Month: November 2011

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

11/11/11 … Seven wonders of the natural world … Surfing a 90-foot wave … Best foods for winter … Love in Mexico.

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism. Read past recommendations from this series here.

1. 11-11-11 brings lucky babies, bets and brides
By Matt Sedensky | Associated Press | Nov. 10
“In years to come, babies born Friday should have no trouble remembering the date — and in some cases, the exact minute — of their birth. The day marked the 11th day of the 11th month of 2011. From China to New York, people celebrated the convergence of 11s with a splash by placing bets, tying the knot or making a wish.”

2. Tweets before suicide point to teen’s sexual abuse
By Mike Tolson | Houston Chronicle | Nov. 9
“Ashley Billasano kept the pain locked inside her for years, allowing only a handful of people closest to her to have a glimpse. On Monday, the 18-year-old Rosenberg high school student let it all out in a torrent of messages on Twitter – the sexual abuse that she said ruined what should have been some of the best years of her life, her inability to see justice done on her behalf. Then she killed herself.”

3. Seven wonders of the natural world — in pictures
The Guardian | Nov. 10
“A list of the new seven wonders of the natural world is about to be announced following a global poll. But which sites will make the cut? We present the 10 most likely candidates”

4. Learn more about the Mars Curiosity lander
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory | Nov. 9
Learn some quick facts, get an overview of the mission, study the latest science on Mars and read about past and planned missions.

5. Surfer rides 90-foot wave, claims record
By Eric Lach | Weird Wide Web :: GlobalPost | Nov. 9
“Surfer Garrett McNamara is claiming a world record after riding what he says was a 90-foot wave, and he’s got video he says proves it.”

6. A road to Mecca
Al Jazeera English | Nov. 9
“More than 80 years ago, one man crossed the frontline between the Muslim world and the West — we retrace his journey.”

7. Best Comfort Foods for Winter, with Recipes and Photos
By Jaymi Heimbuch | Treehugger | Nov. 8
“Best Comfort Foods for Winter, with Recipes and Photos”

8. The rules of attraction are different in Mexico
NewsTaco | Nov. 9
“Two years have passed since the last time I spoke to her and a couple of days ago, I received a Facebook message from her. She wanted to know what happened to me. … She already has a wedding planned out.”

9. Airdrop Design Pulls Water From Air to Irrigate Deserts
By Jaymi Heimbuch | Treehugger | Nov. 8
“The winner of this year’s James Dyson Award is one that focuses on the water crisis in Australia. A continent faced with severe droughts, it is no wonder that Edward Linacre from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne wanted to come up with a solution that will provide fresh water where there is no source on the ground.”

10. Why Obama’s 2008 Coalition Won’t Save Him This Time
By William Galston | The New Republic | Nov. 8
“Individuals identifying with the Democratic Party are a smaller share of the American people than they were early in 2008, and their views are less representative of the people as a whole. This means that the Obama team, which faces the crucial choice of either doubling down on its 2008 winning mix of professionals, young people, and minorities or rebuilding support among Independents in the heartland, should emphasize the latter option.”

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TUNES

My soundtrack for today included:
1. I’M LIFE The Fixx
2. ANGELINA FLASHBACK Jan Hammer
3. LOMBARD Jan Hammer
4. POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME Def Leppard
5. TURNING POINT Jan Hammer
6. WHO ARE YOU John Murphy
7. DESIRE U2
8. WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE Bon Jovi
9. I WISH SOMEONE WOULD CARE Irma Thomas
10. NIGHTTIME IS THE RIGHT TIME Ray Charles

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

A self-checkout app … Herman Cain’s familiar style … A failed Russian probe … Shadows of a green life … Preparing for a major Midwest quake.

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism. Read past recommendations from this series here.

1. Why Green ‘Lifestyle Choices’ Will Never Save Us
By Sami Grover | Treehugger | Nov. 10
“Lights get left on when they shouldn’t. I drive places I probably don’t need to. And I confess that my wife and I still get a little lazy when it comes to line drying our clothes. All this lead to a conversation the other day about whether there is any hope.”

2. Is Money Wasted Preparing for a Major Midwest Quake?
By Richard Monastersky and Nature | Scientific American | Nov. 10
“The government says that a huge earthquake risk lurks in the heart of the country, where a series of large shocks hit 200 years ago. Seth Stein says that kind of warning is dead wrong”

3. Cain was known for casual style with staff at association
By Krissah Thompson and Aaron C. Davis | The Washington Post | Nov. 10
“As a boss, Herman Cain made it a habit to stop by and talk to his employees, even the lowest-ranking. Often, he suggested that staffers, men and women, continue the conversation over drinks or dinner — one of many ways he blurred lines between the social and professional.”

4. Russian Mars probe stuck in Earth’s orbit after engines fail to fire
Reuters | Nov. 9
“Spacecraft was to visit Martian moon of Phobos and bring back soil sample but looks like joining list of failed red planet missions”

5. Are cookbooks obsolete?
By Julia Moskin | The New York Times | Nov. 8
“Many early cooking apps were unsatisfying: slow, limited, less than intuitive and confined to tiny phone screens. Even avid cooks showed little interest in actually cooking from them. But with the boom in tablet technology, recipes have begun to travel with their users from home to the office to the market and, most important, into the kitchen.”

6. Obama improves on foreign affairs, struggles on fiscal matters
By Lydia Saad | Gallup.com | Nov. 9
“Approval on the economy, creating jobs, and the federal budget deficit is stuck near record lows”

7. Scan on a mission
By Jane Dornbusch | The Boston Globe | Nov. 9
“Stop & Shop’s new smartphone app works as a super-fast self-checkout”

8. Is ‘camioneta’ really more correct than ‘troca’?
NewsTaco | Nov. 7
“Isn’t language a means to communicate our reality? And if our reality is that ‘troca’ is a more recognizable term than ‘camioneta,’ it would seem to follow that this word should be in the dictionary. But it’s not, and that’s kind of sad.”

9. Clinton Aims for ‘AIDS-Free Generation’
By Donald G. McNeil Jr. | The New York Times | Nov. 8
“The interventions she endorsed, based on successes in clinical trials in the last two years, include circumcision for men, multidrug cocktails for pregnant women, and getting drugs to patients as soon as they are first infected rather than years later when they fall sick.”

10. The Reckoning Begins
By Michael Moran | The Reckoning :: Slate | Nov. 7
“Thanks to a catastrophic series of decisions by presidents of both parties that radically deregulated our financial system and arrogantly dismissed the “lessons of Vietnam” as dusty, irrelevant history, the United States has shortened the period during which it will remain the dominant power in the 21st century.”

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TUNES

Tonight I’m spending some time with the blues, specifically with the Texas Blues Café. Check out the line-up and then listen here.

1. Mike Zito — 39 Days
2. Chris Rea — Lone Star Boogie
3. The Terry Quiett Band — Long Saturday Night
4. Lady Antebellum — Lookin’ for a Good Time
5. The Insomniacs — Angry Surfer
6. Anna Popovic — Get Back Home to You
7. Stevie Ray Vaughan — The Sky is Crying
8. Douglas Acres — Grand Theft Mojo
9. Tommy Crain & The Cross Town All Stars — For the Music
10. Grace Potter & The Nocturnals — Some Kind of Ride
11. Los Lonely Boys — Texican Style
12. Beau Hall — Hell & Ecstasy
13. Preacher Stone — Mother To Bed

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Enduring machismo … Obama’s route to 2012 … Women’s sex lives … Special forces in Afghanistan … Understanding female veterans.

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism. Read past recommendations from this series here.

1. Female veterans carry special war baggage
By Paula J. Caplan | WeNews | Nov. 10
“Female veterans’ homecoming can be complicated by their experience of the hyper-masculinity of the military, Paula J. Caplan writes in this excerpt from ‘When Johnny and Jane Come Marching Home: How All of Us Can Help Veterans.’ ”

2. In Afghanistan, special units do the dirty work
By Carmen Gentile | USA Today | Nov. 10
“In Afghanistan, military officers and analysts say Special Forces have boosted security in areas once held by the Taliban. They are getting increased cooperation from locals to repel insurgents in what former U.S. commander David Petraeus calls a potential ‘game changer’ for the country.”

3. 25% of Mammals at Risk of Extinction, IUCN Reports
LiveScience | Nov. 10
“About one in four mammal species are at risk of extinction, and the Western black rhino has officially been declared extinct, according to a new assessment of biodiversity by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and partners.”

4. Why Cain’s problems don’t help Obama
By Sam Youngman | Ballot Box :: The Hill | Nov. 9
“If you’re a Democrat, what’s not to love about the saga of Herman Cain and his allegedly busy hands? For Democrats working to get President Obama reelected, the answer is a lot: Herman Cain could be hurting the president’s shot at four more years.”

5. My love-hate relationship with machismo
By Sara Ines Calderon | NewsTaco | Nov. 10
“I love a strong, hairy, burly, well-fed, commanding, in-control, macho. It’s true. I don’t like men trying to control what I say, how I say it, how I dress, where I go, with whom I speak and just generally being insecure jerks trying to empower themselves by taking my power away. Therein lies the dilemma.”

6. Batman and ‘Bitches’
By G. Christopher Williams | PopMatters | Nov. 9
“In noir, men do bad things to women, women do bad things to men, people do bad things to each other. One of the central conceits of noir is very simple: people are creeps.”

7. BP Oil Spill Cleanup: Coast Guard Approves Plan To End Operation
By Cain Burdeau and Dina Cappiello | The Huffington Post | Nov. 8
“According to the document … the Coast Guard spells out protocol for ending the cleanup. It has been going on since April 20, 2010, when the Deepwater Horizon exploded off the Louisiana coast.”

8. WomenTALK 2011 Survey on Sex: What We Want Isn’t What We Get
By Emma Gray | The Huffington Post | Nov. 8
“There’s a lot wrong with the way this survey is presented, but one valuable piece of information it offers is that only 42 percent of the women surveyed rated sexual health as ‘very or extremely important’ to their overall health.”

9. Democrats More Liberal, Less White Than in 2008
By Frank Newport, Jeffrey M. Jones, and Lydia Saad | Gallup.com | Nov. 7
“Party generally looks demographically similar to 2008.”

10. On electoral map, Obama still has routes to victory in 2012
By Chris Cillizza | The Fix :: The Washington Post | Nov. 6
“The grim economic state of the country has created a toxic political environment for Obama. But the ground on which the 2012 election will be fought still favors him and should give Democrats some hope that he can claim a second term in a year’s time.”

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Cooking a steak … Ending the Cuban embargo … An asteroid flyby … Texas Democrats win … Voyager 2’s second wind.

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism. Read past recommendations from this series here.

1. Voyager 2 to Switch to Backup Thruster Set
NASA | Nov. 5
“The change will allow the 34-year-old spacecraft to reduce the amount of power it requires to operate and use previously unused thrusters as it continues its journey toward interstellar space, beyond our solar system.”

2. Day After Day, Her Voice Takes Listeners to the Stars
By Sonia Smith | Texas Monthly and the New York Times | Oct. 29
“On a clear, cool night in the early 1960s, a father drove his young, pajama-clad daughter to one of the T-head piers on Corpus Christi Bay to marvel at an object in the sky. The girl who peered up at the sky was Sandy Wood, and this year marked her 20th anniversary as the voice of the nationally syndicated radio program ‘StarDate.’ ”

3. Texas Democrats Win Redistricting Battle
By Jessica Taylor | Hotline On Call :: National Journal | Nov. 8
“A Washington, D.C. federal court blocked the Republican-drawn Texas redistricting maps in a ruling, clearing the path for a three-judge panel to draw new congressional lines expected to benefit Democrats.”

4. Big asteroid has close encounter with Earth
By Irene Klotz | Reuters | Nov. 8
“With a diameter estimated at 400 meters, or about a quarter of a mile, Asteroid 2005 YU 55 is the biggest asteroid to make a close pass by Earth since 1976.”

5. Madness marches on
By Peter Brookes | The New York Post | Nov. 6
“With Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki and Moammar Khadafy swept into the dustbin of history and the full US withdrawal from Iraq in the works, there’s a prevailing sense that, for us, all’s reasonably right with the world. Pity, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.”

6. 10 More Stubborn Food Myths That Just Won’t Die, Debunked by Science
Lifehacker | Nov. 7
“We asked our nutritionists back to debunk some more common misconceptions about food, health, and nutrition that are still widely believed, even though there’s overwhelming evidence to the contrary. We also asked them some of your questions. Here’s what they said.”

7. Commando-Style DEA Squads Fight Cartels Abroad
By Evann Gastaldo | Newser | Nov. 7
“Squads train local authorities, but sometimes things get ugly”

8. Why the U.S. Should Drop the Embargo and Prop Up Cuban Homeowners
By Tim Padgett | Global Spin :: Time | Nov. 5
“It may not lead to a Caribbean Spring in Cuba – but then, neither has five wasted decades of embargo. The bottom line is that Washington needs to conjure the common sense to engage alternatives when Castro himself provides them.”

9. How to pan fry steak
BBC Food | June 2009
“Chef Barney Desmazery runs through the best way to cook Sirloin Steak medium rare.”

10. Turkish students bond over earthquake experiences
By Victoria Garten | The Oklahoma Daily | Nov. 7
“Oklahoma’s recent earthquakes have not fazed Turkish exchange student Mehmet Ali Nerse because he’s been there before.”

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

An appraisal of Joe Frazier … Corruption in Africa … Magic Johnson’s HIV announcement … Herman Cain’s insurgency … The Pentagon’s most powerful woman.

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism. Read past recommendations from this series here.

1. A revolution for all seasons
Empire :: Al Jazeera English | Nov. 5
“The winds of change have swept the Arab world, with uneven results. Progress in places like Tunisia and Egypt, repression in Syria, bloody stalemate in Yemen, and unfinished business in Libya: the Arab Spring is at a crucial stage.”

2. Michele Flournoy, Pentagon’s highest-ranking woman, is making her mark on foreign policy
By Emily Wax | The Washington Post | Nov. 6
“Today, she holds the title of undersecretary of defense for policy. Like her father, she avoids boasting about her accomplishments, although she’s navigating some of the most vexing foreign policy challenges in the history of the Pentagon. And she’s something of a mystery to outsiders.”

3. Cat’s eye irises don’t need brain to adapt to the dark
New Scientist | Nov. 7
“Mammals were thought to rely on signalling between the eye and brain to resize the pupil and control the amount of light reaching the retina, but [researchers] discovered that eyeballs isolated from animals that are active at night or at dusk and dawn … continued to respond to light”

4. The Ironic Populist
By Michael Signer | The New Republic | Nov. 7
“How Herman Cain’s Insurgency Marks the Beginning of a New Political Era”

5. Magic Johnson looks back on HIV announcement 20 years later
By Matt Brooks | The Early Lead :: The Washington Post | Nov. 7
“On that difficult day in 1991, Johnson made a conscious decision to become the face of HIV — a choice that has helped raise awareness worldwide and continues to resonate with the work of the Magic Johnson Foundation.”

6. ‘Carlos the Jackal’ on trial for 1980s bombings in France
CNN.com | Nov. 7
“The 62-year-old, whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, was once among the world’s most wanted fugitives. He is on trial for his alleged role in the attacks on two trains, a train station and a newspaper office in France in 1982 and 1983. The bombings killed 11 and injured more than 100.”

7. A Champion Who Won Inside the Ring and Out
By Dave Anderson | The New York Times | Nov. 7
“Some people mean more together than they do apart, whatever the stage. Churchill and Hitler. Bogart and Bacall. Ali and Frazier. And for all the deserved accolades for Muhammad Ali, I’ve always believed that each at his best, Joe Frazier, who died Monday night at age 67, was the better fighter. And the better man.”

8. 49th Anniversary of Eleanor Roosevelt’s Death
In Roosevelt History | Nov. 7
The famed and controversial first lady died in New York City in 1962.

9. It is four o’clock in the morning …
By Ron McCullagh | Al Jazeera English | Nov. 6
“Exposing the real hurdles stunting development in much of Africa: corruption, cronyism and the politics of fear.”

10. Attack at Lod Airport
Witness :: BBC News | May 31
“It is almost 40 years since an attack at the airport outside Tel Aviv – more than 20 people were killed.”

‘Arch of rosy clouds’

Part 10 of this special series focuses on John Ruskin, an English writer, academic and critic who, like so many others presented in the Morgan Library exhibit, turned to a diary to assuage the pain of depression and anxiety.

This special Stillness of Heart series explores the Morgan Library & Museum’s fascinating exhibit, “The Diary: Three Centuries of Private Lives.”

Part 10 focuses on John Ruskin, an English writer, academic, and critic who, like so many others presented in the Morgan Library exhibit, turned to a diary to assuage the pain of depression and anxiety. Ruskin, however, went a step further and used his diary as a primary resource in the study and analysis of his own disorder. As the introductory essay points out, Ruskin “was determined to study his own patterns and learn enough about himself to remain sane. … He re-read his earlier entries, searching for signs leading up to his breakdown, underlining key words and phrases, compiling an index of his experience, and putting down on paper all he could remember of his psychotic visions.”

“No getting things done in this house. Lost all yesterday calling on Marshalls in morning. Fine afternoon, throwing down stones in the wood with Diddie and Maggie. Exquisitest purple I ever saw on hills, in afternoon, and arch of rosy clouds all over old man [a nearby mountain] and opalescent green-blue and rose over blue Helvellyn, divine, but my evening spoiled by finding the poor chaffinch’s nest in ruins, and nestlings dying. A hawk, I fancy, pouncing on the mother;– not able to return for the brood. “

Examine images of his diary and listen to the museum’s audio guide here.

Entries in this series:
Part 1: Introduction to the exhibit and Charlotte Brontë
Part 2: Frances Eliza Grenfell
Part 3: Sophia and Nathaniel Hawthorne
Part 4: Paul Horgan
Part 5: John Newton
Part 6: Mary Ann and Septimus Palairet
Part 7: Walter Scott
Part 8: Bartholomew Sharpe
Part 9: Tennessee Williams
Part 10: John Ruskin

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Black holes … Differences among the GOP presidential candidates … Mummies in the house … Beating winter blues … Running the right way

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism. Read past recommendations from this series here.

1. What’s that strange disk around that black hole?
By Nicole Gugliucci | Discovery News | Nov. 5
“Recently, using the Hubble Space Telescope, the light from the accretion disk around a black hole has been measured for the first time.”

2. Excavating key differences among GOP candidates
By Calvin Woodward | Associated Press | Nov. 7
“The Republican presidential candidates sound much alike in their zeal to shrink government, cut taxes and replace President Barack Obama’s big health care law with, well, something entirely different. It takes some digging to see the distinctions.”

3. Report: Ames Jones to Challenge Wentworth
By Ross Ramsey | Texas Tribune | Nov. 7
“Elizabeth Ames Jones, who left the Legislature for a spot on the Texas Railroad Commission, will reportedly get out of the U.S. Senate race to run instead for the Texas Senate against incumbent Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio.”

4. Kay Bailey Hutchison says Rick Perry ‘was very brutal’ to her two years ago
By Richard Dunham | PerryPresidential | Nov. 6
“Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison may have forgiven Rick Perry for the things he said during their bitter 2010 primary battle for governor, but she surely hasn’t forgotten.”

5. Russia: Mummified Bodies Found At Historian’s Home
Associated Press | Nov. 7
“Ministry spokesman Valery Gribakin said Monday that the suspect from the Volga River city of Nizhny Novgorod dug up the bodies at several cemeteries in the region. The man, whose identity was withheld, dressed them in clothes dug up from the graves.”

6. 8 Ways to Beat the Winter Blues
By Maia Szalavitz | Healthland :: Time | Nov. 4
“As the days get shorter and winter closes in, many people feel like hibernating. We start sleeping more, eating more, avoiding social contact. The effects can be particularly oppressive for people with depression. …”

7. The Once and Future Way to Run
By Christopher McDougall | The New York Times Magazine | Nov. 2
“Left, right, repeat; that’s all running really is, a movement so natural that babies learn it the first time they rise to their feet. Yet sometime between childhood and adulthood — and between the dawn of our species and today — most of us lose the knack.”

8. Polls: Ortega likely to win 3rd term in Nicaragua
By Samantha Lugo | CNN.com | Nov. 7
“He was first elected as president in 1985, and ran unsuccessfully in 1990, 1996 and 2001 before being elected again in 2006.”

9. Brazilian Au Pair Enjoying Nameless Men, Her First Multiple Orgasm
Daily Intel :: New York Magazine | April 4
“Once a week, Daily Intel takes a peek behind doors left slightly ajar. This week, the Brazilian Au Pair Enjoying Nameless Men and Her First Multiple Orgasm: Female, au pair, 26, Manhattan, ‘happily single ever after,’ straight.”

10. The Horny Suburban Mom on a Field Trip to the Big City
Daily Intel :: New York Magazine | Jan. 3
“Once a week, Daily Intel takes a peek behind doors left slightly ajar. This week, the Horny Suburban Mom on a Field Trip to the Big City: female, freelance copywriter, 44, suburban Philadelphia/NYC, ‘sexual libertine,’ single.”

Rebecca Aguilar

#CallingAllJournalists Initiative | Reporter | Media Watchdog | Mentor | Latinas in Journalism

Anna Fonte's Paper Planes

Words, images & collages tossed from a window.

Postcards from Barton Springs

Gayle Brennan Spencer - sending random thoughts to and from South Austin

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Irreverent travelogues, good drinks, and the cultural stories they tell.

Government Book Talk

Talking about some of the best publications from the Federal Government, past and present.

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fun, delicious food for everyone

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low waste living drawn from food lore through the ages

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North River Notes

Observations on the Hudson River as it passes through New York City. The section of the Hudson which passes through New York is historically known as the North River, called this by the Dutch to distinguish it from the Delaware River, which they knew as the South River. This stretch of the Hudson is still often referred to as the North River by local mariners today. All photos copyright Daniel Katzive unless otherwise attributed. For more frequent updates, please follow northriverblog on Facebook or Instagram.

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