Library Ninja!
Admit it, you've always wanted this to happen.
Wes Phillips
Touchstone
It's a good thing for us that Jeremy Denk got restless at a concert recently. One thought led to another, he rushed home to check out a CD he thought linked to his thoughts, and the next thing we know, he's deep into an analysis of the chorale in Beethoven's "Spring" sonata (No. 5 in F, Op. 24).
Everything We Thought We Knew About the Sun Is Now Out of Date
The Japanese orbiting solar observatory Hinode has captured startling images of the Sun's outer limb and giant magnetic field loops crashing down into its surface. "Where astronomers expected to see a calm region called the chromosphere, they saw a seething mass of swaying spikes."
Roll Over Beethoven
"Intelligent teenagers often listen to heavy metal music to cope with the pressures associated with being talented, according to research."
The Peculiar Pleasure of Ear Plugs
Thomas Beller meditates on the pleasures of taking an aural time out. At Tyll Hertsens' urging, I began doing this about 10 years ago—it's amazing how much it makes you hear what you normally tune out. Of course, that's not always a good thing, as Beller points out.
Pimp My Book Cart
Who knew there was so much librarian humor out there?
Made in New York
Business Week has a cool photo essay on the making of a Steinway. The accompanying article is worth reading, too, but the pix are primo.
Music and the Brain
Greg Stepanich watches House. It seems like he got more out of the recent episode featuring Dave Matthews than I did.
Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction
Especially when it comes to Nikola Tesla.
The Strange Case of George Trow
Here's a good example of why it is sometimes better to only know a writer through his writing.