ABC7Chicago.com: Hungry Hound: Extensive beer lists
[Updated Link]
Interesting historical event (alluding to the "ethnic" part of prohibitions). The point of beer diversity does come across, though it's not emphasized so much.
Dolinsky seems to be more of a food geek than a beer geek and there are several mistakes on the website (including their misspelling Maibock and Blanche de Chambly) but it's always good to get some recognition from the food crowd.
The New York Times > Business > Your Money > Wipe Egg Off Face. Try Again. Voilà:
‘Flows poison like ivy, oh they grimy/Already offers on my sixth album from labels trying to sign me.’
Fairly elaborate piece about the Seagram heir involved in the music industry. What’s interesting here for someone who tends to think of music as expression and creation through sound is to get a peep in other perspectives on music. Sure, the first step to achieve their perspective is to see music as a commodity, which seems rather awkward for a musician But there are more steps involved if one wants to get insight into “corporate culture” of The Biz. It’s not just money. It’s also this notion that “artists” (musicians, mostly singers, with record contracts) create hits or non-hits. Members of that culture seem to think that “hitness” is an intrinsic quality of an artist’s output. Of course, they’re acutely aware that the way people listen to music is influenced by their own processes. But the point is, the comments of analysts and “insiders” still point, when they talk about “the music,” toward music as production.
It’s good to keep in mind that the model is quite recent. Attali’s Noise (read the first edition of the French original Bruits only last year or the year before) describes many steps in the construction of this model…
ACM Ubiquity – Francis Hsu: “Plato as Software Designer”: “Can we duplicate what is within our skulls in a computer’s address space?”
Much of it is quite naïve but it might still be useful to introduce some computer/engineer types to the basics of philosophy of language, structural analysis, and semiotics.
The Onion | New Tech-Support Caste Arises In India
It’s all about social stratification…
Centrist Quotes: Centrism, Centrists, and The Vital Center in American Politics
Let’s hope centrism itself won’t become too dogmatic and that it will move US politics away from party lines. If only to make US political discourse less inward-looking.
Les mystifications philosophiques du professeur Latour
Les sciences exactes et les sciences “souples” sont effectivement dans le même bateau.
Apart from the debate itself (which I only learned about recently), this notion of «sciences souples» in opposition to “exact sciences” is quite interesting.
Surely, others have discussed it but the term isn’t sticking yet. I like it, though. It’s telling and rather “neutral.” Not sure “flexible” is the right word in English. “Soft” would be obvious (“softener” for «assouplisseur») and is used on occasion (I do use it) but doesn’t render the same idea. «Souple» is the opposite of “rigid” but “nonrigid” is too negative a way to put it.
Lawrence Lessig’s reaction to a New York Times piece
Everyone I’ve spoken to loved the piece. I think they loved it because it was a piece printed in the Times, and we’re a culture that loves attention more than accuracy.
Interestingly, the very same David Carr has written a piece about a specific “music scene” in Montreal that some Montrealers thought was condescending while part of the Canadian media swooned over getting the attention of the New York Times…
Funny how it goes.
Les amis de Georges étaient un peu anars
Ils marchaient au gros rouge et grattaient leurs guitares
Ils semblaient tous issus de la même famille
Timides et paillards et tendres avec les filles
Ils avaient vu la guerre ou étaient nés après
Et s’étaient retrouvés à Saint-Germain-des-Prés
Et s’il leur arrivait parfois de travailler
Personne n’aurait perdu sa vie pour la gagnerLes amis de Georges avaient les cheveux longs
A l’époque ce n’était pas encore de saison
Ils connaissaient Verlaine, Hugo, François Villon
Avant qu’on les enferme dans des microsillons
Ils juraient, ils sacraient, insultaient les bourgeois
Mais savaient offrir des fleurs aux filles de joie
Quitte à les braconner dans les jardins publics
En jouant à cache-cache avec l’ombre des flicsLes amis de Georges, on les reconnaissait
A leur manière de n’être pas trop pressés
De rentrer dans le rang pour devenir quelqu’un
Ils traversaient la vie comme des arlequins
Certains le sont restés, d’autres ont disparu
Certains ont même la Légion d’honneur – qui l’eût cru?
Mais la plupart d’entre eux n’ont pas bougé d’un poil
Ils se baladent encore la tête dans les étoilesLes amis de Georges n’ont pas beaucoup vieilli
A les voir on dirait qu’ils auraient rajeuni
Le cheveu est plus long, la guitare toujours là
C’est toujours l’ami Georges qui donne le la
Mais tout comme lui ils ne savent toujours pas
Rejoindre le troupeau ou bien marcher au pas
Dans les rues de Paris, sur les routes de province
Ils mendient quelquefois avec des airs de prince
En chantant des chansons du dénommé Brassens
Respect!
The Onion | Cost Of Living Now Outweighs Benefits
Taken together, the study results indicate that “it is unwise to go on living.”
Those who calculate everything are in for some fun!