Just a reminder that there are only 11 days left until <A HREF="http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html">Talk Like a Pirate Day</A>.

Maps with South on the top. Antipodal revenge?

Portly? Could be your genes. Beautiful? You may be a genetic lottery winner. Your personality, though, that's probably 80% your fault.

Frederick Crews' <I>Follies of the Wise</I> puts the boot to Freud, creationism, and "peacemaking scientists" who attempt to reconcile science with "improbable claims that are in principle empirically testable."

"I don't dare open the file you left in my folder," says JA.

What a shock, a hard-hitting <I>Slate</i> article&mdash;on Robert Christgau's firing, no less. Jody Rosen's appreciation of Christgau is spot on: When he's good, he's brilliant, but he does have some seemingly inconsistent blind spots.

Did Kandinsky <I>hear</I> his paintings?

Scott Berkun has written a nice essay on writing&mdash;or more specifically, on overcoming writer's block. He leaves out the one that usually works for me: Work for an editor you don't want to disappoint. Of course, spending the money before you get the check works, too&mdash;although apparently not for everyone.