Dowd Does the Donald

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Donald Trump gives an interview to the lovely, inimitable Maureen Dowd. After his down-in-the-dirt tussle with Rosie O'Donnell, I suppose he wants some big, glitzy press to elevate him back up to Olympus status. I do not know if this does that for him, but it is a nice, fluffy little piece worth keeping around.

( Dowd Column )

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Dowd Does the Donald

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Donald Trump gives an interview to the lovely, inimitable Maureen Dowd. After his down-in-the-dirt tussle with Rosie O'Donnell, I suppose he wants some big, glitzy press to elevate him back up to Olympus status. I do not know if this does that for him, but it is a nice, fluffy little piece worth keeping around.

( Dowd Column )

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Leave Christmas Alone!

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“Ejecting Christmas from the public domain makes little sense, and not simply because religion only partly contributed to its emergence as a national rite. It should be possible to enjoy Christmas while recognizing its muted Christian element, even though one is neither religious nor Christian, in much the same way one might enjoy the glories of a Botticelli or Fra Angelico in spite of the unrelenting Christian presence in their art. In much the same way, indeed, that one might enjoy jazz, another gift of the mainstream, without much caring for black culture; or the American English language that unites us, in spite of Anglo-Saxon roots that are as deep as those of Father Christmas.”

-- Orlando Patterson for The New York Times

That works for me! But then I am biased in favor of all things Christmas, and, Lord knows, I am not even a Christian, or at least certainly not a good one. Besides, we can always use a little forced good cheer.

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Leave Christmas Alone!

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“Ejecting Christmas from the public domain makes little sense, and not simply because religion only partly contributed to its emergence as a national rite. It should be possible to enjoy Christmas while recognizing its muted Christian element, even though one is neither religious nor Christian, in much the same way one might enjoy the glories of a Botticelli or Fra Angelico in spite of the unrelenting Christian presence in their art. In much the same way, indeed, that one might enjoy jazz, another gift of the mainstream, without much caring for black culture; or the American English language that unites us, in spite of Anglo-Saxon roots that are as deep as those of Father Christmas.”

-- Orlando Patterson for The New York Times

That works for me! But then I am biased in favor of all things Christmas, and, Lord knows, I am not even a Christian, or at least certainly not a good one. Besides, we can always use a little forced good cheer.

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What Is the What

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“Whatever I do,” Valentino assures us, “however I find a way to live, I will tell these stories. ... I speak to you because I cannot help it. It gives me strength, almost unbelievable strength, to know that you are there. ... I am alive and you are alive so we must fill the air with our words. I will fill today, tomorrow, every day until I am taken back to God. I will tell stories to people who will listen and to people who don’t want to listen, to people who seek me out and to those who run. All the while I will know that you are there. How can I pretend that you do not exist? It would be almost as impossible as you pretending that I do not exist.”

-- Francine Prose for The New York Times

I have only heard of Dave Eggers and have not yet read his work. It looks like I may be getting around to that with "What Is the What." In this fictionalized autobiography of a refugee from war-torn Sudan through Africa and to America, Mr. Eggers apparently fuses art with high purpose, and by this glowing book review, succeeds in every way, in both substance and fun.

( Book Review )

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What Is the What

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“Whatever I do,” Valentino assures us, “however I find a way to live, I will tell these stories. ... I speak to you because I cannot help it. It gives me strength, almost unbelievable strength, to know that you are there. ... I am alive and you are alive so we must fill the air with our words. I will fill today, tomorrow, every day until I am taken back to God. I will tell stories to people who will listen and to people who don’t want to listen, to people who seek me out and to those who run. All the while I will know that you are there. How can I pretend that you do not exist? It would be almost as impossible as you pretending that I do not exist.”

-- Francine Prose for The New York Times

I have only heard of Dave Eggers and have not yet read his work. It looks like I may be getting around to that with "What Is the What." In this fictionalized autobiography of a refugee from war-torn Sudan through Africa and to America, Mr. Eggers apparently fuses art with high purpose, and by this glowing book review, succeeds in every way, in both substance and fun.

( Book Review )

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Christmas Bread

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The sun is out, but the whipping wind still leaves us on the frigid side. But I have a hefty load of bread on my hands and Monk is sentimental. He wants to see the ducks before Christmas.

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Christmas Bread

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The sun is out, but the whipping wind still leaves us on the frigid side. But I have a hefty load of bread on my hands and Monk is sentimental. He wants to see the ducks before Christmas.

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Not So Lazy Bears

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Global Warming may not be so good for the polar bears but the bears in Spain seem to be doing alright by it:

Bears have stopped hibernating in the mountains of northern Spain, scientists revealed yesterday, in what may be one of the strongest signals yet of how much climate change is affecting the natural world.

... Bears are supposed to slumber throughout the winter, slowing their body rhythms to a minimum and drawing on stored resources, because frozen weather makes food too scarce to find. The barely breathing creatures can lose up to 40 per cent of their body weight before warmer springtime weather rouses them back to life.

But many of the 130 bears in Spain's northern cordillera - which have a slightly different genetic identity from bear populations elsewhere in the world - have remained active throughout recent winters, naturalists from Spain's Brown Bear Foundation (La Fundación Oso Pardo - FOP) said yesterday.

Of course, this discussion assumes that there is such a thing as global warming, and our Bush Administration remains skeptical, but then they also are not sure if the earth is really older than six-thousand years, and they still have yet to accept evolution. But there you go!

(Source: Geneviève Roberts for The Independent)

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Not So Lazy Bears

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Global Warming may not be so good for the polar bears but the bears in Spain seem to be doing alright by it:

Bears have stopped hibernating in the mountains of northern Spain, scientists revealed yesterday, in what may be one of the strongest signals yet of how much climate change is affecting the natural world.

... Bears are supposed to slumber throughout the winter, slowing their body rhythms to a minimum and drawing on stored resources, because frozen weather makes food too scarce to find. The barely breathing creatures can lose up to 40 per cent of their body weight before warmer springtime weather rouses them back to life.

But many of the 130 bears in Spain's northern cordillera - which have a slightly different genetic identity from bear populations elsewhere in the world - have remained active throughout recent winters, naturalists from Spain's Brown Bear Foundation (La Fundación Oso Pardo - FOP) said yesterday.

Of course, this discussion assumes that there is such a thing as global warming, and our Bush Administration remains skeptical, but then they also are not sure if the earth is really older than six-thousand years, and they still have yet to accept evolution. But there you go!

(Source: Geneviève Roberts for The Independent)

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