OMG, Aparagus Pesto!

 And 12 other things.
I love Mark Bittman.

Quote O' Teh Day

All a person is in the end is a story you tell yourself.

Possibly Charles Fernyhough, a developmental psychologist

I heard it on Radiolab today but missed the reference. Am thinking about making Radiolab my daily meditation. Using Beulahland didn't work, it always made me cry.

I Do This Because I Can

And for science.

Oh, THAT Wedding

The hats because, why not?
So what if they're never worn again, the museums will appreciate a chance to do a fun show.
Now, on to the gown.

What Wedding?

Hi, I'm back. Was worried for awhile that I was't worried. Hope you're still out there.
You owe it to our neighbors to read something about Canadian politics every few years.
Here it is. Uh, because there's an election going on that could change things radically.
Then again, maybe not. It's Canada.

Oh, All Right, I'll Read Infinite Jest

guess I'll have to buy it after this.

Tina Fey, Honorary Contrarienne

Janet Is-She-Still-Alive? Maslin does a nice profile, er, book review.

“Only in comedy,” she writes, about interviewing for a writing job on “Saturday Night Live” in 1997, “does an obedient white girl from the suburbs count as diversity.”

Here, Have A Death Cookie

Possibly the most engaging thing I have read in months. And I read a lot.

“The risk you take has a feedback effect on the unconscious,” he says. “The unconscious will give you ideas and it wants you to act on them. The more courage you have when you act, the more ideas it will give you.”

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/03/21/110321fa_fact_goodyear#ixzz1IMDNIfZd

The reason it is so engaging is that I recognize my own experience.

Malcolm X Redux

There's a new book I'd really like to read, but the author's story is remarkable as well.

As Promised

VR I think I should go to Brazil. Then maybe Argentina.

Lost Love

I have cleaned up all the family photos and the CDs and put  Zap Mama back into my life. Next up, Virginia Rodriguez.

Should We Read Susan Sontag?

Maybe not. Maybe read about her instead.

“She had the death that somewhere she must have come to believe that other people had from cancer,” Rieff writes, “the death where knowledge meant nothing, the will to fight meant nothing, the skill of the doctors meant nothing.”

For A Good Read, Try NYT

while it's still free.
But I digress.
My mouth is watering over this.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/nyregion/20turanos.html?_r=1

Like many classic New York tales, the story of Mr. Kruger and his shadow family involves love, money, conflict and real estate.

It is a story of an internecine political world of favor-trading and access-peddling.

It is a story of an obscure waterfront expanse of garish mansions and decadent cars, a pocket of wealth unreachable by buses and subways and unseen by most city residents.

And, now, it is a story of unwanted attention.

Beulah Land

Takes me to my knees. Every time.

I'll Be Bouba, You Be Kiki

Tried to read all this review of the hot new brain book but, I'll be honest, it was long. So I skimmed. Basically I wanted more summary, less discursive analysis. But, as always, a lot to ponder.

Do Not

tempt the wrath of the whatever from high atop the thing.

Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda

Here's the list of things I knew I should buy. But what did I do? Oh, probably blew it on new clothes or something.
1. Netflix
2. Apple
3. Google
4. Amazon
5. Starbucks

February's Over, Time To Pull Up My Palin Pants

After the nationally recognized Palin-free month, the LA Times gives me reason to be grateful for good journalism again.
And one of Andrew Sullivan's readers comes through with some enriching info.
So also grateful for the internet.
All of which gets me to thinking about the NYT's new paywall, which goes into effect for people like me on March 28. Already there's a Twitter account to help us circumvent it.
I wouldn't have known about the LA Times piece without Sullivan who, among other things, is what is known as an aggregator. He and his staff find stuff, then pass it along.
Which means the LAT got a whole lot of new eyeballs on that one story at least.
So, how do they monetize it? I don't think the paywall is the answer. I think, just as advertisers pay for hits, so should readers.
It's an idea that's been kicked around, don't know the ins and outs of it, although the technology is probably there.
But I'll admit it, I'd pay a couple bucks a month for what I read now, which they would automatically deduct. But not $15 a month for the NYT.
Some will, though. But probably not enough. Felix Salmon, a much-quoted financial analyst was headlined somewhere recently claiming he's done the math, and it ain't gonna work.
Maybe he's wrong and the NYT is right. Or maybe, as I suspect, the "passive-aggressive white males" in charge got hold of an idea, liked it a lot, and couldn't let go of it even when they knew it was a loser. Or maybe, more likely, they have a power structure designed to help them suppress any information that runs counter to their egos. Egoes? Can't remember.
This is how I believe the world operates.
I don't like it, but I must accept it.
Or go crazy.

Just In Case You Were Wondering

Krugman isn't worried about the economic impact. I notice he didn't mention the nukes.

So, back to Japan: I’m terrified about the possible loss of life; nervous about the disruption of world production; not worried at all about the impact of Japanese borrowing on world bond markets.

Grim

The truth begins to trickle in.

The police chief of Miyagi prefecture, or state, told a gathering of disaster relief officials that his estimate for deaths was more than 10,000, police spokesman Go Sugawara told The Associated Press. Miyagi has a population of 2.3 million and is one of the three prefectures hardest hit in Friday's disaster. Only 379 people have officially been confirmed as dead in Miyagi.

You might recognize it.

UPDATE: The Gray Lady weighs in, three days later.

...as the death toll from Friday’s earthquake and tsunami climbed astronomically