Spider Chastity Belts
Didn't they back up Ziggy Stardust?
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Farewell to Newspapers
Russell Baker's essay in the <I>NYRB</I> is ostensibly a review of two new books bemoaning the current state of journalism. The real pleasure, of course, is reading Russell Baker's take on the subject. Gosh, I miss him.
Rumors, Hope and Hype
Nope, not politics—physics.
Alpha-Ylangene
It's the compound that makes wine smell peppery. One scientist said, "If you can measure something, you can understand its behaviour and how to control it." Hmmm, that sounds oddly familiar.
Digital Lysenkoism
Cory Doctorow has a new column in <I>The Guardian Unlimited</I>, which in itself is great news. Even better, he hits one out of the park first time out, with a comparison of DRM and ideologically comforting junk science.
Jukin'
Junior (John L. Doughty, Jr.) is a Mississippi Delta cultural anthropologist who documents juke joint culture. That means he gets to hang out in jukes and talk to people (and photograph it all). What a great job.
Recording of June 1992: Nevermind
<B>Nirvana: <I>Nevermind</I></B><BR>
Geffen/Sub Pop DGCD-24425 (CD only). Butch Vig, Nirvana, prods. AAD. TT: 59:22
Heavy Metal Clean-Up
I already thought <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerogel">aerogel</A> was amazing, but now it appears that it can clean heavy metals and organic pollutants. I knew I should have bought stock.
Good News—Maybe
Zbigniew Herbert’s <I>Collected Poems, 1956-1998</I> is good news for those of us who have long admired his poetry. Or so I thought, until I read David Orr's <I>NYT</I> article about the Alissa Valles translations used in the new book.
Gustavo Dudamel
Born in poverty on the outskirts of Barquisimeto in the Venezuelan interior, Gustavo Dudamel has become what Simon Rattle calls "the most astonishingly gifted conductor I have ever come across."