36 posts tagged “general interest”

As promised, it's time for some mid-week links:

• In honor of tonight's All-Star Game, as well as all the recent hoopla about San Francisco Giant Tim Lincecum (including a Sports Illustrated cover story that called him"The Freak"), you can check out video of his trés efficient pitching style right here.  (Link via Kottke)
  
  
• I'm still getting myself ready for the Beijing Olympics (sadly, as a spectator and not as a team handball player), and part of my preparation involves reading about the tricky politics of being an athlete from Taiwan.  Oh, sorry, that's Chinese Taipei.
  
  
• Atheist and journalist Jeffrey W. Haws runs a very cool blog called The Atheocracy.  In this provocative post, he discusses what it would mean if science somehow proved that God existed.  Among the possibilities: God is uncaring, or incompetent, or even sadistic.  Whether you agree or not, it's interesting reading.
  
  
• According to a BBC News headline that, er, grabbed my attention: M&S [that's department store Marks & Spencer, of course] "defends 'tax on bigger bras.'" Really.  When I visited the site, it listed several "related" stories, too, including one about Shakira's bra and another about a woman who tried to hide an iguana in one.  One has to keep informed, you know?
  
  
• Stop, You're Killing Me! is an exhaustive website for lovers (like me) of mystery novels.  The site lists over 2,500 authors with—and this is absolutely crucial when you're starting a new series—chronological lists of their books.  Here, for instance, is the page for one of my favorites, comic mystery writer Joan Hess.  (Link via Citizen Geek)

• Do you have Olympic fever yet?  I do, and I'm feeling all nostalgic about Olympic baseball and softball, since it looks like this is the last time they'll be official Olympic sports.  In those sports, and others, the host nation gets an automatic berth in the Olympic tournament.  This NYT article on China's baseball team suggests, well, that the Chinese aren't taking their chances too seriously.  Oh, and American baseball-isms don't translate into Chinese all that well.
  
  
• If you're wondering whether a website is down, or if the problem is with your own set-up, Down for Everyone or Just Me? may be the answer.  Warning, though: The site always tells me that Amazon is down.  (Link via NYT)
  
  
• It looks like the Discovery Channel is going to devote a little attention to beer.  Isn't it about time the Food Channel offered up an entire series on beer?  I'm available for hosting duties....
  
  
• Planet Earth is running out of indium.  And several other elements, including gallium, hafnium, and even zinc.  There's not much copper left, either.  If you like TV screens, solar panels, and computer chips, this is bad news.  (Link via Kottke)
  
  
• Do you like your murder mysteries to have, er, a spiritual bent?  Then check out Clerical Detectives.  I'm going to check out the Rabbi Small mysteries.  (Link via Thousand Voices)

I have a backlog of cites, so look for a very special midweek-edition of Weekend Reading soon.  If I get my act together....

Since I'm on a long holiday weekend, you're getting the week's reading a little early.

• In my opinion, Mary Carillo is the best tennis announcer on television.  This weekend, of course, she's covering the Wimbledon finals for NBC.  She's too artful to say anything negative about grass-court tennis during this fortnight, and all that serve-and-volley tennis is definitely fun.  But grass-court tennis can be a little too much about power and quick points for me.  And apparently for Carillo, too.  A few years ago, she explained—in a piece called "Living Life on Clay"—why she wanted her children to live like clay-courters.  Here's a taste:
  
  

  [M]y wish for them is to dream in different languages, to build a character that translates well everywhere in the world. I want them to live their lives as though they were playing them out on clay.

  . . . .

  There is great comfort in consistency-always having someone, or something you can trust.

  Life demands great discipline and deep daring.

  And a fatigued mind makes bad decisions.

  Don't get easily depressed. It's amazing what a stout heart and a nimble mind can do if you're resilient enough to stay the course.

  The reward is the journey.

  Read the whole thing. It's one of the most literate, moving pieces I've seen a TV sports journalist produce.

• ChaliceChick of The Chaliceblog has actually printed up an FAQ sheet to hand people who ask about her new SmartCar.  Really.  As I said in CC's comments, it's brilliant.
  
  
• Would you like to see how the Humpdome was transformed over a few hours from a baseball to a football stadium?  Of course you would.  And when you're impressed with photographer John Loomis's work, you'll want to check out his portfolio.  Loomis blogs, too.
  
  
• Everywhere, I suppose, men can't be trusted on the internet to give their correct ages, heights, and—euphemism alert—"intimate details."  We now have confirmation from Pakistan, anyway.  (NSFW?)
  
  
• Tell me I don't need this wallet, or this one, or this one.  But, er, if I was going to buy one of these wallets I don't need, which one should it be?  Advice, please.  Oh, wait.  What about this one?  (Link via Josh Spear)

Well, I'm writing it at the end of this weekend, but here's what captured my attention this week:

• Fittingly, since we're in the middle of the Wimbledon fortnight, a NYT article looked at all those strange on-the-court habits of the top tennis players.  Novak Djokovic bounces the ball up to 25 times before the ball toss, and Maria Sharapova tucks hair behind each of her ears.  But my favorite?  The way Rafael Nadal obsessively towels off between each point.  And, then, of course, there's the way he's always digging his clam diggers out of his, er, butt crack.
  
  
• When I was a kid, I resisted—fiercely—the afternoon nap.  I didn't understand why grown-ups wanted to waste any part of the day.  Now, I'm downright grateful for this advice from the Boston Globe on the art of napping.  (Link via SteveP)
  
  
• Before Bloomsday gets too far away from us, this accurate, but oh-so-brief summary of the plot of Ulysses sure made me smile.  (Link via Prettier than Napoleon, who wonders why Joyce captivates some of us so)
  
  
• Speaking of little obsessions, this NYT article on casino chip collecting was sort of fun.  But I don't really need one more excuse to love Las Vegas.  That place has gotten under my skin.
  
  
• Dustin Fenstermacher is a talented photographer.  Be sure to check out his gallery of images from the cat show.  Highly recommended!  (And I'm allergic to cats.)

This week's collection of what interested me:

• It's not clear who the author is, but this long essay dissecting the last episode of The Sopranos is pretty darn impressive.  Are you persuaded?  (Link via Kottke)
  
  
• This NYT article explains where you can find some Gaelic football and hurling in the NYC area.  I'm keeping that in mind.  By the way, if anybody knows of any hurling or Gaelic football action in the Philly area, let me know.
  
  
• Also in NYT's "sports" coverage: hunting feral hogs.  Really.  (Note to Yankees: Not many Southerners actually spend their time doing something like this.  I swear.)
  
  
• At FILE Magazine, you can—and should—see a gallery of photographs by Massimo Cristaldi.  "Refinery Flock" consists of some amazing images of a flock of birds converging on a refinery.  If you like "Refinery Flock," and you will, you'll want to check out Cristaldi's online portfolio, too.
  
  
• R. Pollack, a (soon-to-be-ex) teacher in Jackson, Mississippi, tells how the student body collectively reacted to the administration's undue concern about what a group of boys wore one day.  "[I]t's symbolic middle fingers all around," Pollack writes.  Power to the people, you know?
  

Beer in the Backyard

Especially to mine.

What caught my attention this week? 

• Shaving is something I just don't do very well.  My dad never taught me how to use a straight (hmm) razor.  And when I've tried on my own, I've left the bathroom bloodied and bandaged.  I surrendered long ago to the electric razor and the imperfect results it provides.  So this Philadelphia Inquirer article on shaving as "the new hot skin-care market" caught my eye.  And having read it, I think I'll be scheduling an appointment soon at Shaving Grace Barbers:
  
  

  "Most guys don't prepare their face at all," said Michael Sgarra, a co-owner and barber at Shaving Grace in Exton, which offers beer on tap, a pool table, and professional shaves and haircuts (way more than two bits.) "Some are dry-shaving in the shower. Some just use soap. It's pretty horrible."

  At Sgarra's shop, the process begins with a series of hot towels to open the pores and soften the hair. Then they put on a pre-shave oil, another series of hot towels, hot foam and shave twice."

  Shaving Grace sounds like the best place on Earth.  Beer, pool, and getting a shave?  I'm in.  And according to Shaving Grace's website, I can even get a massage there.
  
  
• This isn't entirely shocking for me, but a NYT article notes that same-sex relationships are more egalitarian than opposite-sex relationships.  Notably, "[t]he egalitarian nature of same-sex relationships appears to spill over into how those couples resolve conflict....  [According to one study, same-sex couples] tended to fight more fairly than heterosexual couples, making fewer verbal attacks and more of an effort to defuse the confrontation."  Also, belligerence and domineering were less common in same-sex relationships.
  
  Cool!  Now just exactly how do I get myself one of those relationships?!
  
  
• What a great gig!  Peter Meehan, who usually writes the "$25 and Under" reviews for the NYT's Dining Section, traveled to 12 ballparks around the country to sample the food.  And it sounds like a lot of it was pretty darn good.  Meehan really liked the offerings at our very own Citizens Bank Park, especially Chickie & Pete’s crab fries, already my favorite; Tony Luke's roasted pork; and the Schmitter—a sandwich built with cheese, salami, cheese, beef, and more cheese.  I have to remember to get a Schmitter at some point this season....
  
  And if I'm ever in Seattle's Safeco Field, I'm going to have an Ichiroll, a spicy tuna roll named (duh) after the veteran centerfielder.
  
  
• This week, I particularly enjoyed Sushicam's photographs of a commuter train and some big fish.  And Daily Dose of Imagery showed us the smart, apt advertising used on the streets by Toronto's World Wild Short Film Festival.  Ha!
  
  
• And, of course, it makes sense to end with A Cheese Map of Canada.  Enjoy.

• On his 50th birthday, BBC News offers an interactive timeline of the life of Prince. Highlight for me: In 1981, Prince opened for the Rolling Stones, "[b]ut the crowd [did] not appreciate the moustachioed musician's sexually ambiguous look and boo[ed] him off stage." I wonder what those fans say now. In Prince's honor, I think I'll listen to Sign O' the Times today.
  
  
• A law professor who posited that there was a 50-square-mile swath of Yellowstone National Park, the Idaho part of the park, where you could (literally) get away with murder writes about the difficulty he had (free registration) getting any legislators or judges to take him seriously. Happily enough, though, the National Enquirer did.
  
  
• NPR's Day to Day featured Teitur, the Faroese singer I blogged about a few weeks ago. There's a piece to read, you can listen to critic Christian Bordal talk about and interview the singer, or you can just listen to Teitur singing live in the NPR studio. It's a great way to spend a few minutes, I swear.
  
  
• Dan Berry visits Butte County, South Dakota, for his NYT "This Land" column. Butte County contains the geographic center of the United States, but the true center isn't all that well-visited. I love the, er, beautiful emptiness of the northern Great Plains....
  
  
• Yesterday, a NYT piece covered the dispute in Juneau, Alaska, over whether the state's remote capital should—finally—be accessible by road. I guess you know what I think: Beautiful emptiness is apparently what I'm after. Sadly, I've never been to Alaska....

Here's what captured my attention this week:

• The New York Times Dining Section took a look at miracle fruit, a small berry from West Africa that causes the tongue—temporarily—to perceive foods as sweeter than they are.  In New York, apparently, hipsters are attending miracle fruit parties, where lemons, Brussels sprouts, and cheap tequila suddenly become rapture-inducing.  If those parties have made their way to Philly, I'm just not hip enough to know it, I guess.
  
  
• At Modern Art Notes, Tyler Green is understandably baffled by all the obituaries and critical appraisals of Robert Rauschenberg that failed to mention he was gay.
  
  
• I know that Texas Monthly is the best magazine currently being published anywhere.  Believe me, coming from an Oklahoman (originally), that's a high compliment.  The current issue, which features the Top 50 BBQ Joints in the state, helped me pass the time on the trip from Santa Fe back to Philly.  Yum, barbecue.  Who's going with me to try out, oh, 10 or 15 of these places?
  
  
• Two very different ministers come together to officiate at a funeral, in a smart, thought-provoking piece from the Spring issue of UU  World.
  
  
• Spin offers an oral history of the Village People's "Y.M.C.A."—beloved by two of my favorite groups, gay men and sports fan.  Note how  clueless the interviewees from the sports world are about the gay origins of the song.  (Link via Towleroad)

What were you reading this week?

Bouquets

Especially to mine.