Arthur’s article Why we think the news is worse than it is. This led to a thread that I wrote about finding good news amongst the bad which are here and here and here.
People I know personally, at least one artist, seemed really irritated that a Norman Rockwell painting fetched a record price last month. This antipathy seemed to be tied to the notion of Rockwell as artistic pablum. Another view of the artist is Closet Case as Gay Icon. I find these assumptions interesting, but highly speculative.
I am tired of being the T in LGBT.
Albany, NY has been a city since 1686; got its first woman mayor in 2014.
The Albany Symphony Orchestra Wins a Grammy Award! And I went to that ASO concert the week the recording was made.
Re: the Chris Christie/George Washington Bridge story, Stereotypes still caught in gridlock. You’ve probably already seen the take by Jimmy Fallon and Bruce Springsteen.
Speaking of whom, an NPR interview with Springsteen.
Criticism of Israel is not anti-Semitic.
My Pete Seeger obit, which is a rewriting of what I wrote when he turned 90.
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The first obituary I saw for Amiri Baraka, formerly LeRoi Jones, whose Blues People book I loved, was a prolific author. Later stories focused on him being polarizing and controversial. I prefer the balanced NPR report.
Morrie Turner, R.I.P., creator of the comic strip Wee Pals, revolutionary in its own way.
Growing Up Unvaccinated. “I had the healthiest childhood imaginable. And yet I was sick all the time.”
In 1919 wave of molasses in the North End of Boston killed 21 people.
The Decoy Effect and, re: Fidel Castro, Elimination by Illumination, and early phone service via barbed bells and the medical wonder of tiny sideshows.
Lefty Brown is open-sourcing his weight loss and exercise.
About the new Presbyterian hymnal, written by my pastors’ niece.
50 Shades of Smartass, Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 and Chapter 11 and Chapter 12. Plus SamuraiFrog explains his visual autobiography.
Jaquandor is killing his darlings, so to speak.
The New York Times’ Most Popular Story of 2013 Was Not an Article.
Dates you won’t find on your calendar, such as January 0.
Happy introverts day was January 2. I so relate.
Melanie’s A Bit of Happy: Reading, Russian, and the Soviet Union and The Memory is in There.
Ever confuse palate, pallet, and palette? I did this month, but I had the good sense to stop and look it up before sending it.
The Official Website of William Schallert. He’s a character actor I know best as the dad in The Patty Duke Show.
The new and ugly Monopoly “Get Out of Jail Free” card.
Fables, Elfquest, Marvel’s Conan, and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman are the best fantasy comics of all time, according to Comic Book Resources.
Ever since two Atlanta Braves pitchers got elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame this month, people have been telling me about this commercial, which also features a former player NOT yet in the HoF, and who may never be.
Alex Trebek raps clues on ‘Jeopardy’, sort of.
Robert Downey Jr. sounding more like Sting than Sting does.
Leon Theremin playing the theremin.
Between the music and the history, well worth watching; I will say no more.
The history of Amazing Grace with Bill Moyers from 1990.
Quaker Parody: What Does George Fox Say.
We have two felines and can’t argue: Sorry, But Your Cat Is Actually A Total Jerk. It’s Just Science.
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GOOGLE LINKS (not me)
The website is the brainchild of Roger Green, founder, and owner of £10m national office cleaning contractor, Spotless Commercial Cleaning Ltd.
Re: Statistically speaking: ‘Anti-mayor’ voting block overstated. Brighton Independent By Greg Smith and Roger Green.
