Publishers Marketplace: Susan Henderson
Susan Henderson quizzed fifty writers about their personal tastes, and published the responses. I especially liked Daniel Gregory on Bob Dylan.
The Old Guard
'The Chosen': Getting In - New York Times
In 1904, the Yale yearbook boasted of having "more gentlemen and fewer scholars than any other class in the memory of man."
David Brooks describes the rise of meritocracy in Ivy League admissions.
Time's Top 100
The Complete List | TIME Magazine - ALL-TIME 100 Novels
Time Magazine picks the 100 best English language novels since 1923, when Time started publishing. (Ulysses was published in 1922, so it does not make the list.) The list may say more about Time than about the novels. (What is Judy Blume doing there?) However, it is quite entertaining to read the mini-reviews of the critics, and there are several intriguing titles previously unknown to me.
Relationships
I heard Keith Ferrazzi speak at a conference this past weekend, and he made the point that relationships are like muscles; they grow stronger when you exercise them and atrophy when you do not.
Imitation of Christ
Lesbian Minister Defrocked By United Methodist Church
Mark Tooley, a conservative Methodist at the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington, said the rulings show that Methodism "is not moving in the direction of the Episcopal Church and declining liberal Protestantism in the West." Rather, he said, it "is moving in the direction of global Christianity, which is robustly orthodox."
The Methodist Church has apparently chosen to embrace bigotry by defrocking a lesbian minister and reinstating a minister who denied membership in his congregation to a gay man. Amidst much discussion of church law, there is little mention of the example of Christ. Once again, I am proud to be an Episcopalian.
Remembering Rosa Parks
Brain Drain
From abroad, challenges to US role as top innovator | csmonitor.com
Federal spending on research in the physical sciences, when measured as a share of the national economy, has been falling for four decades, notes Don Giddens, dean of engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, in Atlanta.
If we are losing our technological edge, much of the reason would appear to be our stinginess in supporting research.
Still Crazy After All These Years
It has been 36 years since he published "Slaughterhouse-Five," his breakthrough novel about a time-and-space traveler named Billy Pilgrim, the planet Tralfamadore and the firebombing of Dresden by Allied forces during World War II.
Juvenile, simplistic . . . maybe, but you've still got to love Kurt Vonnegut.
Scotsmen?
Weekly book reviews and literary criticism from the Times Literary Supplement
British lawyer jokes, while attributing "lying, greed and trickiness"� to lawyers, do not portray them as a "pestilential affliction"�, worthy of mass drowning. British lawyers are seen as "funny in the way that golfers and salesmen are funny". Or Scotsmen, perhaps.
Sleepless
Scientists Finding Out What Losing Sleep Does to a Body
According to the New York Times, too little sleep makes you fat. Guess I'm in trouble.
90-9
www.AndrewSullivan.com - Daily Dish
Andrew Sulllivan celebrates the Senate's historic 90-9 vote to ban the use of torture by the U.S. military and establish clear guidelines ffor interrogation. The House has yet to vote, but this vote is very encouraging.
Living Is Dangerous to Your Health
Serious Riders, Your Bicycle Seat May Affect Your Love Life - New York Times
The link between bicycle saddles and impotence first received public attention in 1997 when a Boston urologist, Dr. Irwin Goldstein, who had studied the problem, asserted that "there are only two kinds of male cyclists - those who are impotent and those who will be impotent."
Great. Just as I was congratulating myself on the health benefits of my new bicycle, the New York Times tells me too much bike riding leads to impotence. Then again, avoiding bicycle induced erectile dysfunction won't help me much if I keel over young from a heart attack.
Good Night, and Good Luck
Sounds like a movie worth seeing.
Neat Is Neat
What Your Office Says About You
In my ongoing quest for self improvement, my next resolution is to have a neat desk — the sign of an organized office and a good file system.
No Brainer
Buying of News by Bush's Aides Is Ruled Illegal - New York Times
Federal auditors said on Friday that the Bush administration violated the law by buying favorable news coverage of President Bush's education policies, by making payments to the conservative commentator Armstrong Williams and by hiring a public relations company to analyze media perceptions of the Republican Party.
PC Magazine Comments on Palm's Alliance with Microsoft
Palm to Use Linux
Mobile Open Source | Basic Info
PalmSource has announced that the next generation of the PalmOS will be based on Linux in order to better adapt the operating system to mobile phone technology. The announcement comes at a time when Palm, which makes Palm hardware, has announced that it is going to offer a Windows-based version of its Treo smartphone.
Breaking the Mold
Simon Wiesenthal Is Dead at 96; Tirelessly Pursued Nazi Fugitives - New York Times
For all his flaws and egotism, Wiesenthal led an exemplary life, and one in which there is much to emulate. He earned his status as a household word.
Duck - It's What's for Dinner
Recipes : Mighty Duck : Food Network
Update: The duck was successful beyond expectation: crisp on the outside, juicy on the inside, but not greasy. Alton Brown shows once again why he rules the kitchen.