Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Latinos ready to ‘teach’ … GOP candidate spouses … New approach to sex ed … The GOP debate … Rivers that go nowhere.

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 ways to skip weight gain this Thanksgiving
The Dallas Morning News | Nov. 15
“Thanksgiving kicks off a season of plentiful food, parties and stress. Staying healthy, both mentally and physically, can be a challenge. Avoid common pitfalls with these healthy strategies, adapted from a story by health reporter Nancy Churnin.”

2. Couple forced to exchange Facebook passwords during divorce
By Michael Gartland | New York Post | Nov. 20
“The legal precedent, in the midst of a nasty custody battle between Stephen and Courtney Gallion, could mean more battling couples will be forced to give up their social-networking secrets.”

3. Aging in place: A little help can go a long way
By David Crary | Associated Press | Nov. 20
“According to surveys, aging in place is the overwhelming preference of Americans over 50. But doing it successfully requires both good fortune and support services. …”

4. Taking First-Class Coddling Above and Beyond
By Jad Mouawad | The New York Times | Nov. 20
“Carriers on international flights are offering private suites for first-class passengers, three-star meals and personal service once found only on corporate jets. They provide massages before takeoff, whisk passengers through special customs lanes and drive them in a private limousine right to the plane. … The amenities in the back of the cabin? Sparse.”

5. Not All Rivers Reach the Sea
By Rachel Nuwer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | Nov. 17
“For six million years, the Colorado River ran its course from its soaring origins in the Rockies to a once-teeming two-million-acre delta, finally emptying 14 million acre-feet of fresh water into the Sea of Cortez. But now, a multitude of straws are drinking from the river. …”

6. GOP debate: Newt Gingrich beats back immigration critique
By Alexander Burns | Politico | Nov. 22
“Ascendant Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich delivered an unapologetic defense of his views on immigration Tuesday night, declaring in a foreign policy debate that the GOP should not adopt a platform on immigration that ‘destroys families that have been here a quarter-century.’

7. The meaning of 9/11’s most controversial photo
By Jonathan Jones | The Guardian | Sept. 2
“Thomas Hoepker’s photo of New Yorkers apparently relaxing as the twin towers smoulder says much about history and memory”

8. Teaching Good Sex
By Laurie Abraham | The New York Times Magazine | Nov. 16
“Across the country, the approach ranges from abstinence until marriage is the only acceptable choice, contraceptives don’t work and premarital sex is physically and emotionally harmful, to abstinence is usually best, but if you must have sex, here are some ways to protect yourself from pregnancy and disease.”

9. GOP candidate spouses — secret weapons or dangerous millstones?
By Chris McGreal | The Guardian | Nov. 18
“Gloria Cain helped dent harassment accusations against her husband but Anita Perry’s defence of Rick made things worse”

10. Latino men are always the most critical of me
NewsTaco | Nov. 18
“Latino men are the ones who have most insulted my intellect and tried to ‘teach me’ how I should navigate the world.”

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Latino voters for Obama … Drought exposes secrets … Perry’s past politics … Tech gift ideas … Turkey facts.

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. Saving Bletchley Park
By Marco Werman | The World | Nov. 18
“The British site was the location of an important message decoding center during World War II, and also played an important role in the development of modern computers.”

2. You can still keep it local when giving the gift of technology
By Omar L. Gallaga | Austin American-Statesman | Nov. 19
“A few ideas for technology gifts that appeal to Central Texans”

3. 10 things you might not know about turkey
By Mark Jacob and Stephan Benzkofer | Chicago Trubune | Nov. 20
“As we approach Thanksgiving, you’re welcome to 10 helpings of these turkey facts”

4. As Texas grew more Republican and conservative, Perry’s politics evolved
By Wayne Slater | The Dallas Morning News | Nov. 20
“As a Democrat in the Texas House in the 1980s, Perry was a moderate conservative — supporting agriculture and business but also voting to triple legislators’ pay and to raise taxes by $5.7 billion — the biggest increase in state history — to balance the budget.”

5. Depleted Texas lakes expose ghost towns, graves
By Michael Graczyk and Angela K. Brown | Associated Press | Nov. 20
“Across the state, receding lakes have revealed a prehistoric skull, ancient tools, fossils and a small cemetery that appears to contain the graves of freed slaves. Some of the discoveries have attracted interest from local historians, and looters also have scavenged for pieces of history. More than two dozen looters have been arrested at one site.”

6. What If It Had Been a Girl in the Shower?
Good Men Project | Nov. 20
“Tom Matlack wonders if the Penn State incident remained hidden for so long because what happened was beyond the scope of men inside football to even comprehend.”

7. Trying Out the World’s First In-Car Music-Streaming System
By Sam Grobart | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | Nov. 15
“Third-party apps that are integrated into car systems are not entirely new. Pandora, the popular radiolike streaming service, has been available in many new cars. But Pandora is more like a radio station: You pick an artist, and the service plays songs from people like that artist. MOG does more than that.”

8. Von Sternberg and Dietrich | Beauty Stilled
By David D. Robbins | The Fade Out | Nov. 18
“Sternberg lit Dietrich’s face in some scenes, then would cover it in luxurious veils and fashionable hats with dangling decor. It was more than sensuality and rolling the camera. It’s obvious he loved Dietrich in some way, because there isn’t one frame in the seven films that couldn’t be screen-captured and turned into a marvelous still photo.”

9. Democrats Consolidating Hispanic Vote Early
By Benjy Sarlin | Talking Points Memo | Nov. 21
“An extensive survey of Latino voters by Univision this week showed Obama racking up similarly high margins against Mitt Romney (67-24), Rick Perry (68-21), and Herman Cain (65-22). The 2-1 ratio is roughly in line with Obama’s margin against John McCain in 2008.”

10. Oddly, Texas can teach the UK a thing or two on criminal justice
By Ian Birrell | The Guardian | Nov. 20
“Conservative Texas prides itself on being tough, but it has learned that locking people up is a costly failure”

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Extreme weather coming … American exceptionalism … Invisible commandos … The Mediterranean diet … The new Mass.

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. Science panel: Get ready for extreme weather
By Seth Borenstein | Associated Press | Nov. 19
“Think of the Texas drought, floods in Thailand and Russia’s devastating heat waves as coming attractions in a warming world. That’s the warning from top international climate scientists and disaster experts after meeting in Africa.”

2. NASA Mars mission to test planet for ability to sustain life
By Marc Kaufman | The Washington Post | Nov. 18
“If the unmanned Mars Science Laboratory lifts off and travels a 354 million-mile path to Mars, it will lower to the surface a sedan-size rover called Curiosity, which has the potential to change our understanding of the cosmos.”

3. Decline of American Exceptionalism
By Charles M. Blow | The New York Times | Nov. 18
“Is America exceptional among nations? Are we, as a country and a people and a culture, set apart and better than others? Are we, indeed, the “shining city upon a hill” that Ronald Reagan described? Are we “chosen by God and commissioned by history to be a model to the world” as George W. Bush said?”

4. Special Ops Wants Commandos to Have Invisible Faces
By Katie Drummond | Danger Room :: Wired | Nov. 18
“In 2008, the Army Military Research Office boasted that they were a mere two or three years away from developing metamaterials that could deflect light to conceal a given object. Since then, experts at various institutions have made impressive progress.”

5. A different view of Washington
The Washington Post | Nov. 17
“D.C. would have a very different look if these alternative designs and proposed buildings had came to fruition.”

6. Eat like a Mediterranean — but how?
By Karen Ravn | The Los Angeles Times | Nov. 20
“Here’s what the research says — and doesn’t say — about the Mediterranean diet.”

7. U.S. births dip for the third straight year
Associated Press | Nov. 19
“A federal report released Thursday showed declines in the birth rate for all races and most age groups. Teens and women in their early 20s had the most dramatic dip, to the lowest rates since record-keeping began in the 1940s. Also, the rate of cesarean sections stopped going up for the first time since 1996.”

8. Catholics priests prepare to usher in Mass changes
By Kate Shellnutt | Houston Chronicle | Nov. 19
“At the start of Advent on Nov. 27, Catholics will adopt changes that make the words spoken during Mass in English closer to the church’s official Latin, adding dozens of small substitutions to the liturgy many Catholics pray instinctively. It’s the biggest shift in the Mass since Vatican II.”

9. Seven Tips for Better Group Portraits
By Roy Furchgott | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | Nov. 17
“Andrew Boyd, a photojournalist and educator, has written extensively about group shots on his blog, The Discerning Photographer. Here’s his recipe for getting it right.”

10. Does America need Wall Street?
By Jeff Madrick | The Washington Post | Nov. 18
“Wall Street jet-fuels capitalism and innovation, we are told, and that’s what makes America prosperous; Wall Street is full of job-creators. But Alfred Chandler, the respected business historian, argued persuasively that most investment during the nation’s industrialization came from corporate profits, not money raised by Wall Street bankers.”

********************

TUNES

My soundtrack for today included:
1. ME AND BOBBY McGEE Janis Joplin
2. 4 + 20 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
3. ROSIE (Live) Jackson Browne
4. SOMEBODY SAVED MY LIFE TONIGHT Elton John
5. I’M ON FIRE Bruce Springsteen
6. ANGEL Rod Stewart
7. WILD HORSES The Sundays
8. RADIATION RULING THE NATION Massive Attack & Mad Professor
9. FEEL SO GOOD Lovespirals
10. FORBIDDEN LOVE Madonna

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.”

********************

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.”

********************

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

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.”

Relaxing

Stillness of Heart is taking some time off to fully enjoy the last few weeks of summer.

Stillness of Heart is taking some time off to fully enjoy the last few weeks of summer.

Stay in touch. You can follow me on Twitter or Facebook.

See you in the fall.

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Obama turns 50 … Sex diaries … Underwater Roman ruins … The beauty of math … The science of doomed diets.

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. Seeing Catch-22 Twice
By Ron Rosenbaum | Slate.com | Aug. 2
“The awful truth people miss about Heller’s great novel.”

2. Starved Brain Cells May Cause Diets to Fail
By Jennifer Welsh | LiveScience | Aug. 2
“When a dieter starves themselves of calories, they starve their brain cells as well. New research finds that these hungry brain cells then release ‘feed me’ signals, which drive hunger, slow metabolism and may cause diets to fail.”

3. Why Math Works
By Mario Livio | Scientific American | Aug. 2
“Is math invented or discovered? A leading astrophysicist suggests that the answer to the millennia-old question is both”

4. Snorkeling for Roman Ruins
By Barbara A. Noe | IntelligentTravel :: National Geographic | Aug. 2
“In Italy, Roman ruins sprinkle the landscape like Parmesan cheese on pasta. In a twist of the typical, terrestrial way to see them, I recently donned a snorkel mask and fins on the Bay of Naples.”

5. Metropolitan Museum Returns Antiquities Found in King Tut’s Tomb to Egypt
By Marlon Bishop | WNYC | Aug. 2
“Last November, the Met agreed to give back the artifacts after an internal museum investigation determined it had no right to the antiquities — mostly non-museum quality pieces, ranging from small fragments to a tiny bronze dog — in the first place.”

6. Q&A: Adding International Keyboards to the iPad
By J.D. Biersdorfer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | Aug. 2
“Is it possible to switch the iPad’s keyboard layout to French like you can do on a Mac?”

7. The top 1%
Fault Lines :: Al Jazeera | Aug. 2
“With 1% of Americans controlling 40% of the country’s wealth, we examine the gap between the rich and the rest.”

8. The Valentine’s Day Sex Diaries
Daily Intel :: New York Magazine | Feb. 15
“The 24-Year-Old Female Editorial Assistant on the Upper East Side. The 32-Year-Old Male Designer Up in the Boston Area. The 27-Year-Old Mom in the Bronx. The 27-Year Old Female Grad Student in Park Slope. The 21-Year-Old Female Fashion Student in Wicker Park, Chicago.”

9. Turning 50, President Obama becomes a Washington tweener
By Manuel Roig-Franzia | The Washington Post | Aug. 2
“Reaching the pinnacle of American power so early means Obama will have to figure out what to do with himself for a big chunk of his 50s, whether in 2013, when he could become a 51-year-old one-termer, or in 2017, when he could leave office as a 55-year-old two-termer.”

10. Australian evacuee
Witness :: BBC News | June 20
“During World War II, many British children were sent away from the cities to escape German bombs. Most went to the countryside but some went as far away as Australia.”

Happy Birthday to me, sort of

There’s still so much left to do, so much still to explore. Thanks for joining the party. I’m just getting warmed up.

“I resisted creating a personal, standalone blog like this for a long time.”

That’s how I began this blog, one year ago today. I’m so happy the resistance crumbled, the hesitation eased, and the words flowed.

I’ve used dozens of posts to write about the Civil War and mojitos, Yuri Gagarin and Eva Longoria, Michelangelo and Theodore Roosevelt.

I’ve written about Thomas Jefferson’s ice cream. “Mad Men” and earthquakes. Papa Hemingway and Papa Ortiz. Writing and writers. I’ve recommended great reads and remembered great places.

There’s still so much left to do, so much still to explore.

Thanks for joining the party. I’m just getting warmed up.

F.

TUNES

My soundtrack for today included:
1. MISS YOU The Rolling Stones
2. COLOMBIA Jan Hammer
3. CRY Godley & Creme
4. TONIGHT, TONIGHT, TONIGHT Genesis
5. RICO’S BLUES Jan Hammer
6. CARRY ME Chris DeBurgh
7. FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME Foreigner
8. CROCKETT’S THEME Jan Hammer
9. NOTORIOUS Duran Duran
10. ALL SHE WANTS TO DO IS DANCE Don Henley

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

The fate of the space station … Mission to Jupiter … A beach in Paris … Guide to a great clambake … A world with 7 billion people.

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. Space station will eventually end up in Pacific to avoid becoming space junk
Associated Press | July 27
“A Russian space official said … that once the mammoth International Space Station is no longer needed it will be sent into the Pacific Ocean.”

2. Juno’s Jupiter mission may yield clues to Earth’s origins
By Scott Gold | The Los Angeles Times | July 28
“Starting Aug. 5, NASA will enter the launch period for the spacecraft Juno, which will begin an unprecedented exploration of Jupiter’s secrets. ‘We are after the recipe for planet-making,’ says a scientist.”

3. Research Exercise: Did Grant Say This?
By Brooks D. Simpson | Crossroads | July 19
“Over the last week or so a quote often attributed to Ulysses S. Grant has made the rounds again. … My own take on this is that the quote rings false. However, I am curious as to its origins, and I think the matter deserves further research. And what does that research show us?”

4. A Beach Sweeps Into Paris
PlanetPic :: GlobalPost | July 28
“The Seine River — dotted by the famous Notre Dame Cathedral, the Tuileries Gardens and the Eiffel Tower — is transformed into a beachside resort enjoyed by Parisians and tourists alike.”

5. Let’s Have a Real Nice Clambake
By Mark Bittman | The New York Times Magazine | July 28
“Few meals are more beautiful than a well-executed clambake. And because demanding culinary tasks are in vogue, at least for a certain hard-working segment of the sustainable-food set, it seems like the right moment for a clambake revival.”

6. Qassem Suleimani: the Iranian general ‘secretly running’ Iraq
By Martin Chulov | The Guardian | July 28
“[T]the elusive Iranian with so much Iraqi influence that Baghdadis believe he is controlling the country”

7. Presidential historian indicted on federal charges
Associated Press | July 28
“Federal prosecutors said Thursday the two are also accused of stealing and selling documents from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in New York. They also stole Franklin’s letter to John Paul Jones from the New York Historical Society, prosecutors said.”

8. Army Hits Pause on ‘Wearable Computer’ Program
By Spencer Ackerman | Danger room :: Wired.com | July 28
“Debi Dawson, a spokeswoman for the Army office overseeing the Nett Warrior program, confirms that the Army has put the multi-million effort on pause.”

9. World population soon to hit 7 billion after boom in developing world
Associated Press | July 28
“By 2050, the population will reach 9.3 billion, and 97 percent of the growth will be in less-developed regions. …”

10. Fermat’s Last Theorem
Witness :: BBC News | June 23
“Solving the problem had intrigued mathematicians for centuries. In June 1993 a British academic, Andrew Wiles, thought he’d cracked it. But then someone pointed out a flaw in his calculations.”

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. The Homemade Jamz Blues Band — Loco Blues
2. Mark Searcy — Truth
3. Joe Bonamassa — Man Of Many Words
4. Gurf Morlix — Drums From New Orleans
5. Nate Rodriguez & The Unlikely Criminals — Better Left Unsaid
6. Luther Allison — Low Down & Dirty
7. Scott Miller & The Commonwealth — 8 Miles A Gallon
8. Gene Reynolds — Bobby’d Be A Star
9. Rocky Benton — Have Mercy
10. Zack Walther & The Cronkites — Money Tree
11. Henry’s Swank Club — Changin All The Time
12. Giles — Nutbush City Limits
13. Chris Juergensen — Sweet Melissa
14. The Lost Immigrants — Dixie Queen

Thinking As Leverage

Developing deep and critical thinking.

Behind The Wall

Tabletop Games

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

The Flask Half Full

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.

Cadillac Society

Cadillac News, Forums, Rumors, Reviews

Ob360media

Real News That Matters

Mealtime Joy

bringing joy to family meals

Øl, Mad og Folk

Bloggen Øl, Mad og Folk

a joyous kitchen

fun, delicious food for everyone

A Perfect Feast

Modern Comfort Food

donnablackwrites

Art is a gift we give ourselves

Fridgelore

low waste living drawn from food lore through the ages

BeckiesKitchen.com

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