The tag line for this article was "From literacy to digiracy: Will reading and writing remain important?"

It's all Mac's fault, apparently.

I've watched interviews in which the interviewers ask Jon Stewart about being a journalist; his standard response is that he isn't a journalist but a comedian. The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism recently compared TDS to traditional news media. Their article is here. Courtesy of The Biochemist.

I keep meaning to email Ilona Andrews, author of Magic Burns, to ask if the naming of the molly (Ninny) in that book was an homage to Fat Ninny, Miles Vorkosigan's horse, or just a coincidence.

Have managed to start From Dead to Worse. The fairy part of the story feels awkward and forced, as does the mention of Hadley and her ex, as well as one almost throw-away mention of Alcide's thoughts about Sookie in the aftermath of a Big Bad Thing.

Obama.

The question was: who will John Edwards endorse?

The Biochemist's review of MCR @ MSG cracked me up, mostly because it was so full of glee, but especially this bit:

Hello, Jersey hair. I missed you. You are distinct from Texas hair in a way that is indescribable, but nonetheless significant.

Both areas have what I would call big hair, carefully arranged hair, but each with a different aesthetic.

Also courtesy of TB, also on the music front: The Cab will be opening for The Hush Sound later this summer, and will be returning to Ottobar.

It is true, I am a musical purist. The original version of pretty much any song is the one I like best. The Garth Brooks version of Billy Joel's Shameless? Is just wrong. Clapton's acoustic version of Layla? Strikes me as melancholy rather than seductive. Oh the shock of my college boyfriend, how could I not love this version? Well, it could be sexy...if I hadn't known and loved the original version (which rocks) first. Etc. So it should be no surprise that I like the (slightly) earlier version of The Cab's Take My Hand; the album version seems too produced and orchestrated. Having said that, I still like the whole album.

Random things:
1. cache /= cachet
2. orientated < oriented if you are writing an American character
3. cross to bear, not cross to bare

I want to see Patrick Stewart as MacBeth.

The O's beat the Sox last night, which was a shock. 20-19, another surprise.

Reading: I've finished Passage, which I loved and need to reread immediately. My library copy of Meredith Duran's The Duke of Shadows arrived, but I'm stuck about half way through and can't be arsed to finish it. C has lent me her copy of From Dead to Worse and I'm not in any way intrigued enough to read past the first chapter. I think maybe I need a reading hiatus.

Check out the opinion issued by the Maryland Court of Appeals in Aleem v. Aleem. In this case, the court declined to extend comity to talaq, Pakistani Islamic divorce, because it lacks due process. Via WaPo.

Every time I watch The History Channel, I wind up thinking, "That would be a great setting/character for a romance novel. Or any novel really." The great set up this time? Castner's Cutthroats, a group of Army scouts who were the advance men for the Aleutian battle of World War II. Brought to you (and me) courtesy of Alaska: Dangerous Territory.

You know the sad thing? I had no idea that the Japanese occupied any of the Aleutian islands. Most of my scant knowledge is related to the European and African theaters of battle, and very little to the Pacific front.

One thing I forgot to mention the other day when writing about The World Without Us: there was a section on zero population growth and a bit on the end of humanity as the end of reproduction rather than an event that caused immediate extinction. The description of a society aware of its end as offered by proponents was rather idyllic and reflective. It's pure speculation of course, but I found it interesting that the scientist's view or the theorist's view was so very different from social breakdown that is predicted in fiction

From the cover flap:

The World Without Us reveals how, just days after humans disappear, floods in New York's subways would start eroding the city's foundations, and how, as the world's citiies crumble, asphalt jungles would give way to real ones. It describes the disntinct ways that organiic and chemically treated farms would revert to wild, how billions more birds would flourish, and how cockroaches in unheated cities would perish without us. Drawing on the expertise of engineers, atmospheric scientists, art conservators, zoologists, oil refiners, marine biologists, astrophysicists, religious leaders from rabbis to the Dailai lama, and paleontologists -- who describe a prehuman world inhabited by megafauna like giant sloths that stood taller than mammoths -- Weisman illustrates what the planet might be like today, if not for us.

From places already devoid of humans (a last fragment of primeval European forest; the Korean DMZ; Chernobyl), Weisman reveals Earth's tremendous capacity for self-healing.

As I mentioned earlier this week, I picked this book up after watching a National Geographic special on what would happen to the earth if humans were to simply disappear. It was far, far better than I expected, and more fascinating than the NG documentary (which is saying something, because I was riveted by the documentary).

Weisman dispenses with the apocalyptic descriptions of decaying NYC early. This chapter is fascinating, because it touches on geology, structural engineering, fluid dynamics, and basic ecology, connecting them to the metropolis and making them real. As an urban dweller, it is easy to forget or to not notice the monumental effort that goes into keeping the city running -- road repairs, sewer maintenance, harbor dredging, etc. -- without contemplating what would happen if it just stopped.

He goes on to write about the evolution of homo sapiens and their spread outward from Africa, and their effect (affect?) on the megafauna that once inhabited the Americas. He talks about how the natural world as we see it today is a function of human intervention, even in places that we think of as pristine and untouched, like remote parts of the Amazon. The collapse of the Mayan city-state of Dos Pilas; Chernobyl; an abandoned Cypriot beach resort; the Korean DMZ; the last bit of primeval European forest (found in Poland and Belarus); the farms of upper New England; petrochemical industry and the rise of plastic in the post-WWII years; the ravages of AIDs on non-Maasai people on the Serengeti; the funeral industry; telecommunications industry and broadcast; all of these unrelated places and/or events have a role in the changing biology and geology of the world, leaving the footprints of humanity, changing whatever may have occured naturally.

"Change is the hallmark of nature. Nothing remains the same." (p. 128) Dr. Anthony Andrady, a researcher specializing in plastics and the environment. He's talking about biodegredation of plastic specifically.

"The only real prediction you can make is that life will go on. And that it will be interesting." (p. 232) Doug Erwin, paleobiology curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

These speak to the heart of the Weisman's thesis, I think. That our mere existence causes change; that even without humanity, the earth would have changed, and that whatever our environment is right now is just one more moment in history. And that life (not necessarily human) will go on in some form or another, the way it has through other terrestrial disasters or shifts.

Weisman drew together a variety of disparate topics and tied them together in an artful and engaging way. This book would be a good one for an intro to ecology class, I think, for high school or even freshmen in college. It manages to touch on some very controversial things without being inflammatory, IMO.

A. Keeper.

Well, perhaps "thief" is too strong a label. Book forgetters? Book not-returners? I'm not sure what the proper name is, but several individuals of my acquaintance suffer from this characteristic.

Some books I lend out and never expect to see again -- there is a reason I own multiple copies of The Curse of Chalion, aside from the pretty, pretty cover of the trade sized edition and my firm belief that the castle on the mmp version is the alcazar in Segovia. And my copy of The Bill of Wrongs is safe in the possession of The Biochemist, who is a big, big fan of Molly Ivins. I'm cool with that.

But, dammit, I want my copy of Grimspace back so I can reread and review. And my copy of The Dead of Night, because I want the Eve Dallas short story for my library. And if I don't get How to Undress A Cop back soon, I will be stopping by and making a library raid -- you know who you are.

Okay, finally got a chance to listen to Whisper War. I like it. Of course, I was predisposed to, otherwise I wouldn't have ordered a copy. Am highly entertained by the photos of the band members included in the package, as they are rather like baseball cards. Is Fueled by Ramen trying to create another version of the Pokemon/Cabbage Patch/Garbage Pail phenomenon? (Yep, really dating myself there.) The band members themselves? Are just so young and cute, little boys really. Despite the tattoos some of them sport, they look...fresh and untouched and innocent to me. I can imagine a lot of 14-16 yo girls squeeing over the cards.

Two rereads, 15 new books, and 7 DNFs. The standout reads for me this month were Ilona Andrews' Magic Burns, which I loved despite some repetitive stuff that I could do without, and Sarah Cortez's poetry compilation, How to Undress A Cop.

Otherwise, I read a lot of average books, including some from series that I won't be continuing (MJD's YA series, Lara Adrian's Breeds), and other series that I'll continue with even if I don't hunt the books down on their release dates (Raybourn's Lady Julia Grey series).

( List hiding here. )

Currently reading: Alan Weisman's The World Without Us. Picked up after watching the NG documentary on what would happen if humans disappeared. Weisman's spending a lot of time on evolution, extinct species, and human influence (better & worse) on geography, and how that will influence what may happen if we were all to suddenly disappear. Y'know, beyond just cities falling.