general

Good post [dead link -- see below] from the Kos blog on the climate change deniers' argument that "climate scientists predicted an Ice Age in the '70s so why should we believe them now?" Have actually never heard that argument but will be ready if any of my Neanderthal friends--all zero of them--try to use it on me.

Arthur C. Clarke wrote an eerie short story about unexplained waves of forest animals running through English towns. Heading south, of course, in advance of you know what. But that was written long before the waning of Arctic Sea ice.

Update: The post I linked to disappeared -- possibly a Kos-hosted blogger that removed content. The topic is covered elsewhere on the Kos site.

Speedy J has yet to benefit from substantial critical analysis

Don DeLillo, responding to George Will: "being called a 'bad citizen' is a compliment to a novelist"

future song titles: "Word Planet in Title," "Slocum" (thought of those walking around today)

"Formal Ajax copyright 2008 by Charles Broskoski" isn't even AJAX, sez WIH. This merits elaboration but where?

night of the hunter, night of the living dead, night of the lepus

wish my interns would stop slacking off

"I quit my job just to quit. I didn't quit my job to write fiction. I just didn't want to work anymore." Don DeLillo

"computer restarted while watching the craft" (actual search request)

Brie Happens (swear I overheard someone say that when I came out of the subway today)

tv quiz show interviews blogger via skype - blogger takes photo of show host on tv screen for her blog readers - this makes host squirm

a critique of contemporary politics and the power of representation

a distant mirror -> little ice age -> greenland -> rubies -> chromium (wikipedia trail)

From the front page of Wikipedia we learned today that

Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 successfully lands the Moon Impact Probe on the lunar south pole.

This is major news. India is now the 4th country to put a spacecraft on the lunar surface (after the Soviet Union, US, and Japan).
Searched the front page of the New York Times online for this story and it's not there. Great paper: the Iraq War, Tom Friedman... Let's repeat: Wikipedia had this story and the Times didn't.

Update: My sources saw this item in one or more of the financial papers and in the science trades. I've seen no mention of it in the NY Times online edition on Nov 14-15 (haven't looked at the print editions for those days). Possibly the Times has a bias against stories that go against the grain of the "American exceptionalism narrative." Anyway, congratulations to India, that's an impressive achievement.

Update 2: On Nov. 16 the Times ran a one-paragraph AP story, dated Nov 14, about the landing. The headline was several stories down in the Science section. Way to cover 'em, Gray Lady!

Johnny Sunshine is a regular volunteer singer for SKFTB (Super Karaoke Fun Time Band). A star is born: [YouTube]
(he looks like Val Kilmer and moves like Iggy Pop--psychedelic guitar slides in the break by Otis Ball)
The video features adventurous camera work in an echt-New York metro area setting.

Long but well-told explanation by Michael Lewis of the mass cognitive dissonance that led to the current financial crisis. Lewis wrote the book Liar's Poker, about his experiences as a trader during the '80s financial madness. He thought the insanity had ended but now says current events make that period seem quaint. Junk bond shenanigans again--but this time in connection with even more dubious financial instruments based on home lending. What--house prices wouldn't keep going up forever? Who knew?

[hat tip backspin]