LATEST ADDITIONS

<A HREF="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/04/16/070416fa_fact_colapinto">… Interpreter"</A> in <I>The New Yorker</I>, about Dan Everett's work on the Pirah, has generated a lot of discussion on the Interwebs. The MIT linguists, who subscribe to the Chomskyan <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_grammar">universal grammar theory</A>, fired <A HREF="http://www.physorg.com/news96558379.html">back</A&gt;. Now, Vera da Silva Sinha and Chris Sinha, two anthropologists who have done fieldwork with another Amazonian community and who have visited the Pirah, chime in.

<I>Business Week</I>'s Pallavi Gogoi offers a fascinating analysis of how Wal-Mart's decision to offer a sub-$1000 42" plasma TV last Christmas ruined the holiday for the entire retail electronics industry.

Read Matt Taibbi's obituary of Boris Yeltsin.

I was saddened to learn of Andrew Hill's death this weekend. Ever since I discovered his intensely original music, his recordings have been touchstones for me, including the brilliant <I>Passing Ships</I>, a record that was actually held back by Blue Note for 35 years as "unreleasable."

<A HREF="http://rogerbourland.com/blog/2007/04/21/7-leonard-cohen-hallelujahs/">… Bourland</A> has posted seven YouTube performances of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah": Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, Sheryl Crow, Allison Crowe, kd lang, Rufus Wainwright, and John Cale.

Threat, or menace? The BBC examines the question.