For the last couple of days, I've been listening to one special CD from start to finish, and over and over again. I don't want it to ever end. Elizabeth must be sick of it. I'm sorry, Elizabeth. But, no: she's not sick of it because she understands. She knows what this is all about. And when I'm not listening to it, I'm holding onto it tightly, smiling over the lovely cover of sweethearts and peaches, reading the song titles from top to bottom and then from bottom to top. Memorizing the shade of red, imagining her hands putting it all together.

Over at EFF's <I>Deep Links</I> Fred von Lohmann has posted news that nearly caused me to stroke out at my keyboard. Basically, the RIAA has submitted a document to the triennial review of the DMCA, stating that "the fact that permission to make a copy in particular circumstances is often or even routinely granted [does not] necessarily establish that the copying is a fair use when the copyright owner withholds that authorization." In other words, they've changed their mind since last year, when RIAA mouthpiece Don Verilli told the Supreme Court, "The record companies . . . have said, for some time now . . . that it's perfectly lawful to take a CD that you've purchased, upload it onto your computer, put it onto your iPod."

English, she is a funny language as she is spoke. But strangest by far is the odd bunch of words we use to connote groups of animals. A <I>chain</I> of bobolinks? A <I>nuisance</I> of cats? A <I>raft</I> of otter? A <I>mob</I> of kangaroo&mdash;wait, shouldn't that be a <I>court</I> of kangaroo?

<I>Computerworld</I> posts a fascinating interview with J. Presper Eckert, who co-invented the first practical all-electronic computer&mdash;a <I>tube</I> computer.

Mostly because the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum had Julia Child do a hilarious Julia Child parody for its "Life on Other Worlds" exhibit, in which she "made" primordial soup. Still, sorry to see this theory go.

Maybe just better run. Mark Thoma at <I>Economist's View</I> has some thoughts. So do his readers.

Over at <I>Popular Science</I>, there's a post about a gargantuan "cruise blimp" that just seems too cool to ever get built. Check out the illustration of the observation deck&mdash;it's like an irony-free <A HREF="http://www.jamesgoodmangallery.com/mccall/pages/exhibframez.html">Bruce McCall</A> illo, which is kind of disorienting.