Dan Barber's great TED talk

"...the great thing for chefs--the great blessing for chefs--and for people that care about food and cooking is that the the most ecological choice for food is also the most ethical choice for food, whether we're talking about Brussels sprouts or foie gras, and it's also almost always...the most delicious choice. That's serendipitous."

"relative difference between partners' levels of attractiveness appeared to be most important in predicting marital behavior, such that both spouses behaved more positively in relationships in which wives were more attractive than their husbands, but they behaved more negatively in relationships in which husbands were more attractive than their wives."

From Barking Up the Wrong Tree ( url means "Its Stupid" in Japanese. FYI)

"During a commercial break on the set in the mid-1980's, the band was playing so loudly that it was impossible for Teri Garr, one of Dave's favorite guests, to make herself heard. When she all but shouted at him "How are you doing?" Letterman grabbed a pad on his desk, scribbled a note and passed it to her. "I hate myself," it read. Garr was a bit stunned. But when she tried to reassure Dave that he was, in fact, truly a wonderful guy, Letterman grabbed the note, underlined "I hate myself" twice and passed it back."

Late night television hosts are people too...

I have been completely drawn into the latest Late Night scandal with Obrien and Leno. I usually dismiss celebrity news and scandal with tyipcal anti-TV smugness, but for some reason this one pulls me in. I've been trying to decide why this particular episode is so interesting and I think it's because the stories are so real, the feelings of these people are so authentic. These aren't cocky, overconfident men, they are passionate people who are full of flaws and self doubt but who nonetheless worked toward their dream. Obrien, like Letterman before him, dreamed of hosting the Tonight Show since childhood. Both literally spent their adult careers working toward this one thing. Leno seems like a villian, not just because he's now been given the show twice over those who objectively seem to deserve it, but because he's not driven by this dream, he's just...driven.

Spampersand

From Serious Eats

So Much Snow So Much Fun

I kind of love Cibelle

My favorite first page of a science fiction novel ever

From Page 1 of The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuin

Current-borne, wave-flung, tugged hugely by the whole might of ocean, the jellyfish drifts in the tidal abyss. The light shines through it, and the dark enters it. Borne, flung, tugged from anywhere to anywhere, for in the deep sea there is no compass but nearer and farther, higher and lower, the jellyfish hangs and sways; pulses move slight and quick within it, as the vast diurnal pulses beat in the moondriven sea. Hanging, swaying, pulsing, the most vulnerable and insubstantial creature, it has for its defense the violence and power of the whole ocean, to which it has entrusted its being, its going, and its will.

But here rise the stubborn continents. The shelves of gravel and the cliffs of rock break from water baldly into air, that dry, terrible outerspace of radiance and instability, where there is no support for life. And now, now the currents mislead and the waves betray, breaking their endless circle, to leap up in loud foam against rock and air, breaking....

What will the creature made all of seadrift do on the dry sand of daylight; what will the mind do, each morning, waking?

La Bajada Ghost Town and La Bajada Hill

All Photos by Deanna Nelson

A Really Pleasant CG video

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

Words of Wisdom from Warren Buffett

"It's nice to have a lot of money, but you know, you don't want to keep it around forever. I prefer buying things. Otherwise, it's a little like saving sex for your old age."

Cogito Vermo Sum

My old boss/friend/librarian works for a rare books dealer and took this photo of some fancy art left behind by worms in a 17th century Descartes book.

No two ways about it, or are there?

Pointer from The Internet Food Association

From Wikipedia

In measure theory, a branch of mathematics, the ham sandwich theorem, also called the Stone–Tukey theorem after Arthur H. Stone and John Tukey, states that given any sandwich composed of bread, ham, and cheese, there is a plane that cuts the sandwich into two pieces that contain equal amounts of bread, equal amounts of ham, and equal amounts of cheese. Mathematically, and more generally, given n measurable "objects" in n-dimensional space, it is possible to divide all of them in half (according to volume) with a single (n − 1)-dimensional hyperplane. Here the "objects" should be sets of finite measure (or, in fact, just of finite outer measure) for the notion of "dividing the volume in half" to make sense.

Brethren! We have a message from another world...

From Letters of Note

To the American Red Cross, New York City.

The retrospect is glorious, the prospect inspiring: Much might be said of both. But one idea dominates my mind. This - my best, my dearest - is for your noble cause.

I have observed electrical actions, which have appeared inexplicable. Faint and uncertain though they were, they have given me a deep conviction and foreknowledge that ere long all human beings on this globe, as one, will turn their eyes to the firmament above, with feelings of love and reverence, thrilled by the glad news: "Brethren! We have a message from another world, unknown and remote. It reads: one… two… three…"

Christmas 1900

Nikola Tesla

This last paragraph has to be one of the best ever written.

Slate on the Netflix Map

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/browbeat/

The most-popular movies across each urban area are films that contended in last year's Oscars—The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Doubt, Milk, Vicky Christina Barcelona, The Wrestler, Rachel Getting Married—plus a handful of less heady titles: Paul Blart, Eagle Eye, Twilight.

But not all of the zips are so boring. Perusing the New York map over the weekend, Slate contributor Mike Shollar came across 11371, in Flushing, Queens. Its top-10:

1. Wall-E
2. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
3. Oz: Season 3: Disc 1
4. Watchmen
5. The Midnight Meat Train
6. Man, Woman, and the Wall
7. Traffic
8. Romancing the Stone
9. Crocodile Dundee 2
10. Godzilla's Revenge

Why such an idiosyncratic list? According to zipcode.com, 11371 has a population of zero—it's LaGuardia Airport. Presumably, this list represents the taste of a small number of people (a single person?) who registered a Netflix account to a mailstop at LGA. Mike noticed a similar phenomenon in Chicago, where O'Hare has its own zip. The top titles in 60666:
1. Year of the Dragon
2. Transporter 3
3. Somewhere in Time
4. Videodrome
5. A Prayer for the Dying
6. Sixteen Candles
7. Orlando
8. Pale Rider
9. The Breakfast Club
10. Raising Arizona

It's not just airports that have more eclectic lists. College campuses often have their own zips as well. The University of Denver, which resides in 80208, would seem to have particularly collegiate taste:

1. Flight of the Conchords: Season 1: Disc 2
2. W.
3. Volver
4. Weeds: Season 2: Disc 2
5. Appaloosa
6. Weeds: Season 2: Disc 1
7. Defiance
8. Eastern Promises
9. The Visitor
10. The Duchess

Other pockets of resistance to Oscar dominance include, interestingly, the zip codes in which some of the major studios reside. Universal City, home to Universal Studios, is in zip code 91608. Its top 10:

1. Twilight
2. Vicky Christina Barcelona
3. Taken
4. I Love You, Man
5. RocknRolla
6. Cloverfield
7. Changeling
8. Body of Lies
9. Sicko
10. True Blood: Season 1, Disc 1

One final zip-code category that produces entertaining top 10s: areas largely taken up by federal or state government. For example, 80225, home to the Denver Federal Center. Get the sense this list reflects the taste of a single Netflix subscriber?

1. Entourage: Season 1: Disc 1
2. Patton Oswalt: No Reason to Complain: Uncensored
3. Richard Jeni: A Big Steaming Pile of Me
4. Psych: Season 1: Disc 1
5. Heckler
6. Robot Chicken: Season 1: Disc 1
7. Patton Oswalt: My Weakness Is Strong
8. Psych: Season 1: Disc 2
9. Patton Oswalt: Werewolves and Lollipops
10. Psych: Season 1: Disc 3

Netflix Maps: Top Rentals by Neighborhood.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/01/10/nyregion/20100110-netflix-map.html?hp

More Brassens

He has such a distant, intense look when he performs.

And now form something completely different...

Animal Collective - Brothersport

My Favorite French Song Including Translation and Audio

Mourir Pour des Idees - Georges Brassens

This truly is one of my favorite songs of all time. If you don't speak French, take my word for it that the lyrics are exquisite.

Here's a clip with what I'll call a fan video:



Here it is live. I recommend watching both.



French Lyrics:

Mourir pour des idées, l'idée est excellente
Moi j'ai failli mourir de ne l'avoir pas eu
Car tous ceux qui l'avaient, multitude accablante
En hurlant à la mort me sont tombés dessus
Ils ont su me convaincre et ma muse insolente
Abjurant ses erreurs, se rallie à leur foi
Avec un soupçon de réserve toutefois
Mourrons pour des idées, d'accord, mais de mort lente,
D'accord, mais de mort lente

Jugeant qu'il n'y a pas péril en la demeure
Allons vers l'autre monde en flânant en chemin
Car, à forcer l'allure, il arrive qu'on meure
Pour des idées n'ayant plus cours le lendemain
Or, s'il est une chose amère, désolante
En rendant l'âme à Dieu c'est bien de constater
Qu'on a fait fausse route, qu'on s'est trompé d'idée
Mourrons pour des idées, d'accord, mais de mort lente
D'accord, mais de mort lente

Les saint jean bouche d'or qui prêchent le martyre
Le plus souvent, d'ailleurs, s'attardent ici-bas
Mourir pour des idées, c'est le cas de le dire
C'est leur raison de vivre, ils ne s'en privent pas
Dans presque tous les camps on en voit qui supplantent
Bientôt Mathusalem dans la longévité
J'en conclus qu'ils doivent se dire, en aparté
"Mourrons pour des idées, d'accord, mais de mort lente
D'accord, mais de mort lente"

Des idées réclamant le fameux sacrifice
Les sectes de tout poil en offrent des séquelles
Et la question se pose aux victimes novices
Mourir pour des idées, c'est bien beau mais lesquelles ?
Et comme toutes sont entre elles ressemblantes
Quand il les voit venir, avec leur gros drapeau
Le sage, en hésitant, tourne autour du tombeau
Mourrons pour des idées, d'accord, mais de mort lente
D'accord, mais de mort lente

Encor s'il suffisait de quelques hécatombes
Pour qu'enfin tout changeât, qu'enfin tout s'arrangeât
Depuis tant de "grands soirs" que tant de têtes tombent
Au paradis sur terre on y serait déjà
Mais l'âge d'or sans cesse est remis aux calendes
Les dieux ont toujours soif, n'en ont jamais assez
Et c'est la mort, la mort toujours recommencée
Mourrons pour des idées, d'accord, mais de mort lente
D'accord, mais de mort lente

O vous, les boutefeux, ô vous les bons apôtres
Mourez donc les premiers, nous vous cédons le pas
Mais de grâce, morbleu! laissez vivre les autres!
La vie est à peu près leur seul luxe ici bas
Car, enfin, la Camarde est assez vigilante
Elle n'a pas besoin qu'on lui tienne la faux
Plus de danse macabre autour des échafauds!
Mourrons pour des idées, d'accord, mais de mort lente
D'accord, mais de mort lente

English Translation

Die for ideas, that's a great idea.
Me, I nearly died because I didn't have any.
Because those who had the ideals, an overwhelming crowd,
Fell on me yelling "Slaughter".
They were able to convince me, and my cheeky Muse
Admitted she was wrong, and rallied to their cause.
Just maintaining a tiny suspicion of doubt.
Die for ideas, OK, but just make it a slow death,
OK, a slow death.

Judging that there's no danger in staying at home,
Let's meander on the road to the other world.
Because if you force the pace, you end up dying
For ideals which are out of date tomorrow.
Now if there's one thing that's really bitter and upsetting
When you offer up your soul to God, its realising
That you took the wrong turning, got hold of the wrong idea.
Die for ideas, OK, but just make it a slow death,
OK, a slow death.

The Saint John Chrysotoms* who preach martyrdom
Usually manage to hang around on earth.
Dying for ideas, let's be clear about it,
That's their reason for living, so they're not going to lose it.
In all the different camps you can see people who take the place
Of Mathusalah when it comes to longevity.
I conclude from this that they must say to themselves, aside,
"Die for ideas, OK, but just make it a slow death,
OK, a slow death."

For ideas demanding the ultimate sacrifice,
Sects of every shade offer the sequel,
And the question arises in the minds of novice victims:
"Die for ideas, that's fine, but which ones?"
And as they all resemble each other,
When he sees them approaching under their big banners,
The wise man hesitates, turns around the tomb.
Die for ideas, OK, but just make it a slow death,
OK, a slow death.

Now, if it just needed a few hecatombs
For everything to change, everything fall into place,
After so many "great eves" when so many heads fall,
We would already have reached Paradise on earth.
But the golden age is constantly put off to the Kalends,
The gods are always thirsty, have never had enough,
And its death, death again and again.
Die for ideas, OK, but just make it a slow death,
OK, a slow death.

O all you firebreathers, o all you good apostles,
Go and die first, we stand back and let you through.
But please, I beg you, let the rest of us get on with living,
Life is just about our only luxury down here.
For after all, Death is sufficiently vigilant,
He doesn't need anyone to hold his scythe for him.
Let's have no more macabre dances around the scaffold.
Die for ideas, OK, but just make it a slow death,
OK, a slow death.

Translation can be found here.

Read a Book You'll Hate

Laura Miller says:

What we tell ourselves about ourselves tends to be a bit of a performance; what interests -- or bores -- us is who we really are.

A journal of the year's reading can also serve as a reminder of your own blind spots. Now that blogging has made personal year-end lists ubiquitous, I can't help noticing the persistence of many lamentable old patterns: A lot of men only read books written by other men. (Women, with the exception of romance buffs, tend to be more ecumenical.) Other people exclusively read fiction or nonfiction, and still others never crack a book that wasn't originally written in English or part of a particular genre, or about a favorite region.

Even those of us obliged to read a wide variety of books develop our own highly specific crochets. I will resist any book set on a ranch like a cat fighting a bath; likewise, memoirs by women obsessed with their mothers. If I happen to flip through a graphic novel and see a scene in which 20-something characters complain about their relationships in a cafe -- back on the display table it goes posthaste. Historical fiction set in early 20th-century America, especially the silent movie business? No, thank you very much.

Cibelle - Green Grass

More please!

Wind generator with LED's somewhere in Munich.

Bill Callahan Live

Taiwan: In and around Alishan