RECOMMENDED READING – Page 32 – Stillness of Heart

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Romney’s way / The sexual marriage / The Mexican crimefighter / Fear of divorce / Mistletoe’s secrets

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. No votes, but things seem to be going Romney’s way
By Steve Peoples | Associated Press | Dec. 21
“[H]is preferred scenario is looking more plausible now, thanks to Ron Paul’s helpful ascent, Newt Gingrich’s slide and fractures among conservatives who have not rallied behind an alternative to Romney.”

2. Sex And Marriage: The Secret To Better Sex With Your Spouse
By Margaret Paul | The Huffington Post | Dec. 20
“Love-making in long-term relationships is the result of loving energy flowing between two people. If something is blocking this loving energy, the sexual energy between them often gets blocked as well.”

3. iProtest
By James Leong and Lynn Lee | Activate :: Al Jazeera | September 2011
“Activist Debby Chan takes on one of the world’s favourite brands in her fight for workers’ rights.”

4. A Crime Fighter Draws Plaudits, and Scrutiny
By Damien Cave | The New York Times | Dec. 23
“Like a boxer or wrestler, he treats his tough-guy image as a necessary tactic. In Tijuana, he punched a dead cartel gunman in the face as bystanders watched.”

5. Is Fear of Divorce Keeping People from Getting Married?
By Belinda Luscombe | Healthland :: Time | Dec. 22
“A new study suggests that young cohabiting couples are saying ‘I don’t’ so as to avoid the heavy toll of divorce”

6. Using Gmail’s Canned Responses
By J.D. Biersdorfer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | Nov. 2
“If you are tired of sending out the same e-mail response from your Gmail account … the Canned Responses feature from Gmail Labs can save some time and typing”

7. What’s the Deal With Mistletoe?
By Christopher Beam | Explainer :: Slate | Dec. 14
“How the plant came to be associated with Christmas kissing”

8. Sinaloa cartel OK’s Mexico’s newest drug ballads
By Galia Garcia-Palafox | Associated Press | Dec. 21
“The songs are filled with unusually explicit lyrics about decapitations and torture, and praise for one drug gang in particular: the Sinaloa cartel and its bosses, Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman.”

9. My too-demanding overseas job makes me want to go home
Troubleshooter :: The Yomiuri Shimbun | Dec. 16
“There are so many things I want to do but haven’t done yet in the country where I live and work now, so I’m reluctant to leave everything behind. As a result, I feel mortified about using my sickness as an excuse to go back to Japan, and can’t forgive myself. What should I do? ”

10. The destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan
Witness :: BBC News | March 22
“When the Taleban were in control of Afghanistan they decreed that the largest standing statues of Buddha in the world were un-Islamic. It took them several weeks to destroy them using high explosives.”

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TUNES

My soundtrack for today included:
1. NADIE LLORE Pepe Castillo & Cuatromania
2. JONNY’S BUGALU Grupo X
3. LA NATURALEZA Ismael Miranda & Andrés Jiménez
4. MENTIROSA Louie Ramirez & Ray de la Paz
5. BALCON DE SANTIAGO Compay Segundo
6. MALAGUENA SALEROSA Chingon
7. EL WATUSI Ray Barretto
8. JUVENTUD DEL PRESENTE Tito Puente
9. GUAGUANCO CALLEJERO Ibrahim Ferrer
10. TUMBAO PA’CHANGUITO Orlando “Maraca” Valle

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Holiday wisdom / USS Iowa’s new home / A beautiful comet / Take time for Timeline / Occupy’s disappointment

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 Sinverguenza Holiday Guide: Gifts, Resolutions and Lessons
By El Guapo | NewsTaco | Dec. 22
“Be forewarned — buy chones that are too big and you think she’s fat. Buy them too small and you’re saying that’s the size she should be. It’s like Russian roulette without the empty chamber.”

2. WWII battleship USS Iowa nearing final voyage
Associated Press | Dec. 22
“The last surviving World War II battleship without a home is docked at the Port of Richmond, where it is being prepared for its journey to the Port of Los Angeles for a new mission as a museum and memorial to Navy might.”

3. Turkey’s Biodiversity, at Risk Yet Largely Ignored
By Jim Robbins | Green :: The New York Times | Dec. 22
“A new paper by biologists in Turkey and the United States warns that while Turkey’s rich biodiversity is unique and globally important, it remains poorly researched and faces growing threats, especially from development.”

4. The Most Amazing View of a Comet Ever
By Brent Rose | Gizmodo | Dec. 22
“When you see someone who’s constantly seeing wondrous things filled with awe, there’s something very special about it.”

5. Why Don’t They Sell Eggnog Year-Round?
By Matthew S. Schwartz | Explainer :: Slate | Dec. 22
“People only buy it when it’s cold outside.”

6. Thinner brains may be more susceptible to Alzheimer’s disease
By Karen Kaplan | Booster Shots :: The Los Angeles Times | Dec. 21
“A new study from the journal Neurology reports that an ‘AD signature’ can predict which people with normal brain function are most likely to suffer cognitive decline in the relatively near future.”

7. Christmas, Inc: American trees take over Mexico
By Ioan Grillo | GlobalPost | Dec. 20
“This holiday season alone, more than a million trees have been imported over the Rio Grande to decorate homes celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, Mexico’s Environment Department reported.”

8. Review: Take the time to curate Facebook Timeline
By Anick Jesdanun | Associated Press | Dec. 21
“Once you’re ready for Timeline, you have a week to airbrush your life before it replaces your current profile. That’s not a lot of time when you have (cough, cough) years of your life to go through.”

9. Occupy protests trigger envy, ire in Generation X
By Jennifer Peltz | Associated Press | Dec. 18
“The generation that gave the term ‘slacker’ new meaning is looking with measures of rivalry, regret and tart bewilderment at a movement its successor mobilized in the name of ‘the 99 percent.’ ”

10. Air strikes on Libya 1896
Witness :: BBC News | March 14
“They lasted for less than 12 minutes, but US air strikes against targets in Libya in April 1986, shook the country.”

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

TUNES

My soundtrack for today included:
1. FUMBLING TOWARDS ECSTASY Sarah McLachlan
2. VICTIM OF LOVE The Eagles
3. JET AIRLINER Steve Miller Band
4. THE WIND CRIES MARY Jimi Hendrix
5. SMALL TOWN Morcheeba
6. I AIN’T SUPERSTITIOUS Rod Stewart
7. TRINITY DUB Massive Attack & Mad Professor
8. MY CULTURE Maxi Jazz & Robbie Williams
9. FALLEN FROM GRACE Mark Lee Scott
10. DESPERADO The Eagles

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Gingrich and Clinton / Christmas stress / Marine recalls coming home / Teaching James Franco / SAD songs

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. Gingrich, Clinton had stormy partnership
By Laurie Kellman | Associated Press | Dec. 22
“To hear Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich tell it, he and Democratic President Bill Clinton were political partners in the 1990s, lowering unemployment, balancing the federal budget and keeping the nation’s economy in robust health.”

2. Brain strain: Christmas shopping when money tight
By Malcom Ritter | Associated Press | Dec. 18
“Plenty of Americans are having to hold back this year as the lure of flashy ads, tempting bargains and family expectations clashes with the realities of the economy. Experts in consumer behavior say that situation can strain the brain.”

3. Coming Home: A Marine Officer Remembers His Tours In Iraq
By Benjamin Busch | The Daily Beast | Dec. 19
“A Marine officer who served two tours of duty shares memories of his time in Iraq and what the return home has meant.”

4. What It’s Like To Be James Franco’s Professor
By R. John Williams | Slate | Dec. 20
“His English professor at Yale reveals that the actor rarely missed a discussion, even when filming in Detroit.”

5. Twenty Songs To Go With Your Seasonal Affective Disorder
By Dave Bry | The Awl | Dec. 22
Leonard Cohen, Bill Withers, Stone Temple Pilots, Bruce Springsteen and more.

6. Q&A: Locking Up a USB Drive
By J.D. Biersdorfer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | Nov. 2
“Q: I like to transfer files between machines with a portable USB drive. Is there a way to protect this drive with a password in case I ever lose it?”

7. Learn From A Dog: 15 Life Lessons From Your Pet
The Huffington Post | Dec. 22
“Dogs tend to be happy, active and well rested — things we could all stand to learn.”

8. Why women need fat
By Hannah Tepper | Salon | Dec. 18
“Evolution shows that women’s dieting beliefs aren’t just unrealistic — they’re unnatural. An expert explains.”

9. My overworked wife is becoming increasingly bitter toward me
Troubleshooter :: The Yomiuri Shimbun | Dec. 16
“I’m tired of trying to hold my feelings in and am beginning to wonder if I have to continue living like this. Please give me some advice about how I should deal with my wife.”

10. The death of Kurt Cobain
Witness :: BBC News | April 5
“In April 1994 the lead singer of the grunge rock band Nirvana was found dead in his home in Seattle.”

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

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. Blue Condition — Lady from the Delta
2. Boogie Bone — Don’t Mean a Thing
3. Alejandro Escovedo — Castanets
4. Robert Earl Keen — Throwin’ Rocks
5. Bobby Blue Bland — Let’s Straighten It Out
6. Philosopher Stone — Sweet Charity
7. Dr. Wu — I Don’t Need No Woman Like You
8. Joe Bonamassa — Walking Blues
9. Lost Immigrants — Genevieve
10. The Insomniacs — 20-20
11. Zack Walther & The Conkites — Georgia Cane

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Great iPhone apps / Smarties’ gadgets / Bachelor pad essentials / Writers’ libraries / Octopus intellect

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. Some New Little Treasures for the iPhone
By Bob Tedeschi | The New York Times | Dec. 21
“If you really want to turbocharge your device, combine these with last year’s picks. … Like last year’s list, this one includes many free picks.”

2. The Indispensable Gadgets of the World’s Smartest People
By Larry Greenemeier | Scientific American | Dec. 21
“We ask our board of advisers to choose the technologies that they could not live without.”

3. Nine Essentials for the Perfect Bachelor Pad
By Michael Carl | Carl’s Crush :: Vanity Fair | Dec. 21
“So here are the nine things you need to create the perfect apartment for ‘company’ (I’m trying to avoid saying ‘getting laid,’ O.K.?).”

4. Writers and Their Books: Inside Famous Authors’ Personal Libraries
By Maria Popova | The Atlantic | Dec. 21
“As a hopeless bibliophile, an obsessive lover of bookcases, and a chronic pursuer of voyeuristic peeks inside the minds of creators, I’m utterly spellbound by Unpacking My Library: Writers and Their Books — a vicarious journey into the personal libraries of thirteen favorite authors. …”

5. Trial of the Will
Vanity Fair | January 2012
“Reviewing familiar principles and maxims in the face of mortal illness, Christopher Hitchens has found one of them increasingly ridiculous: ‘Whatever doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.’ Oh, really?”

6. The Gulf War
By Raffi Khatchadourian | The New Yorker | March 14
“Were there any heroes in the BP oil disaster”

7. Deep Intellect
By Sy Montgomery | Orion Magazine | Nov./Dec. 2011
“Inside the mind of an octopus”

8. India, China Show Military Grit
By Nitin Gokhale | The Diplomat | Dec. 22
“The latest defense dialogue between the Chinese and Indian militaries had some constructive ideas for improving military ties. Can they follow through?”

9. Analysis: Republicans risk backlash in 2012
By Tim Reid | Reuters | Dec. 21
“This week’s tense standoff over how to extend payroll tax cuts for 160 million Americans offered an unflattering look at how conservative House Republicans occasionally have overreached in avoiding compromise, lawmakers, strategists and analysts say.”

10. Reagan assassination attempt
Witness :: BBC News | March 30
“On 30 March 1981, there was an attempt to assassinate the US President.”

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Twain’s lost love / No more experts / Stalled computer / Cheney myth / Bombing of Guernica

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. Iraq: What Remains
Christopher de Bellaigue | NYR Blog :: The New York Review of Books | Dec. 21
“[M]any Americans continue to see in Iraq a reflection of their own country’s ideals and contradictions. They will remember Iraq as an American trauma. But it was, above all, an Iraqi trauma.”

2. Mark Twain in Love
By Ron Powers | Smithsonian | May 2010
“A chance encounter on a New Orleans dock in 1858 haunted the writer for the rest of his life ”

3. The Information
By Adam Gopnik | The New Yorker | Feb. 14
“How the Internet gets inside us”

4. Wikipedia and the Death of the Expert
By Maria Bustillos | The Awl | May 17
“If learners are indeed doers and not recipients, from whom are they learning? From one another, it appears; same as it ever was.”

5. My daughter longs to meet real dad despite his snubs
Troubleshooter :: The Yomiuri Shimbun | Dec. 16
“I’m a woman in my 40s who got divorced when my daughter was 5 years old. I remarried a foreigner and we are currently living overseas. My daughter is now in high school and she misses her biological father.”

6. Q&A: Getting a Response From Stalled Software
By J.D. Biersdorfer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | Oct. 13
“Q: What causes a long pause with “Not Responding” indicated at the top of a program’s window?”

7. Drunks on a Plane: The Top 10 Hottest Messes at 35,000FT
The Flying Pinto | November 2011
“In honor of holiday travel: a look at the airline industry’s most infamous inebriates.”

8. Five myths about Dick Cheney
By Stephen F. Hayes | Five Myths :: The Washington Post | Sept. 9
“He’s been called Darth Vader, feared or derided as a trigger-happy, torture-loving puppet master who called the shots over the eight years of the George W. Bush White House. … But what about the former vice president is real, exaggerated, or outright myth?”

9. Civil War women: Fanny Kemble
Civil War Women Blog | Aug. 27
“Fanny Kemble was a famous British actress prior to her marriage to slaveholder Pierce Mease Butler, grandson of Founding Father Pierce Butler. Fanny was an independent and highly intelligent woman who had no idea how much her life would be affected by the institution of slavery in America.”

10. The bombing of Guernica
Witness :: BBC News | April 26
“It was one of the worst atrocities of the Spanish Civil War. German bombers, backing Franco’s fascist forces, virtually destroyed the Basque town.”

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

What your hair does for you / Inside Shuttle Atlantis / Cute baby animals / A lesser navy / Intel failure

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. In Kim’s Death, an Extensive Intelligence Failure
By Mark Lander and Choe Sang-Hun | The New York Times | Dec. 19
“As the United States and its allies confront a perilous leadership transition in North Korea — a failed state with nuclear weapons — the closed nature of the country will greatly complicate their calculations.”

2. Young women’s use of reproductive health services declines
By Shari Roan | Booster Shots :: The Los Angeles Times | Dec. 19
“This includes services such as Pap tests, pregnancy tests, contraception prescriptions, tests for sexually transmitted disease and other gynecological and obstetric care.”

3. The not-so-naked ape
The Economist | Dec. 17
“Human body hair, once thought to be an evolutionary relic, has a real job to do”

4. Last look inside space shuttle Atlantis
By Dean Putney | Boing Boing | Dec. 19
“It hadn’t occurred to me until now how little of the space shuttle I’ve seen.”

5. A Two-Ocean Navy No More?
By James R. Holmes | The Diplomat | Dec. 19
“With U.S. naval leaders more choosy amid fiscal austerity, a two-ocean strategy may be a luxury the U.S. can no longer afford. What does it mean for the Pacific?”

6. The top 6 incidents of ojo
By Sara Ines Calderon and Victor Landa | NewsTaco | April 2011
“Even though we all like to pretend that we’re modern and non-superstitious, you know that sometimes when someone is complimenting you, or when you all of a sudden fall ill for no reason, there’s that creeping suspicion that … could it be … alguien me echó ojo? But you don’t really believe in it, right?”

7. World’s Cutest Baby Wild Animals
By Clara Moskowitz | LiveScience | February 2011
Don’t deny it. You love them.

8. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison decries nine ‘accounting tricks’ that hide government spending
Texas on the Potomac :: Houston Chronicle | Dec. 17
“The national debt is now more than $15 trillion. The budget deficit for this fiscal year alone will be more than $1 trillion. This mountain of debt is a growing obstacle to economic recovery. But for many in Washington, it’s business as usual.”

9. Carry-on Essentials for Air Travel
The Flying Pinto | September 2011
“The trick to stress free air travel is to be able to roll with the punches. The trick to being able to roll with the punches when flying is a well packed carry on!”

10. Victory in Europe Day
Witness :: BBC News | May 6
“On May 8 1945, Winston Churchill announced the end of the war in Europe. It meant defeat for Germany, but great rejoicing in Britain.”

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Coffee before workout / Alexander’s greatness / Mex City closes dump / The GOP dogs / Princess Diana’s wedding

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. How Coffee Can Galvanize Your Workout
By Gretchen Reynolds | Well :: The New York Times | Dec. 14
“Caffeine has been proven to increase the number of fatty acids circulating in the bloodstream, which enables people to run or pedal longer (since their muscles can absorb and burn that fat for fuel and save the body’s limited stores of carbohydrates until later in the workout).”

2. Nietzsche was right: adversity makes you stronger
The Daily Telegraph | Dec. 18
“It is the quote used by many to bolster resilience in the face of adversity. But the words ‘what does not kill me, makes me stronger,’ by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, could have scientific merit too, according to research.”

3. Alexander: How Great?
By Mary Beard | The New York Review of Books | Oct. 27
“Alexander showed signs of fatal weaknesses: witness the vanity, the obeisance he demanded from his followers, the vicious cruelty (he had a record of murdering erstwhile friends around his dinner table), and the infamous drinking.”

4. Ancient Texts Tell Tales of War, Bar Tabs
By Owen Jarus | LiveScience | Dec. 19
“The texts date from the dawn of written history, about 5,000 years ago, to a time about 2,400 years ago when the Achaemenid Empire (based in Persia) ruled much of the Middle East.”

5. Mexico City closes Bordo Poniente rubbish dump
BBC News | Dec. 19
“Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said the closure would significantly help reduce the capital’s greenhouse gas emissions.”

6. Q&A: Making Emergency Calls on a Cellphone
By J.D. Biersdorfer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | Sept. 22
“Q: Is it true a cellphone can always call 911, even if you don’t have a monthly plan?”

7. Dogs and Presidential Candidates: Man’s Best Friend Dominates the Race
By Leslie Bennetts | The Daily Beast | Dec. 17
“Santorum stood up for them, Cain tried to get rid of one, and Romney strapped his to the top of a car. Leslie Bennetts on how man’s best friend came to dominate this year’s race for the White House.”

8. My daughter’s fiance wants to marry a different woman
Troubleshooter :: The Yomiuri Shimbun | Dec. 16
“I want your advice on what to do about this man, whose deception cost my daughter precious time during her 20s.”

9. Flight Attendant Interview
The Flying Pinto | September 2011
“Most airlines hire their own flight attendants to recruit, which is great because who understands what it takes to do this job more than someone who already does it?”

10. Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer
Witness :: BBC News | April 22
“1981 and the marriage of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer.”

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Kim Jong Il dead / The real George Kennan / Foggy end to war / Cuba’s Malecon / Lifting carry-on bags

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. Is 2011 really just 1991?
By Maria Russo | Salon.com | Dec. 18
“Kurt Andersen argues the culture is stuck. Perhaps it is — for boomers who don’t keep up and are what they buy”

2. As Wars End, Young Veterans Return to Scant Jobs
By Shalia Dewan | The New York Times | Dec. 17
“Veterans’ joblessness is concentrated among the young and those still serving in the National Guard or Reserve. The unemployment rate for veterans aged 20 to 24 has averaged 30 percent this year, more than double that of others the same age, though the rate for older veterans closely matches that of civilians.”

3. Add a Magnetic Strip to Your Bathroom Medicine Cabinet to Organize Small Metal Grooming Aids
LifeHacker | Dec. 18
“Magnetic tape can be found at any home improvement store. … Cut a strip to fit your medicine cabinet or other storage area, peel away the cover on the tape side, and you’re in business.”

4. Is This George Kennan?
By Frank Costigliola | The New York Review of Books | Dec. 8
“The creation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, the armies eyeballing each other across the West German–East German frontier, and the deadly weapons on hair-trigger alert — all this disturbed Kennan, who increasingly feared nuclear war.”

5. An elusive victory in Iraq
By Doyle McManus | The Los Angeles Times | Dec. 18
“After almost nine years, the war ends, with questions.”

6. How Facebook Can Hurt Your Credit Rating
By Dan Tynan | PCWorld | Dec. 18
“Bank on it — Financial institutions are checking social media profiles to identify credit risks. It’s time to ditch those deadbeat friends.”

7. N Korean leader Kim Jong-il dies
BBC News | Dec. 19
“His designated successor is believed to be his third son, Kim Jong-un, who is thought to be in his late 20s.”

8. In Cuba property thaw, new hope for a decayed icon
By Peter Orsi and Andrea Rodriguez | Associated Press | Dec. 18
“The year has seen some remarkable first steps toward a new Cuban economic model, including the sacrificing of a number of Marxism’s sacred cows.”

9. Lifting Bags Into The Overhead Bins
The Flying Pinto | August 2011
“I asked passengers if they thought lifting bags into the overhead bins was the responsibility of the flight attendants. Here’s what you had to say”

10. Rabin Assassination
Witness :: BBC | Nov. 4, 2010
“On November 4th 1995 the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated at a peace rally in Tel Aviv. The rock singer Aviv Geffen was one of the last people to talk to him before his death.”

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TUNES

My soundtrack for today included:
1. ONE OF THESE MORNINGS Moby & Patti LaBelle
2. MARINA Jan Hammer
3. WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT Tina Turner
4. DIRTY LAUNDRY Don Henley
5. EL VIEJO Jan Hammer
6. FLY ON THE WINDSCREEN Depeche Mode
7. TAKE ME HOME Phil Collins
8. POEM Jan Hammer
9. WEDDING Jan Hammer
10. WE SAID HELLO, GOODBYE Phil Collins

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Condi’s life / Returning stuff / Flight attendants don’t hate you / Obama’s foreign policy / Being unsociable

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. Take that back! Returns are big for the holidays
By Anne D’Innocenzio | Associated Press | Dec. 14
“People who rushed to snag discounts on TVs, toys and other gifts are quickly returning them for much-needed cash. The shopping season started out strong for stores, but it looks like the spending binge has given way to a holiday hangover.”

2. The Rocky Ascent of Condoleezza Rice
By Joseph Lelyveld | The New York Review of Books | Dec. 22
“What she carries is the albatross of Iraq and her shaky, complicit performance in the White House as national security adviser, which is only partially offset by her gradual emergence as a reasonably effective foreign policymaker in her own right as secretary of state.”

3. Iraq, a War Obama Didn’t Want, Shaped His Foreign Policy
By Mark Lander | The New York Times | Dec. 17
“[T]he lessons of that war still hang over the administration’s foreign policy — shaping, and sometimes limiting, how the president projects American power in the world. ”

4. Why Can’t Linda Carswell Get Her Husband’s Heart Back?
By Marshall Allen | ProPublica | Dec. 15
“Grief-stricken families like the Carswells desperately want the answers that an autopsy can provide. But they often do not know their rights in dealing with either coroners or medical examiners, who investigate unnatural deaths, or health-care providers, who delve into natural ones.”

5. I’m unsociable and scared of new environments
Troubleshooter :: The Yomiuri Shimbun | Dec. 16
“When I think of the future, I feel uneasy. I know I’m being immature. How can I become more active?”

6. Q&A: Playing YouTube Videos on the TV
By J.D. Biersdorfer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | Sept. 23
“Q: Is it possible to connect my iPad to the TV and play videos from the YouTube app on the TV?”

7. US foreign policy, Republican style
Al-Jazeera English | Dec. 17
“What are the common themes and divisions among Republican presidential candidate front-runners on US foreign policy?”

8. Army: Manning Kept a Copy of His Chatroom Confession
By Kim Zetter | Threat Level :: Wired | Dec. 18
“Forensic investigators searching Bradley Manning’s computers and removable media found a full log of the online chats Manning conducted with former hacker Adrian Lamo in which Manning described his alleged leaking of classified information. …”

9. That’s Rediculous!! No. We don’t hate you.
Flying Bachelorette | August 2011
“For every complaint about a flight attendant — we’ve probably got five on the rudeness of passengers towards each other and crewmembers.”

10. Leonardo da Vinci v Michelangelo
Witness :: BBC News | March 23
“When Leonardo da Vinci, the great Renaissance painter, was invited to paint a huge fresco in Florence — he could not have imagined that he would end up in direct competition with Michelangelo.”

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TUNES

My soundtrack for today included:
1. BOOGIE WOOGIE COUNTRY GIRL Big Joe Turner
2. HE CALLED ME BABY Candi Staton
3. I’M IN THE MOOD John Lee Hooker
4. GRANDMA’S HANDS Bill Withers
5. BABY PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME Buddy Guy
6. I’D RATHER GO BLIND Etta James
7. TO HEAR YOU SAY YOU’RE MINE Candi Staton
8. BALL OF CONFUSION The Temptations
9. TRUST IN ME Etta James & Riley Hampton
10. RECONSIDER ME Johnny Adams

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Remembering Hitchens / Terrible presents / OWS collapsing / Word of 2011 / Iraq by the numbers

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. Christopher Hitchens, Consummate Writer, Brilliant Friend
By Ian McEwan | The New York Times | Dec. 16
“His unworldly fluency never deserted him, his commitment was passionate, and he never deserted his trade. He was the consummate writer, the brilliant friend. In Walter Pater’s famous phrase, he burned ‘with this hard gem-like flame.’ Right to the end.”

2. I Gave My Kids a Terrible Present
Jimmy Kimmel Live | Dec. 12
Kids react when they get crap for presents.

3. Polemicist Who Slashed All, Freely, Dies at 62
By William Grimes | The New York Times | Dec. 16
“He was a master of the extended peroration, peppered with literary allusions, and of the bright, off-the-cuff remark.”

4. Merriam-Webster picks ‘pragmatic’ as Word of Year
By Stephanie Reitz | Associated Press | Dec. 15
“Though it wasn’t traced to a specific news event or quote from a famous person, searches for ‘pragmatic’ jumped in the weeks before Congress voted in August to increase the nation’s debt ceiling, and again as its supercommittee tried to craft deficit-cutting measures this fall.”

5. Occupy Wall Street’s center shows some cracks
By Amy Westfeldt | Associated Press | Dec. 14
“Instead of 24-hour base camps, Occupy Wall Street’s center of gravity has devolved into dozens of smaller groups with different agendas and objectives.”

6. Q&A: Fixing to Defrag a Disk
By J.D. Biersdorfer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | Sept. 1
“Q: I keep getting errors when I try to run the Disk Defragmenter program in Windows. What can I do?”

7. Iraq: Key figures since the war began
Associated Press | Dec. 18
“U.S. deaths as of Dec. 15, 2011: 4,487, according to the Pentagon.”

8. The Golden Rule
Flying Bachelorette | June 2011
“Many flight attendants are upset about the way passengers behave onboard these days — but what about how flight attendants behave?”

9. Sarah Kay: How many lives can you live?
TED Talks | May 2011
“Spoken-word poet Sarah Kay was stunned to find she couldn’t be a princess, ballerina and astronaut all in one lifetime.”

10. Edward and Mrs Simpson
Witness :: BBC News | April 1
“When Edward VIII fell in love with Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee, he had to choose between his throne and her.”

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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. Paul Thorn — Turnip Greens and Long Way from Tupelo
2. Dave Herrero — Bark
3. Tommy Crain and the Cross Town All Stars — Why I Sing the Blues
4. The Geoff Everett Band — Young Love Blues
5. John Mayall — Jacksboro Highway
6. The Shawn Fussell Band — Tulia Texas
7. Bo Cox — Gone
8. Stevie Ray Vaughan — The Sky Is Crying
9. Carolyn Wonderland — Trouble In The City
10. Moosters — Executioner
11. George Thorogood — I Didn’t Know
12. Anna Popovic — Wrong Woman
13. Chris Rea — Houston Angel

Behind The Wall

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Rebecca Aguilar

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

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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.

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Cadillac News, Forums, Rumors, Reviews

Real News That Matters

Talking Pictures Audio Description

Pintar Discover

bringing joy to family meals

Øl, Mad og Folk

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a joyous kitchen

fun, delicious food for everyone

A Perfect Feast

Modern Comfort Food

donnablackwrites

Art is a gift we give ourselves

low waste living drawn from food lore through the ages

BeckiesKitchen.com

MUSINGS : CRITICISM : HISTORY : NEWS

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.