<I>Mapsofwar.com</I> has posted a nifty animated map showing the imperial history of the Middle East: the rise and fall of empires and states in the region over 5000 years. There are other, similar maps at the website, showing, among other things,the ebb and flow of religions over the ages.
Ever since I posted "Interval Library" yesterday, people have been sending me more librarian humor. Today, we have an international contender, supplied by constant reader John Marks.
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Robert P. Crease's <A HREF="http://physicsweb.org/articles/world/20/1/8/1">article</A> on the importance of letters between scientists in helping us appreciate the evolution of ideas planted the thought, but Adam Kirsch's review of Robert Frost's notebooks really has me wondering: Now that we communicate so much through email—and revise our drafts without saving them—will future scholars have to judge us only on our published copy?
Is there an anthropological record of a chimpanzee stone age?
That's pretty much what David Hewlett said. As a result, he made <I>A Dog's Breakfast</I> for less than a million—it's a long tail thang.
John Atkinson sent me a link to <I>Time</I>'s Rick Rubin interview. I can see why JA liked it—Rubin's production philosophy reminds me a lot of the way JA edits and records.
Here's something you probably never even knew existed: music librarian humor.
Neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran ponders self-awareness.
<I>Allen's English Phrases</I> sounds like a fun read.
On Saturday, February 10, collaborative improvisation band Attention Screen gave its debut at Manhattan's Merkin Hall at Kaufmann Center to a packed house. The event was recorded by John Atkinson for release in May as a <I>Stereophile</I> CD, possibly followed by a limited-edition DVD-A.