Slashdot is carrying a report of a woman who has been given 20000 pounds to explore cultural attitudes towards female buttocks. Follow this link to get to the bottom of the story.

After singing a setting of "King of glory, king of peace" at choir practice:

Ten: I wonder if this is the same George Herbert as wrote "Dune"
DrC: No, this one is the 17th century metaphysical poet
Ten: But "Dune" is quite metaphysical
DrC: Not in the same way.

My SuperShuttle driver was great - there's a phrase you don't hear that often - very courteous but also acted as a tour guide as we drove to the airport. First pointing out houses is Pas/South Pas that have been used in various TV programmes/films - did you know there is a $52 million propert in Pasadena that Ferdinand Marcos bought for a mistress ( Read more... )

Cosima and I went to a concert on campus this afternoon and she fared pretty well, certainly better than some of the audience. We left after the first half since the first movement of the Barber Violin Concerto had unnerved her somewhat. However, the first piece was a Haydn symphony and in the lull between the first and second movements, a whole ( Read more... )

A colleague writes: "...for you were within
throwing distance of where the morris dancers will be at dawn
on Friday." In California. Battling to death?

I saw the doctor today about the continuing aftereffects of my sidewalk acrobats a month ago and have been given a referral to a sports physician for further assessment. However, he also expressed some concern about my blood pressure. The measurements at Urgent Care a month ago and today are higher than those taken when I last visited the doctor 18 ( Read more... )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht96HJ01SE4

If I wrote a book about where the Nazis had won World War II and were constructing their global society as you would expect them, it is an acceptable (if somewhat trite) premise. However, if I wrote a book where there really was a Zionist conspiracy then would that be anti-Semitic?

We recently matched the 2003 BBC miniseries of "State of Play" which is fantastic and has a really good cast with John Simm, Philip Glenister, David Morrissey, Bill Nighy, Kelly Macdonald, etc. Now I see the film version opens this week with a blurb thus:

Ambitious U.S. Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) is the future of his political ( Read more... )