Cyril's Gleans

gleans at 9:10 PM MT, 10/10

 

The Swallow Anthology of New American Poets - Ohio University ...

The Swallow Anthology of New American Poets identifies a group of poets who ... Book Review, Wall Street Journal, New Republic, The Best American Poetry ...

 

Reunion With a Rich Old Friend

By MELISSA CLARK - It wasn’t that I was avoiding calf’s liver; I just hadn’t thought about it in, oh, 10 years.

 

Recipes for Health

 

Just Don’t Call Them Weeds

By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN

Tired of iceberg? Weary of romaine? Try some of the more unusual greens now available at many farmers’ markets.

See All Recipes for Health »

 

Bits: An E-Reader From Barnes & Noble

 

'The Good Soldiers'

By DAVID FINKEL
Reviewed by DOUG STANTON

David Finkel’s harrowing chronicle of modern combat is based on the eight months he spent with an Army battalion in Iraq.

 

Book Sales Are Down, Despite Push

By MOTOKO RICH

After strong starts and huge marketing campaigns, some of the biggest books of the fall season are losing a little steam.

 

Pakistan army: Commando raid frees 22 hostages

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan – Pakistani commandos raided a building inside army headquarters early Sunday and freed 22 people held hostage for more than 18 hours by Islamist militants, a military spokesman said. Three captives and four militants were killed in the operation. Full Story »

 

 

 

 

 

 

gleans + 1xlagniappe at 3:05 PM MT, 10/10

 

Mad Men—If It’s Not Nostalgia, What Is It?

Each week, 2.8 million Americans watch the AMC show Mad Men: a meticulous recreation of the world and the people of an ad agency in the early 1960s.

 

Solar power outshining Colorado's gas industry

 

Afghan official: foreigners bolstering Taliban  <== today's less alert item - money and supplies coming from Iran - bodies coming from all over

 

Japanese, SKorean first ladies try kimchi diplomacy

 

Gunmen hold up to 15 hostages in Pakistan army HQ

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan – Heavily armed militants were holding up to 15 soldiers hostage inside Pakistan's army headquarters Saturday after they stormed the complex in an audacious assault on the heart of the nuclear-armed country's most powerful institution. Full Story »

 

Op-Ed Contributor - A Library to Last Forever - NYTimes.com

 

Sign Language: week 69
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/6271827/Sign-Language-week-69.html

 

 

lagniappe

 

Comin Thro' The Rye ~ Burns 

Chorus.
O Jenny's a' weet, poor body,
Jenny's seldom dry:
She draigl't a' her petticoatie,
Comin thro' the rye!

1.
Comin thro' the rye, poor body,
Comin thro' the rye,
She draigl't a' her petticoatie,
Comin thro' the rye!

2.
Gin a body meet a body
Comin thro' the rye,
Gin a body kiss a body,
Need a body cry?

3.
Gin a body meet a body
Comin thro' the glen,
Gin a body kiss a body,
Need the warld ken?

4.
Gin a body meet a body
Comin thro' the grain,
Gin a body kiss a body,
The thing's a body's ain.

 

 

 

 

 

gleans at 11:50 AM MT, 10/10

 

Militants Storm Seat of Military in Pakistan

By SALMAN MASOOD - Soldiers took positions outside the army headquarters after gunmen took more than a dozen security officers hostage. The standoff continued into the evening.

Latest Attacks Seen as Warning to Government

 

The Skimmer (Briefing)
Book Review: We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism by John Derbyshire

 

We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism by John Derbyshire (Hardcover - Sep 29, 2009)

Buy new: $26.00 $17.16  24 Used & new from $15.06   (7)

 

Getting Air Traffic Under Control (Global Business / COP15: Capping Carbon)
A new satellite-based system could reduce delays and lower emissions from jets

 

Small Banks Fail at a Growing Rate, Straining F.D.I.C.

By ERIC DASH - A year after the rescue of the financial institutions considered too big to fail, smaller ones are approaching

a grim milestone: the 100th failure of 2009.

 

The Great Recession: The Numbers Tell the Story

 

Gunmen Hold Hostages in Pakistan Army Headquarters

 

Top Judge Calls Calif. Government ‘Dysfunctional’

By JENNIFER STEINHAUER  The chief justice of the California Supreme Court scathingly criticized the state’s reliance on

the referendum process.

 

Legal Cost for Throwing a Monkey Wrench

By KIRK JOHNSON - Tim DeChristopher decided to make bids on oil and gas leases with no interest in drilling. Now he may

pay for it.

 

Ecuador Oil Pollution Case Only Grows Murkier

By SIMON ROMERO and CLIFFORD KRAUSS - A multibillion-dollar legal case between Amazon peasants and Chevron over

oil pollution in the rain forest has unfolded like a mystery thriller.

Times Topics: Ecuador | Chevron Corporation

 

Jobs Wanted, Any Jobs at All

By N. R. KLEINFIELD

Armed with journalism degrees, twins from Ohio moved to New York in search of a job. More than a year later, they’re still

looking.

Video: The Young and the Jobless

 

 

 

 

 

gleans + 2xaddenda at 8:00 AM MT, 10/10

 

Job competition toughest since recession began

 

Video: The Jobs Picture

 

 

Seeing the Future in 3-D Television

By HIROKO TABUCHI

 

Yoshikazu Tsuno/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A Toshiba prototype of a 3-D television. A poll conducted by the research firm In-Stat found that 64 percent of respondents showed at least some interest in watching 3-D programming at home.

Japanese manufacturers hope 3-D technology can differentiate their high-end televisions from their lower-priced rivals’.

 

 

Adviser: At least 25,000 more troops needed

 

 

addenda #1

 

Ten memorable movies about poets:

1) "Il Postino"

2) "Shakespeare in Love"

3) "Piñero"

4) "Dead Poets Society"

5) "Love Jones"

6) "Bright Star"

7) "Slam"

8) "Dr. Zhivago"

9) "Before Night Falls"

10) "The Basketball Diaries"

 

 

addenda #2

 

      Zipf's law. Who is Zipf's law? What is Zipf's law? Where is Zipf's ...

 

See also

• Benford's law,
• Bradford's law,
• harmonic number of order
• law (principle),
• Mathematical economics,
• Pareto distribution,
• Pareto principle,
• power law,
• Zipf-Mandelbrot law
• Heaps' law

 

 

 

gleans at 5:00 PM MT, 10/09

 

Real tsunami may have inspired the legend of Atlantis LiveScience.com

 

      Cloud of confusion over success of Nasa moon 'bombing' - Times       Online

Oct 9, 2009 ... It promised dramatic fireworks, but the mission to smash two spacecraft into the Moon at more then 5000mph today may not have created quite ...

 

NASA's strike on moon worked, mission official says

 

B&N e-book reader reportedly in the works

The bookseller is readying a Google Android-powered device that is expected to compete with Amazon's Kindle, according to various reports.

 

 

Britain to train Pakistan's Frontier Corps - Times Online - Jeremy Page - ‎... resonant for Britain, which founded the FC in 1907 to control rebellious tribes on the North West Frontier, and used to recruit and train troops for the ...

 

Top ten Nobel Prize rows - Times Online - Ana Naomi de Sousa - ‎In 1998 the Nobel Prize for Medicine went to a scientist whose work led to the discovery of Viagra 10. There was an outcry in the world of science in 2007 ...

 

 

Iconic Hummer brand sold to Chinese manufacturer

 

Video: Hummer deal seen as boon for Chinese auto ind.

 

 

PAUL KRUGMAN

The Uneducated American

Education in America, suffering for years, is about to get much worse thanks to cuts caused by the financial crisis.

• Columnist Page | Blog | Comments

 

A Library to Last Forever - By SERGEY BRIN - Google’s books project is a win-win for authors, publishers and Google, but the real winners are readers, who will have access to an expanded world of books.

 

 

 

 

 

 

gleans at 7:45 AM MT, 10/09

 

Why Winning the Nobel Peace Prize Could Hurt Obama

By SIMON ROBINSON - Obama came into the White House with the weight of expectations on his shoulders. The Nobel Peace Prize will add to that — and provide ammunition to his political foes on the right

Obama's won the Nobel Peace – WTF?!

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100013074/obamas-won-the-nobel-peace-wtf/

Off the Interstate: Turning 'Blue Highways' Green

By ROBERT CHEW  - In Michigan, there's a movement to transform little-used heritage routes into a network of green highways that would cater to slow-moving, eco-minded travelers

US forces leave isolated Afghan base after attack

 

The Berlin Wall: what really made it fall ç One more time:  TV

 

Recipe: pork belly with radicchio and hazelnuts - Tom Oldroyd rarely uses more than three main ingredients in Polpo's cicchetti – it's a good rule.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/6280902/Recipe-pork-belly-with-radicchio-and-hazelnuts.html

 

Long a source of rich material for Britain's stand-up comedy circuit, this once sleepy Kentish spa town is ripe for a makeover.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6281016/The-rise-and-fall-of-Tunbridge-Wells.html

 

 

 

gleans + 1xaddenda at 7:10 AM MT, 10/09

 

Reid vs. Pelosi? Top Democrats at odds over Afghan war

 

Whodunit? Sneak attack on U.S. dollar

 

A team of researchers in the US has demonstrated a tiny battery powered by the decay of radioactive isotopes.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/technology/8297934.stm

 

US, other nations stop counting pandemic flu cases - Yahoo! News

US health officials have lost track of how many illnesses and deaths have been caused by the first global flu epidemic in 40 years.

 

Backstage in Las Vegas, a cirque du risque

By Ashley Powers - Aerialists, contortionists and clowns let loose and try out new acts -- sometimes bawdy -- at the Square Apple bar, a creative outlet for artistic risk-takers.

 

Pakistan turns to drones of its own

By Alex Rodriguez - Pakistan's citizens are irked by U.S. drones, and its requests to buy them from Washington have been rebuffed. So it owns and operates Italian-made models, a version of which it is developing itself.

 

Golf and rugby accepted as Olympic sports
COPENHAGEN - Tiger Woods can begin his quest for a gold medal, after golf was approved as an Olympic sport Friday along with rugby sevens.

 

addenda

 

CTV.ca

World's top 200 colleges: an educated guess?

Christian Science Monitor - Amelia Newcomb - ‎4 hours ago‎

The US still leads the global pack in top-notch universities – according to the London-based Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings. ...

Unis do well in world rankings Sydney Morning Herald

Trinity gains top 50 world ranking The Press Association

McGill climbs to 18th in world rankings McGill Reporter

Irish Central - Insideireland.ie

all 100 news articles »

 

 

 

Telegraph.co.uk

Oxford beaten by UCL in league table

Telegraph.co.uk - Graeme Paton - ‎14 hours ago‎

The Times Higher Education – QS World University Rankings show the UK has more top-rated institutions than any other country outside the United States. ...

University Collage of London beats Oxford in Times league table London Daily News

Britain dominates list of the Top Ten universities in the world Times Online

Asian universities “snapping at the heels” of UK, US universities Thaindian.com

guardian.co.uk - Gaea Times (blog)

all 81 news articles »

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

gleans + 1xaddenda at 11:25 AM MT, 10/08

 

Scientists race to prevent ash tree's extinction

 

Underground city envisioned in Nevada desert

 

 Capitalist crunch hits Cuban cigar sales Times Online - ‎Johnny Berman, the managing director of Sautter in Central London, said: “Cigar sales are holding up. In December, January and February they were down about ...

 

Lohan's new role is several sizes too big Times Online - Lisa Armstrong - ‎Clearly Lohan loves clothes. “I'm still a total shopaholic. My house in LA is like a giant closet.” Moufarrige says the first time he visited her there he ...

 

      American troops in Afghanistan losing heart, say army chaplains ...

Oct 8, 2009 ... American soldiers serving in Afghanistan are depressed and deeply disillusioned, according to the chaplains of two US battalions that have ...

 

 

addenda <== Maugham is one of Cyril's main men

 

This week's issue of the TLS Somerset Maugham's bondage Jeremy Treglown welcomes a steady-eyed biography of an extraordinary, extravagant, generous and bitter artist - a book that will "not only fascinate its readers but encourage some to go to W. Somerset Maugham's work for the first time". Snakes on the brain What is Snake Detection Theory? Barbara J. King assesses the fascinating new hypothesis about the evolutionary relationship between serpents and primates, and what the latter learned from the former.

Modernism and the little magazines "The literary journal is dead" Stefan Collini says. "Long live the literary journal . . . ." In the rest of the paper, you will find Joyce Cary reissued, Karl Kraus at large, Francis Wheen's strange days and, last but not least, In Brief.

 

 

 

 

 

gleans at 7:35 AM MT, 10/08

 

Continuing our series on budget city breaks, Fred Mawer explains how to fill up on culture and cuisine in Madrid for less than £250. -
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/spain/madrid/6271308/Madrid-on-a-budget-European-city-breaks-for-under-250.html

 

Nursery rhymes could die out, survey suggests - Traditional children’s nursery rhymes such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star are becoming so unpopular with parents that they could die out, researched suggests. ç TEOCAWKI

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/6270218/Nursery-rhymes-could-die-out-survey-suggests.html

 

T.S Eliot named favourite poet - T.S. Eliot – the 20th century modernist famed for The Waste Land – has been named Britain’s favourite poet.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/6272012/T.S-Eliot-named-favourite-poet.html

 

Taking the contraceptive pill is changing women's taste in men, a new study suggests. -
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6271347/Are-men-becoming-less-masculine.html

 

The contraceptive pill may be changing women's taste in men from the macho pin-ups of the 1960s like Sean Connery to today's more boyish stars like Johny Depp and Zac Efron, scientists believe. -
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6270786/The-pill-gives-women-a-taste-for-boyish-men-like-Zac-Efron.html

 

You can date the end of dollar hegemony from China's decision last month to sell its first batch of sovereign bonds in Chinese yuan to foreigners. -
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/china-business/6266790/China-calls-time-on-dollar-hegemony.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

gleans at 7:00 AM MT, 10/08

 

Whole grains may help keep blood pressure in check

 

Amid the global economic crisis, China rises

 

My Ardi, myself. There’s a lot to say about the new human ancestor, observes Lionel Tiger. And much of it has to do with how we prefer to see ourselves... more»

 

Contagious laughter, yawns and moods offer insight into empathy’s origins ... [more]

 

Selfishness beats altruism within groups, altruistic groups beat selfish groups, and everything else is commentary ... [more]

 

On being reincarnated as a buzzard [Ed: My pick would be an otter] ... [more]

 

What were the inhibiting factors in Chinese civilisation which prevented the rise of modern science in Asia? ... [more]

 

Four major quakes strike South Pacific - They were part of a series of 16 moderate-to-major quakes that rattled the region over the same period. The first three major quakes struck in a 70-minute ...

 

FCC chairman warns of 'looming spectrum crisis'

 

Justice Dept probing IBM's computer market conduct

 

Some good data - http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/10/07/muslim.world.population/index.html

 

Brian Wilson to finish some George Gershwin songs

By Randy Lewis - Wilson plans to finish and record at least two songs on an album of Gershwin music that could be released next year.

 

How 'Paranormal Activity' drives abnormal interest

By John Horn - The $15,000 movie is following a marketing script similar to 'The Blair Witch Project.'

 

Obama seeks ways keep joblessness from sinking recovery

By Don Lee - The White House considers various ideas to spur job creation and looks at continuing elements of the stimulus package, including extending unemployment benefits.

 

Los Angeles boosts perks to filmmakers

By Richard Verrier - The City Council adopts some incentives and will consider others to try to stem an outflow of TV and film production work.

 

White wines to warm up your fall meals

By Patrick Comiskey - What better wine to go with a roast or gratin than a harvest wine with the taste of fall? Here are whites from Alsace and Oregon, Hungary's Tokaj, Campania and the U.S.