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a site for sore eyes
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a jaundiced eye
dori and tom
metafilter
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pop culture junkmail

Today is World AIDS Day. If you like, you can go to the {fray} and post a story about how your life has been affected by HIV/AIDS. Or just read the moving stories that are there. I posted about my friends Craig and John who died in the early 1990s. metafilter is also inviting people to post AIDS-related links on the site. | link

I've been having a lot of fun with the UltraLounge Christmas Cocktails record. I'm also totally in love with George Winston's December. Both are wonderful seasonal recordings. I'm also really really really looking forward to the Young Musician's Program Sing Along Messiah tomorrow night, at Hertz Hall on the UC Berkeley campus. This piece is an important part of my holidays, and also a pivotal piece in my early music background, but that's a whole other essay. This sing along Messiah is a fundraiser for YMP, a wonderful program that gives economically disadvantaged kids an opportunity to study music where they may not have had the opportunity before. It rules! | link

Here's a picture of Schroedinger's Cat. Well, sort of. | link

You know it's the holiday season when the Chia Pet ads come on tv. Along with their traditional chia products, the company is now sporting Looney Tunes Chia Pets, including Chia Tweety. I emailed my friend Cristine about it and I'm sure she'll get a kick out of that. Joseph Enterprises, the makers of the Chia Pet, is also the maker of The Clapper (another holiday treat). I haven't seen the Andre Champagne ad, another sign of the commercial holiday season.

Back to chia, I used to work with someone named Chia, at Hear Music; she was a real sweetie. I bet she got teased a lot because of her name, though. | link

Tonight I will sadly miss Club Velvet's second "KING'S LUAU FEAST"... A special evening of tropical cocktails, jungle jazz and a fabulous polynesian-themed dinner created to please King Kini by Jitters' expert chef. Of course, Club Velvet is takes place in Minneapolis, a couple thousand miles away from me. If only transporters were a reality. Kini always puts on a fabulous evening of music, mood, and cocktails and I look forward to the next time I'm in Minneapolis for Club Velvet. | link

Need a facsimile quick? You might check here, at the Acadia Early Music Facsimile Archive to see if they have it. This site provides facsimiles of primary sources - excellent! I love playing from facsimiles even if I have to deal with baritone clef. Facsimiles are good for you - enjoy some every day. | link

According to this article, many people still flee to America to worship as they please. Religious persecution is on the rise in many parts of the world, especially for christians and buddhists. I am grateful that I have the opportunity to explore my faith as I would like, and find like minds. | link

Here is an amazingly beautiful picture of the earth. I've never really seen anything quite like it, but I'm quite charmed by it. The image is a composite of hundreds of pictures made by the orbiting DMSP satellites. [via a site for sore eyes]

The Chronicle had a good article on alternate transportation. It would be good to clean up our act around here regarding how we get from point a to point b. I like the idea of these little pod cars.

This is a very strange ad about something called a "Polytron," which can supposedly "reduce an entire mouse to a soup-like homogeneate in 30 seconds." Oddest thing I've come across all week.

A bit of levity with regard to the election, here.

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Two amusing quotes seen this week:
"You may be psychic, but you're not crazy" --seen outside the Berkeley Psychic Institute.
"The Louvre, American Style" --seen on the UC Theater marquis.

The Cabrio ad makes me cry - more specifically, the music by Nick Drake, "Pink Moon". I'm also enjoying the music on the ads for cotton and the Gap, if you can believe it.

Enough for today - it's been a long one. | link

Our next president. Maybe. Deer in the headlights is right. | link

The Minneapolis Sign Project gave me much joy when I saw it this morning! The Twin Cities, but moreso Minneapolis, are one of my favorite places in this country. I love the lakes, the neighborhoods, and I love my friends from there very much. If it wasn't for Bitstream, I wouldn't have a connection there. Really. [via kottke.org]

Well, I returned to work today after a lovely four days off. I wish it had been longer but this was great just the same. I had a peaceful, mellow weekend, spiked with a little bit of shopping (as you can see in earlier blogs this weekend), and a nice dinner party Saturday night. Turkey really does make me sleepy. Gotta love that tryptophan, baby.

Great links of the day:
Exorcisms. Still a pesky problem. The Vatican published new exorcism guidelines last year, fyi.

Man-animal hybrids. Crazy patents and stem cells and charges of mixing species. [via metafilter]

I love McSweeneys. They published a great article, "The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and the Twelve Steps of Creating a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloon (as listed on the macyparade.com web site), Head to Head." | link

Mr. Rogers isn't going to be our neighbor anymore. Next month he tapes his last episode; fortunately, the show will live on in reruns. I grew up with Mr. Rogers - the Neighborhood arrived on the air in 1968, the year I was born, and I have very fond memories of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. From the article:

Last month, in an interview with Newsweek.com, he acknowledged that Mister Rogers isn't a character, it's himself. "One of the greatest gifts you can give anybody is the gift of your honest self," Rogers said.

Amen. | link

Hey, it looks like the "errant test post" did get deleted. Excellent. | link

I've been experimenting with changing the template of my blog, as you can see from the errant "test" post from yesterday. I thought I had deleted that post, but I guess I didn't succeed. And I can't find the text to delete it in my editing window. Oh well.

I found the website for J.Jill, a wonderful clothing company based in New Hampshire. I love these clothes! Lots of things in cotton and wools. Now if I only had several thousand dollars with which to overhaul my wardrobe....

Did you know there exists Spinal Tap dolls? According to the website:

The set includes lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel, lead singer David St. Hubbins, and bass guitarist Derek Smalls. Featuring over 20 points of articulation and costumes from the movie's music number "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight," these dolls are a "must haves" for fans and collectors alike.

Each figure stands on a guitar pick base and comes with rockin' accessories such as Nigel's amp knob that goes up to 11, a sketch pad of David's girlfriend with Zodiac illustrations and Derek's famous cucumber that set off airport metal detectors on their national tour. Bonus accessories include a 1/6 scale album sleeve and cover plus more!

I rediscovered the Too Much Coffee Man website. It's based on this superhero-type character that is really kind of a lovable slacker. He has friends named Too Much Espresso Guy and Too Much German White Chocolate Woman With Almonds. I love it.

Mouchette. She's 13 years old and lives in Amsterdam, speaks french. The word "mouchette" is french for "fly." Her site is a trip. Via memepool

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The Homemade Cafe has incredible coffee cake and coffee. And eggs and potatoes. I've never been disappointed! I am very fortunate to live so close to them. | link