myths, all women’s colleges, lists:

1. We are all major feminists who are concerned with women’s issues

…

3. For fun, we have late night pillow fights in our underwear

…

5. We are all lesbians

via Top ten myths about all women’s colleges | USA TODAY College.

Penn State Scandal, Mike McQueary:  Key Witness’ Story Changes …

Mon, Dec 12, 2011 9:00 AM EST – ABC News 2:33 | 4,558 views

Questions raised about Mike McQueary

Penn State Scandal: Key Witness’ Story Changes

Questions raised about Mike McQueary, an eyewitness in the case.

via News Videos – Yahoo!.

‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting’, movies,  pregnancy handbook, romantic comedy:  Movie adapts pregnancy handbook into romantic comedy … go figure!

Lionsgate has released a trailer for the romantic-comedy adaptation of the pregnancy handbook, What to Expect When You’re Expecting.

We’ve embedded the trailer in the video above–what do you think?

Here’s more from Indiewire: “[Pregnancy] makes Elizabeth Banks hysterical, Dennis Quaid embarassed and Brooklyn Decker…well, she stays hot. Cameron Diaz, Anna Kendrick, Chris Rock, Matthew Morrison, Rodrigo Santoro, Chace Crawford, Jennifer Lopez, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Tom Lennon and Rob Huebel all round out the cast on this one.”

The film reportedly also contains celebrity cameos from Black Eyed Peas musician Taboo, reality starlet Whitney Port and UK singer Cheryl Cole. Director Kirk Jones helmed the project. Heather Hach and Shauna Cross wrote the script. The movie hits theaters in May 2012.

via ‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting’ Trailer Released – GalleyCat.

 La Rochefoucauld, quotes, happiness:

“We are so accustomed to disguising our true nature from others, that we end up disguising it from ourselves.”
— La Rochefoucauld

lawyers, careers, Great Recession, internet, websites, Shpoonkle: A new site lets jobless young lawyers underbid their more-experienced competitors for work! Welcome to Shpoonkle! Where Lawyers and Clients Connect..

New Lawyers Hang a Shingle on Shpoonkle, to Some Colleagues’ Chagrin

via Recent Law Graduates Offer Cheap Legal Counsel on Web Site, to Lawyers’ Chagrin – Students – The Chronicle of Higher Education.

websites, cooking, Cooking with Caitlin:  Another fun one…

Cooking with Caitlin (CWC) began Mother’s Day 2007, on Molly’s front porch, over a bowl of cherries. Caitlin was a brand new wife and mom, and had recently returned to Cincinnati having completed culinary school in Chicago. Molly and Kelly also had moved back to Cincinnati recently. Together they hatched a plan to be their own bosses in a food-focused business built around their growing families. The initial idea was simple: catering. A nights-and-weekends company that would give Caitlin the opportunity to play with food, Kelly would plan the parties, Molly would promote the business, and they would come together to make the events happen.

via Cooking with Caitlin.

toys,  retailing, Christmas:  No hit toys … another sign of the Great Recession?

With Christmas less than two weeks away, the toy industry has no runaway hit — leaving many toy shoppers bored and complicating how stores sell holiday inventory.

“We are not seeing people clamor for any single item,” Stephanie Lucy, vice president for toys at Target, said by e-mail.

The hitless season has retailers stocking less, leaning on classic items rather than new ones and possibly discounting less in the final days before Christmas. And with no Tickle Me Elmo or Zhu Zhu Pets to draw crushing crowds to the toy aisles, most retailers are being careful not to get stuck with unsold toys.

“As retailers look at consumer confidence numbers, they are skeptical about consumers’ willingness to spend this holiday season, and they are trying to avoid getting caught with too much inventory,” said Josh Green, chief executive of Panjiva, a supply-chain data company.

LeapFrog LeapPad Explorer, Hot Wheels Wall Tracks, Lalaoopsy Silly Hair dolls and some Lego sets are sold out or hard to find in many parts of the country, but that is mainly because of consistent demand rather than growing waves of frenzied shoppers.

via No Hit Toy to Brighten Retailers’ Christmas – NYTimes.com.

Christmas, Go-To Gift, Soul by Ludacris:  Since I have never heard of SOUL … must not be that big of a hit.

SOUL by Ludacris headphones are featured as the perfect gift for the audiophile in Newsweek Magazine‘s December article, “Tech for One, Tech for All: Stocking Stuffers for the Gadget Guru” by Brian Ries.  Along with SOUL he plugs the iPad 2 and Kindle Fire as this season’s go-to gifts.  (on newsstands now)

via Newsweek Magazine’s, “This Season’s Go-To Gift” [feature] | Soul by Ludacris.

science, biology, leaproach:  Yuck … Leaping cockroach discovered!

Cockroach haters beware: scientists have discovered a roach that jumps.

The newly discovered leaproach, which looks like a cockroach but acts like a grasshopper, is described in the journal Biology Letters.

via Leaping Cockroach Discovered – NYTimes.com.

Zoran Milich, NYC, photojournalism, Gothamatic, LIFE :  I love how LIFE has returned on the web!

Gothamatic: 12.12.11 – Photo Gallery – LIFE.

law school, education, practical applications:  Very well written … “The emphasis on practical short-term payoffs has already laid waste to the traditional project of the liberal arts, which may not survive. Is the law next? The law is surely a practice but it is also a subject, and if it ceases to be a subject — ceases to be an object of analysis in classrooms and in law reviews — its practice will be diminished. When a Times editorial declares that “[l]aw is now regarded as a means rather than an end, a tool for solving problems” rather than something of interest in its own right, one wants to say more’s the pity.”

This week marks the last sessions of my Yale law school class on law, liberalism and religion. In the course of the semester my students have learned how to read religion clause cases against the background of long-standing debates in philosophy and theology about the relationship between religious imperatives and the obligations of democratic citizenship. They have become adept at recognizing the arguments behind the arguments the justices are making explicitly. They can see how a case ostensibly about vouchers or school prayer or Christmas trees on courthouse steps is really about whether principle or history should inform a court’s decisions. They can see how a case about head coverings or beards in the military (a topic that has surfaced once again) turns on the distinctions set down in John Locke’s “Letter Concerning Toleration” (1689), a tract the justices may never have read. They can see how the majority and dissenting opinions in a free exercise case often reflect a tension between negative and positive liberty as these terms are defined by Isaiah Berlin, an author the justices will likely not have referenced. They can see how the entire history of religion-clause jurisprudence at once illustrates and is an extended critique of John Rawls’s attempt in “Political Liberalism” to devise a form of government that will be fair to religion while at the same time keeping it at arm’s length.

The question asked by an article and an editorial published recently in this newspaper is whether what my students have learned will be of any help to them when they enter practice. At first glance the answer seems to be “no,” if only because Berlin, Locke, Rawls, Hobbes, Kant, Unger and Rorty (writers whose work took up half the semester) are not currency in legal arguments; citing them in front of a court or in a memorandum is likely to be regarded at best as window dressing and at worst as showing off. (Not to mention the fact that few practicing attorneys are likely to be engaging with religion-clause issues anyway.)

…

In his response to Segal’s essay, Brian Leiter, a professor of law at the University of Chicago, rejects the question of whether what one learns in law school is of any help: “The criterion of scholarly inquiry is whether it makes a contribution to knowledge and understanding, not whether it ‘helps.’” Leiter adds that what he calls “genuine” knowledge often does help with “a host of concrete and practical problems.” But he refuses (rightly, I think) to justify the academic study of law on that basis, for, he explains, “it is the central premise of a research institution that the measure of its achievement is the quality of the scholarship, i.e. its contribution to knowledge — whether of law or biology or literature — not its practical payoff in the short-term.”

The emphasis on practical short-term payoffs has already laid waste to the traditional project of the liberal arts, which may not survive. Is the law next? The law is surely a practice but it is also a subject, and if it ceases to be a subject — ceases to be an object of analysis in classrooms and in law reviews — its practice will be diminished. When a Times editorial declares that “[l]aw is now regarded as a means rather than an end, a tool for solving problems” rather than something of interest in its own right, one wants to say more’s the pity.

via Teaching Law – NYTimes.com

Christmas, Christmas album, Christmas traditions, history:  Love this …

I’m a Christmas music traditionalist. Whereas I happily seek out new bands and explore new music throughout the year (and not just because it’s my job), around the holidays I become so conservative, so unyielding in my song choices — it’s Bing Crosby and Dean Martin or nothing — that the very mention of a contemporary Christmas album confuses and alarms me. Michael Bublé’s new Christmas record? Why don’t you just shave off Santa’s beard while you’re at it.

I just don’t approach Christmas songs the same way that I do regular ones. I’m not looking to broaden my musical horizons with a new rendition of “Jingle Bells.” I just want to listen to the same old songs (and watch the same old movies and drink the same old eggnog) that I always have. I’m probably doing it in a futile attempt to recapture some sense of childhood wonder. Isn’t that what Christmas is all about? Besides watching the A Christmas Story marathon on TV, that is.

But this year marks the first time that I’ve fallen for a new Christmas collection: A Very She & Him Christmas. The album — which came out in October because bandmembers Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward have fallen prey to the diabolical “Christmas creep” marketing machine — is a compilation of classic Christmas tunes that have been stripped down and injected with just the right amount of contrived nostalgia to trick me into into thinking that I’ve been listening to it all my life. Their version of the Beach Boys’ “Little St. Nick” deserves to be a new holiday standard. I’ve finally entered the world of the annual Christmas album and what a big, scary world it is. I have a lot of catching up to do, so I might as well start at the beginning.

Christmas music as we know it today didn’t really get going until the Victorian era, when Queen Victoria married her German cousin, Prince Albert. Suddenly, England had an excuse to adopt all of Germany’s fun Christmas traditions, like that of the decorated tree laden with presents. The customs were also picked up by the United States, which had only recently invented the concept of Santa Claus. All of this newfound holiday cheer helped revive the practice of group caroling. Carols had existed for centuries, though their popularity waxed and waned as different governments and religious movements periodically declared them sinful. (I’m look at you, Puritans). But in the 1800s they finally had their heyday. Between 1840 and 1870, the following carols were written: “Good King Wenceslas,” “Jingle Bells,” “Up on the Housetop,” “Away in a Manger, and “We Three Kings.” Those are just the ones that have stuck around; there are plenty of others that have long been forgotten.

via Music Monday: The Rise of the Christmas Album | Entertainment | TIME.com.

Steve Jobs,  Computer History Museum: Wonderful retrospective!

The “Blue Box” was a simple electronic gizmo that bypassed telephone company billing computers, allowing anyone to make free telephone calls anywhere in the world. The Blue Box was illegal, but the specifications for hacking into the telephone network were published in a telephone company journal and many youngsters with a flair for electronics built them. The “two Steves” had a great deal of fun building and using them for “ethical hacking,” with Wozniak building the kits and Jobs selling them—a pattern which would emerge again and again in the lives of these two innovators. (Wozniak once telephoned the Vatican, pretended to be Henry Kissinger and asked to speak to the Pope—just to see if he could. When someone answered, Woz got scared and hung up.)

via Computer History Museum | Steve Jobs: From Garage to World’s Most Valuable Company.

Illustrated Histories and the American Imagination, 1840-1900, online exhibition:  So much neat stuff out there!

In this online exhibit, explore and contrast the production histories of two mid-19th-century pictorial history projects.

Through interactive graphics, magnified images and text, come to understand the personal agendas and the two-way and three-way collaborations at work in the making of pictorial histories; that is, the relationships among publishers, artists and historians.

via Clio: Picturing the Past – American Illustrated Histories Online Exhibit.

Christmas, Christmas traditions, Christmas feast, recipes, history:  A Victorian Christmas Feast!

“Nothing pushes the nostalgia button at Christmastime more than Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, with its warming images of a candlelit tree and Victorian plenitude. Yet prior to the 19th century, Christmas was a very different holiday, and it was only in the Victorian era that our concept of Christmas as a child-centered family holiday arose. After reviewing the evolution of Christmas holidays, we will use 19th-century English cookbooks, such as Charles Francatelli’s The Modern Cook and Eliza Acton’s Modern Cookery for Private Families, to create a groaning board of Victorian delights, including Jerusalem Artichoke Soup; Lobster Fricassée; Baked Goose with Chestnuts; Roasted Filet of Beef à l’Anglaise; Endives with Cream; Christmas Pudding; Gingerbread; and Twelfth Night Cake.”

Cathy continued, “This is upper class food that we’re making tonight, that took a large staff in the kitchen to prepare, with no expenses spared, using the most luxurious ingredients. It’s also infusion cuisine made with expensive stocks, showing the French influence in this period. There’s also a fair amount of cream in many dishes with a touch of cayenne pepper, an influence of the British colonials in India. The French at this time would have just used nutmeg. There were many women cooks in the kitchens of the wealthy in England, and in France there were more men in the kitchens.”

via A Victorian Christmas Feast « Jane Austen’s World.

websites, design, Colossal:

If you haven’t seen Colossal, don’t worry: you will. It’s an art and design blog which is, well, what it says it is. It’s getting mentioned everywhere, including here on Hyperallergic. It so happens that the blog’s creator, Chris Jobson, and I have known each other for years, and we live about three blocks from each other on Chicago’s north side. So I thought I would see if the guy who’s responsible for bringing such cool stuff to the world’s attention would overcome his modesty and talk about himself for a few minutes.via An Interview with Chris Jobson, Creator of the Art and Design Blog Colossal.

 Zombie Borders, Germany, history:  My favorite article of the day … Read on …

Now defunct by just over two decades, the border between the two Germanys already seems like a surreal relic from a much more distant past. Was there really ever a 540-mile Strip of Death separating the two halves, from the Czech border to the Bay of Lübeck? There was – and it was quite hermetical, and very deadly [2] – but today a visitor might be forgiven for thinking otherwise.

These days, the so-called innerdeutsche Grenze is almost completely erased from the landscape, marked only by the occasional memorial placard along the Autobahn. The fences, the spotlights, the guard dogs and the tanks have all been withdrawn. But that doesn’t mean it’s gone. The line that separated the Federal Republic of (West) Germany from the (East) German Democratic Republic is a zombie border: it’s been dead a few times in the past, and that hasn’t stopped it coming back. The line between east and west existed long before the postwar split.

…

The Iron Curtain that divided Europe (and Germany) is gone. The European Union now includes much of Eastern Europe, and indeed some bits of the former Soviet Union. In Angela Merkel, Germany has its first chancellor raised in the former East Germany. Although many socio-economic indicators for the ex-GDR are still not up to par with the western half of Germany, the border itself has been thoroughly erased from the landscape.

So is that the end of Henry the Fowler’s thousand-year-old border? Maybe not. Erased borders are like phantom limbs – sometimes it feels like they’re still there, even when they’re manifestly not.

via Zombie Borders – NYTimes.com.