Saturday, January 26. 2008
The Jim Kweskin Jug Band with Maria (Midnight at the Oasis) Muldaur, from sometime in the 60s during the Folk Revival in some "basket house" in Greenwich Village. Sorry - the recording is incomplete but still gives a good feel for what it was like.
 All guys know that good good marriage requires a lady who is interested in being a good wife. As they say, "Happy wife, happy life."
Here's the (probably apocryphal - thanks, readers) old version of the Good Wife's Guide, plus "Good Wife's Guide, Revised."
 Photo is a rendition of SpaceShip 2, the tourist spaceship (underslung in center) now under construction, with the mothership which carries it to 50,000 feet.
From the Chinglish section of the Engrish website: 
Friday, January 25. 2008
A European pal just brough me a box of the Pleiades 44 ring size smokes today, on his way here from Paris. We looked 'em up, and see that JR has them, far cheaper than they can be bought in Euroland. A darn pleasant smoke. I am on my second one - just to make sure they're good - with a glass or three of ancient port.
Like Tangled Web, who found this one, we also would like to dedicate this 1980 Blondies tune, with Deborah Harry, to Lord Algore to celebrate the Great Warmening Crisis. Y'all are old enuf to remember this song, aren't ya? No? Hey, Debbie - get in line. Or should I say get in the queue? Everybody I know wants a good, well-trained, cigar-chompin' and house-broken bird dog to spend the night with to warm their feet at the end of the bed and to dutifully fetch stuff, when wanted. It's every gal's dream, ain't it? Or am I outdated? ...If I am, do not tell me: I will have you killed by the Maggie's posse.
Thursday, January 24. 2008
From Overcoming Bias: Suppose that a disease, or a monster, or a war, or something, is killing people. And suppose you only have enough resources to implement one of the following two options: - Save 400 lives, with certainty.
- Save 500 lives, with 90% probability; save no lives, 10% probability.
Make your decision first, then read about it.
Wednesday, January 23. 2008
Misha and the perfect, ethereal Gelsey Kirkland in the pas de deux in Balanchine's (New York City Ballet's) magical Nutcracker, with music by the amazingly soulful and romantic Tchaikovsky (A 1977 performance):
Tuesday, January 22. 2008
 The Maggie's Farm Editorial Board endorses Miss Utah - Jill Stevens for Miss America
Monday, January 21. 2008
Whether it's internet dating or Indian software engineers or bloggers, it's about creativity - not competition. Tyler Cowen of Maginal Rev at Wilson Quarterly. One quote: The rise of invisible competition has implications for nations as well as individuals and corporations. For the United States, those implications are overwhelmingly positive. Although Americans fret endlessly about the invisible threat of outsourcing, the rest of the world often sees the United States as the deadliest source of invisible competition. From information technology to cutting-edge medical research to higher education, Americans have achieved exceptional results relatively quickly, before the rest of the world had much chance to respond. While American culture glorifies the competitive spirit, Americans are good competitors in part because they don’t always need that last-minute adrenalin rush. They tend to value change and innovation for their own sake, and they imagine themselves to be pioneers. The idea of striking out into unknown territory to build a better world is deeply embedded in the national psyche. The Protestant ethic also lives on, expressed in a commitment not only to hard work but to the idea that we fulfill ourselves through our labors. This helps explain why, to the vexation and puzzlement of Europeans, millions of Americans prefer to stay at their jobs rather than take all of their allotted vacation time.
 We enjoy visiting the White Flower Farm in the charming antique village of Litchfield, CT, once or twice a year. Most of their business is mail-order.
They are already taking orders for Spring, and we were interested in their collections for planters. Photo is one of their shade collections. Since they are so good at putting plants together, my theory is just to steal their ideas. A propos gardening, check out the gardens of Pearl Fryar - topiary surrealist.
Sippican, who has several clips to watch, seems to be as much of a Cary Grant fan as I am. Hollywood at its best. From near the beginning of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House:
Sunday, January 20. 2008
You can watch the excellent Mira Nair's short film about a love triangle - and AIDS- in India, here. It's a compelling piece of film.
Saturday, January 19. 2008
I suspect we have many readers who either live in New York City or who commute to the city daily by train. As an ex-New Yorker, living in Boston and New Hampshire, it is now a special treat for me to hop the train to New York three or four times a year to stay for a few days, usually with the excuse of giving a talk or to attending a medical meeting (which I did this past week and this week-end). I change from Amtrak to a Metro-North express in New Haven, and sometimes spend a day visiting my New Haven friends. I do not shop in NY (well, not very much), but I like to visit my old haunts, and to find new ones. I got up to the front of the train, next to the driver, just after we took the train bridge from the Bronx to Manhattan: 
Coming from Boston, I am greeted by the magnificence of Grand Central Station instead of the execrable Penn Station or the idiotic, government-designed JFK airport. Somehow, this lame snapshot managed to eliminate every bit of the grandeur and scale of Commodore Vanderbilt's creation:  Something new: The Grand Central Market. Wonderful food stalls, and perfect to pick up some stuff on the way home: rare cheeses, imported Italian sausages of every variety, 200 types of olive oil, a bread bakery, a patisserie, pre-cooked goodies and dinners, etc. etc. All of the old, bleak empty spaces of the Station have now been put to good use, and the whole place is like an upscale mall, and busy as can be: 
And something old on the lower level: The good old Oyster Bar, with the best oyster stew in the world, and a larger selection of oysters - and fresh seafood in general - than you can find anywhere in the world. The entire Lower Level is now a food court, and good enough that I think people come in off the street for a snack. No chain restaurants - good stuff. 
Friday, January 18. 2008
City Journal has a fresh new look and format. In it, Architecture's Rogues Gallery by Kimball, who rips the narcissism of the famous architects of today. A quote: Philip Johnson. Robert Venturi. Hassan Fathy. Peter Eisenman. Charles Jencks. Bernard Tschumi. Rem Koolhaus. Daniel Liebeskind. Norman Foster. Frank Gehry. Sykes has rounded up a rogues’ gallery of brittle egotism in which contempt for the traditional canons of architecture is exceeded only by contempt for the public. “The only important task,” we read in one typical expostulation, “is the vigilant corruption of the chain of causality that begins with ‘client’ and ends in ‘building.’” In other words, please pay for this building, but don’t bother me with any demands about how it looks or functions.
Thursday, January 17. 2008
A photo of midtown Park Avenue today, just north of Grand Central Station before the snow started, on my way to the Waldorf to meet Dr. Bliss for lunch at the Bull & Bear, and to catch an interesting talk or two from the sachems at the American Psychoanalytic Annual Meeting, including Drs. Otto Kernberg and Roy Schafer (the former whom I respect enormously, and the latter whom I have a deep gratitute and appreciation for, which I was pleased to have the chance to tell the old fellow today). One hopeful sign for the economy: No bankers jumping out of windows, as far as I could see, and no disturbing blood spots on the sidewalks to upset the gentle and largely genteel Psychoanalysts who were gathered from across the globe to try to add to their understanding of the human soul. 
Some of the expected prices of American furniture and folk art in a Christie's auction today and tomorrow are astonishing. Still, I thought our readers might be most interested in the values of the old decoys in that auction. 
The hen merganser above is expected to fetch between $200-250,000. Another hen merganser in the auction is expected to fetch up to $500,000. In the NY Sun's piece on the auction, they note: Americana doesn't have to be made from precious metal or come with a society pedigree. Christie's will be auctioning hand-carved duck decoys this week with several estimated in the $500,000 range. What makes carved birds so pricey? "It's the confluence of two collecting categories — hunters and folk-art collectors coming together and competing over the same material," the head of Christie's Americana department, Margot Rosenberg, said. Twenty years ago, a similar phenomenon took place with weather vanes. "Weather vanes was the old story," Ms. Rosenberg said. "This is the new story. At auction, a bird has yet to break a million, but one will soon."
It's time for everybody to check Grandpa's barns and sheds for old decoys.
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