(NUNAL) (EYEBALL)

Well, I'll admit to being obsessed with hurricane related news.... One reason that Joaquin is so strong is that "Ocean temperatures in the region are near 30°C (86°F)--the warmest seen there since record keeping began in 1880. " Wunderground links through to this map .

I was interviewed on SALive in San Antonio yesterday about the Festival of Texas Fiddling. some nice playing by Belen Escobedo, Rabbit Sanchez, and Ramon Gutierrez on a polka. It starts at 38:14

There are 134 job openings being advertised in ALL fields of history in the United States. One hundred thirty four.

The case for more tax brackets

Narco singer Larry Hernandez was arrested in an airport in California. The kidnapping charge arose when Larry demanded 30k for a show in South Carolina and allegedly held someone until he got it . (Is it just me, or does 30k sound like too little for a narco singer?)

wow, this video of Roger Cooper when he was recording one of his cds. stunning thing to stumble across the same guy posts tyhis 1987 video of Snake Chapman ok, one more of Snake, with the unsurpassed Paul David Smith on the banjo

I just happened across Michael M. Day's translation of Not-Not " Up to this day, the sole difficulty has been that we have been unable to find any form of cultural artifice to “prove” whether they ultimately live in the fashion of an “animal,” or in that of a “plant.” Our present culture has been incapable of embracing them, this wondrous phenomenon of life. We also have no ready way of saying what manner of thought they ultimately follow, and what they ultimately are thinking. So --- Today we declare: First, they live in a not-not fashion; Second, they are not-not life; Third, they make us feel not-not; Fourth, they make us become not-not; Fifth, we are not-not. Applaud us! --- we believe the sound of today’s applause will be permeated by a great concentration of not-not, followed by a dilution within not-not ….. Today with this sign that is “Not-Not,” and with the great heap of highly obscure semantics still now waiting to be sorted out behind it, we officially declare: sta...

I have some new neighbors who spend all of their time when not at work out back behind their house training their pigeons.  I have seen them building a coop and doing things with the birds, but finally had a long talk with them about the birds today. Turns out they are rolling pigeons, which I have never actually heard of. I'm fairly familiar with racing pigeons, or at least iwth the sport of since I have zero techbnical know how about raising birds or racing them. But it was an interest of mine for some time after becoming aware of the sport in Appalachian Tennessee. It is a world  way bigger than you can imagine, actually.  And it is a pretty fascinating world. I quote the American Racing Pigeon Union: "Remember, these birds are very different, in nearly every way, from anything you have ever thought of when you thought, "pigeon." The registered Homing Pigeon - the athlete - will be a source of great enjoyment. " That is a great expression, no? "The r...

This "playing history" game doesn't seem like it could be real, but apparently so

I do wish Obama had displayed this level of political sharpness all the time